Run N Gun or Patience?

[flatrock9]

Which method has been most successful for you? 

I have always been a Run N Gunner but I am gonna try hanging in more this year.  I am impatient which makes it tough on me. 

What are some ways that work well for you guys that hang in there?

[swpatrkyhunter]

I'm pretty sure most on here would agree with me when I say that no matter wheather you sit or run and gun you have to use patience! It's a staple when dealing with turkey hunting. Even when you run and gun if you get impatient you can bump or spook a bird, or just flat out miss an opportunity that otherwise might have presented it'self to you. before every season I get all my gear on and go in the back yard and sit just as i would when hunting. It's a great way to make sure that when you get out in the woods your as comfortable as possible. Discomfort can lead to being impatient. When I scout just before season i first make sure not to get to close to birds so I don't disturbe their daily pattern. Which when I do run and gun helps me make sure not to bump or spook birds. Sure now and then you will bump or spook a bird. That is part of the game. but by being patient and being as aware of your surroundings as much as possible you can drasticly cut down the number of missed opportunities. Good luck!

[flatrock9]

Maybe I should rephrase.  I understand the need for patience.  I believe there are two ways to hunt.  1)Walk as much as you can till you stumble on a bird or 2)sit tight in an area that you know holds birds and call till something happens.

One of the areas I hunt lends itself well to the Run N Gun way of hunting.  I typically head into an area where I can hear for quite a while.  If nothing gobbles I start moving.  I walk some days 4-7 miles looking for a bird. 

Last season I hunted a new area one morning.  I was trying to get to the other side of a hollow where I heard a bird the previous day.  I had walked the ridge out the day I heard the bird and found good sign.  I was still a half mile from where I had heard the bird but decided to hunt it the next morning.

The morning I hunted I heard nothing on the roost.  So I back tracked to the area I found the sign.  I spent about an hour there before walking off quite a ways, Run N Gun style.  I ended up walking 6 miles according to my GPS. 

Hindsight I should have eased off the ridge and set up for the long haul. 

[Hognutz]

If I know that the area holds birds, patience is a must. I will hang on as long as I think that I have a chance. On the other hand, if I'm on the prowl, I will call, wait an appropriate amount of time and move on. You have to have patience here also, because obviously, not all toms gobble all the way in like they are supposed to. The best part of this scenario is that you never get two that are alike. That's what makes this sport so great...Mike

[charlie elk]

I believe there are two ways to hunt. 1)Walk as much as you can till you stumble on a bird or 2)sit tight in an area that you know holds birds and call till something happens.

You may be really limiting yourself thinking there are only 2 ways to hunt.  There are several variations-
strategic move and gun, move pause and gun, trolling, circle - sit and gun, leapfrog and gun, call leave for awhile - return and gun.  Flush em and call em back like in the fall can work in the spring too.
good hunting

[Bobbyparks]

Both methods work as do others..

I'm like you in that if I don't hear anything off the roost I may cover ground to find a bird.....but sometimes if I know the birds are roosting in an area pretty regularly and I don't hear em, I may cruise a little and then pick a spot and set up and do calling sequences at perodic intervals.
I may have to go on a hunch that they're there but being quiet...If I do then I'll commit one way or the other

Out west or on new ground I always move...I don't know enough about a place to commit to a spot.

I've killed alot of birds by doing just setting up and letting them do the moving.

I can remember when I first started hunting that I always walked and called no matter what and I know I bumped birds left and right.

I believe the trick is to know which days to implement or alter your approach in a way that will allow you to kill a bird on a particular days and under conditions of the day. Cover ground and find birds or let them cover ground and come close enough to your set up and hopefully play?

I may take one approach early and then set up later. I've even set up and then heard birds start getting vocal and alter and move then.

Like Charlie Elk mentioned there are ways of miixing methods that allows a slowed down version of covering ground or moving from spot to spot.

I believe if you interviewed hunters that were hardcore with either approach you'd find that they both kill turkeys and thats why they believ in what they do. If you hunt enough days your style will cross with the conditions. But if you have limited days like I do, the more you can make the right call and apporach, the better luck you'll have on that day.

Not sure this all makes sense but in my messed up brain it does.

I understand some will say they'll never hunt turkeys "deer hunting" style because it kind of is boring...right up until a bird gobbles and then the game is on. I understand we all think a little differently but I can be patient...if I have to...I just don't want to...what I can be is persistent with either and I'm too hardheaded to know when to quit

[flatrock9]

What I consider Run N Gun is really kind of all encompassing of what you mentioned Charlie.  There's the wide-open-walking-as-much-as-possible-hope-you-find-a-bird way of doing it, which I'll employ on huge tracts (or if I just feel like exploring new territory) and there's the slow approach, where 40 acres may be all I hunt in the morning.  I will still try to move around, but in a more measured approach.  I may be using Run N Gun out of context.

I'm just wondering if there are those of you that take the deer hunting approach, go to a spot and call till you get one in or time runs out.  I have a really hard time just sitting hoping a bird comes within range of my calls.  I would rather cover ground looking for a receptive bird. 

Only once have I tried a deer hunting type of hunt.  I used a pop up blind set up on a logging trail to wait out a bird during a rain storm.  It was more than I could stand.

[dewey]

I have never tried the run and gun, maybe this spring I will give it a shot-literally.  I usually set up in one spot that I have decieded upon by scouting and talking to the farmers or landowners I know and where they see the turkeys.  I set up a blind put out my 2 hen decoys and sit down and wait and then call periodically.  When I don't hear anything I will start reading a Tom Clancy book about shooting dirty rotten terrorists, kind of gets me in the mood to shoot turkeys or deer, not that I need any help.
 
Dewey

[redleg06]

I think it depends on alot of factors like how well you have scouted and know the area and what its potential is for number of birds and how those birds usually act through the day.

I generally know my area well and have a good idea of where the birds like to hang out.  I also know that we have a good number of gobblers in the areas I hunt and if I go to a spot that I know they frequent, patience will be the way to go.

[flatrock9]

That makes sense.  I generally can't scout one of the WMA's I hunt and have to rely on different techniques to find birds.

Some of the other areas I hunt get pressured so you just about HAVE to move around to find birds.  There are a few places where I can sit for a while.