Run N Gun or Patience?

[tracebusta32]

Both ways can be effective, the biggest advantage will be knowing the terrian and the movements of the birds your hunting.
If I am in an area I'm not able to scout thoroughly I may sit still a little longer where I see some sign. When I hunt the usual acreage I move from spot to spot until I locate birds.

[wseested]

I will use a locator call first thing in the morning to help point me in the right direction, but otherwise I prefer to sit and wait in an area where I know birds will be passing through, such as open fields or near creek beds. I think you have a better chance of drawing birds in by sitting still and calling than you do chasing them all around the woods all day. Another thing to consider, if you are hunting public lands like many of us do, it's not very safe walking through the woods any more than is necessary.

[Struttin Spurs]

I used to be a run and gun hunter, but now I am much more patient. I seem to have better luck when I slow things down and limit my movement. Even when I am tempted to move I usually have some sort of luck by making myself stay put.

[Everyday Hunter]

ORIGINAL: Struttin Spurs

I used to be a run and gun hunter, but now I am much more patient. I seem to have better luck when I slow things down and limit my movement. Even when I am tempted to move I usually have some sort of luck by making myself stay put.

"Run and gun"? "Run" -- and you mess up the silent birds while bumping everything in the woods. "Gun" -- not sure what that means but it sounds like the hunter does a lot of shooting. I never "run and gun." I "sneak and speak." It gives me more opportunity to do the "gun" part.

Steve

[Turkeybuster]

ORIGINAL: Everyday Hunter

ORIGINAL: Struttin Spurs

I used to be a run and gun hunter, but now I am much more patient. I seem to have better luck when I slow things down and limit my movement. Even when I am tempted to move I usually have some sort of luck by making myself stay put.

"Run and gun"? "Run" -- and you mess up the silent birds while bumping everything in the woods. "Gun" -- not sure what that means but it sounds like the hunter does a lot of shooting. I never "run and gun." I "sneak and speak." It gives me more opportunity to do the "gun" part.

Steve

X2 STEVE
Jon

[flatrock9]

Run and Gun is really just a figure of speech.  Trolling is probably a better way of describing the method. 

I have a hard time waiting on a bird to come in silent if I don't even know he exists.  I can wait plenty long enough if I hear one on the roost and he goes silent.  But what I am talking about is when you go in and don't hear anything at first light.

Do you sit tight and spend the remainder of your time in a small area or (if tract size allows) do you "troll", walking and calling at different intervals?  I like to troll, looking for a bird that is hot rather than sitting in an area waiting for something to happen. 

My original question was wondering if anyone has success just sitting in an area waiting.

[Fan Club]

ORIGINAL: flatrock9
My original question was wondering if anyone has success just sitting in an area waiting.

Yes. Great success. But places like that only come to you after you have hunted the same property for several seasons. I wouldn't recommend it for just strolling into your local WMA and plopping down at a "likely" looking spot.

The first couple seasons we hunted our 450 acre Missouri lease, I noticed the birds preferred a back corner of a pasture on the east end for a mid day strut zone. I couldn't get closer than a hundred yards to the area by ditch, woodpile or anything else if the birds beat me there. The third year I built a brush blind under the only tree in the corner. The next day I killed a gobbler there at 11:00 a.m. The next season I tagged a tom there just before 1:00 p.m. I've taken five gobblers from the same brush blind in seven seasons. By sitting and waiting.

The brush blind has been integrated into the way I now hunt the farm. I'll start at the west end near roosting areas for flydown. I'll hunt there until around 8:30 a.m. and then slowly work my way east down the back creek calling occasionally and maybe working a setup or two. But by 10:30 or so I can be found at the brush blind. Places like that are called "honey holes" for a reason.

As others have noted, I think you'll find that sage turkey hunters will let the land they are hunting and their knowledge of it dictate their style. If you limit your style by pre-determining that you're going to be a "run and gunner" because you don't have the patience to sit, you're actually limiting your opportunity for success.

Here in southern Michigan the land is mostly broken up into small parcels and farms. You can't afford to walk all over a spot, you'll just push the birds onto a neighboring property where someone else can shoot them. If I have a lot of property to hunt, I'm much more likely to cover some ground and try to locate birds, in that situation that's the higher percentage play. Now would be a good time to mention the "Woods Wide Alarm System." For you less experienced hunters, just because you haven't seen turkeys running doesn't mean you are not bumping birds. The critters are all in cahoots and spooked deer, nervous squirrels and sprinting rabbits will all alert turkeys that something is amiss and there is an intruder in an area. Consider that factor next time you plan your hunt for an area.

Sitting and waiting can be a deadly tactic. It just has to be the right place at the right time.

[eggshell]

I think I agree, wha I do is more like trolling. slowly moving about to see if I get any bites on my calling, then stopping and working an area when I get a hit.

Fan Club made me think on his post. We have discussed many hunting methods on here and the feeling is that if you move slowly enough and observant enough you won't be spooking birds. News flash....if your moving your spooking birds. It's just that by being careful we try to keep the spooking to a minimum. I have wondered if I'm not better off just strolling through an area without using a stalking mode. I have spent many ,many days on public ground and many hours of it sitting. I have also watched many turkeys in fields and along road settings. First I can think of at least a couple of times I witnessed turkeys running for there life and then see a hunter moving through. I have talked to some of them and not one ever realized he spooked birds. I once sat down at a prearranged waiting spot to meet my buddy. I was about a half hour early, so things calmed down and all of a sudden i see a turkey head then the whole gobbler. I watched that bird mill around and all of a sudden he comes to attention and i look off in the distance and here comes my buddy nonchalantly strolling in. well that gobbler moved just up the hill and stopped by a tree and watched, all the time I'm trying to signal the gobbler's presence to my buddy. He finally yells, "I'm coming be patient" and I yell back look to your left there's a gobbler...soon as he looked the gobbler flys. I have also noticed birds along roads ignore traffic until a vehicle stops, then they are all looking. I have also watched birds move a short distance from mushroom hunters and then basically ignore them. Now I'm not saying your gonna get to work birds that saw you, but if your moving through an area I'm not sure you shouldn't just stroll through and not try to slip through in hunting mode. You can also use terrain to hide you, as just noise will not spook birds as bad. All in all I have not decided which is best myself, but wondering?

[Cut N Run]

Even though I go by Cut N Run, my screen name ought to be Sit N Wait if it reflected my most common hunting method.  The places I hunt are usually pretty thick with limited sight distances. We have some wide open areas on the lease, but the turkeys don't spend as much time there as they do around the cutovers. They seem to prefer small openings where the woods transitions from heavy cover to more open hardwoods.  I'm more likely to bump birds if I try to move on 'em too much around the thick areas.
 
Like Jeff, we have a few small brush blinds built at key locations around the lease. I can't say how many times we've been calling from those blinds and had birds come up behind where we couldn't shoot (or even see) the turkeys. Though we probably would have already been busted if we weren't in the blinds.
 
If we hear gobbling from one area and can get to the closest blind, we sometimes do.  Many times I have gotten the hot feet, made a move towards a gobble, and ended up hearing gobbles coming from where I had originally been set up.  I'd have probably had a better chance at that gobbler if I'd just held tight. That'll stuff will make you crazy.
 
Jim

[tracebusta32]

I like to let the turkeys dicatate how I will go after them, if they are responsive to my calls I will try to get in front of them or call from an area I think the will eventually head to.
I think turkeys seem to like open areas moreso than thick area so I will usually head to some open fields or open hardwoods.