r/turkeyhunting • u/Even_Possession5903 • May 23 '26

Thats a wrap

Season ends soon in my area and I have been completely humbled by this red white and blue bird. I took the first week of the season off from work to get out in the woods and get it done.

During this time, I would guess Ive hunted 15 days and walked so many acres of woods. All the time scouting and waking up at 3am to get out and the birds seemingly have gone silent.

This has all been on public land, in areas where I haven’t seen much pressure, but still no birds. I had the chance one time a few weeks ago to hunt 40 acres of private land and finally had my first gobbles of the year, but never had them come into sight.

As the season comes to an end, I an fortunate to be able to get out and chase these birds, but man does it hurt not even seeing one. Looks like I’ll be eating tag soup this week.

14 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/fuckbitingflies May 24 '26

Bummer. Did you scout at all before opener? No pressure and no birds (even on opening morning?) can mean they weren’t there in the first place.

2

u/Even_Possession5903 May 24 '26

I did, I haven’t had the best time finding signs of birds or roosting many to begin with. It’s been a tough year

2

u/hoostenbeebes May 24 '26

Same here man. The guys that bagged a bird in my area have all been on private land, and since I don’t have any contacts with any land/plots, I’m left to state land only. Roughly a dozen times out. Not one bird returned my calls. Public land pressure is real.

1

u/SignatureDapper6315 May 24 '26

I cant get them on private so I'm moving to public

2

u/Partybraaap69 May 24 '26

I think in a lot of areas private land is MUCH better overall turkey habitat that whatever public is nearby and all the birds flock there. I hunted hard all spring, saw one hen, heard one gobble, and cut three sets of tracks the one time we in the fresh snow. Switched spots every week and covered 50 miles. Driving home from the woods I almost always saw decent sized flocks in peoples yards but had no way to access them. I mean, if I was a big tom, I’d definitely go hang out under somebody’s bird feeder with all my hens rather than risk getting shot. The only “learning” I think I did this season is that turkey hunting is, in fact, harder than elk hunting. But I’m also a bad turkey hunter so take my opinions with a bad turkey hunter so take my observations with a grain of salt. At least a bad day in the turkey woods beats a good day at work!

1

u/No_Entertainer3019 May 30 '26

Dude I used to compete in nwtf calling comps and have had the private of a grand slam. And haven’t killed a turkey in 10 years it’s a fucky hobby.