Run N Gun or Patience?

[fightingspurs]

I prefer sitting. I roost them the night before and also set up my decoys then the next morning get in at o dark thirty sitting and alot of patience .Were im at in ny i dont have to wait long... Good hunting

[shaman]

Run 'n Gun  has held very little success for me over the years.  I don't practice it much, but I'm not going to knock it. 

I'm hunting a single 200 acre parcel.   I have gotten so I have certain set spots.  If the turkeys are active in spot A, I go hunt A.  If that doesn't pan out, I try and get up and go try B or C.  By then, it's time to go in have coffee and start glassing for them out in the pastures.  By the time I hang up the shotgun and start thinking about declaring Happy Hour, I may have gotten up to L, M, N, and spent half the afternoon lurking at O with a good book until I was sure the birds were going to roost.    It isn't Run 'n Gun, but I won't say I sit tight in one spot dawn to dusk either.  The trick is that I try and make my moves for some reason.  It may not be much of a reason, in fact it may just be a wild hunch, but over time I figure that the gobblers and I are going to meet up.

Now I can see if you're hunting large tracts, public lands and so on that  running and gunning might have appeal. If you look at it as armed scouting, you can cover a lot of ground in one outing.   It's just that if I did much of it, I'd go a half mile or so at most and be to the end of my property.  The one time of year where I could conceivably be on the move more is that period of the season where lone gobblers are trolling about and gobbling down every little hollow looking for a midday hookup.  That is a behavior I've seen, but not too often.  Usually the season is in its last stages before I see it, or I find them doing that right after season.  Even then, I try to get out and scout ahead of those times and pattern the gobbler; I've seen them take the same track 2-3 days in a row, making a circuit of a mile or more 2-3 times in a day.  I try to be in a good spot to hook up with them, and then just wait for the gob to circle on past.  On those days, gobblers will come almost at a dead run from 300 yards out if they hear a hen yelping. 

[flatrock9]

Good stuff guys.

I had been thinking about something that happened last season.  On one of our hunts last year I spent the better part of the morning trolling.  A couple of guys with us had chased a bird that morning and went back to the area after lunch.

After a couple hours and a nap in the same spot they had an opportunity and ended up missing a bird by "still hunting".  It worked for them cause they knew the birds would be there.

[thunderchicken]

good question!
 
I love to run and gun but I will practice patience when set up before dawn! I do not have much luck roosting birds so I usually like to wander hardwood ridges and secluded bottoms looking for a response in known turkey woods!