New Turkey Hunter

[ModernOutdoorsMan]

Question, fairly new hunter. Been deer hunting for few seasons but this is first turkey. How much are you movin' around in an area during the day? I've done some scouting in north jersey public land and was planning on running&gunning but I don't want to be bumping into other people pissin them off. 

[LPJR]

Welcome to the site M.O.Man.

Lots of good info and people on here who will be glad to give you insight for public land birds. I have not hunted them on public land, only private. Be safe and have fun....

[mazzgolf]

When running-n-gunning, you will risk running into other hunters. Nothing you can do about that. It happened to me last year. You just have to be safe, first and foremost. In my opinion, if you are close enough to see another hunter and you do not think he sees you, you may be better off just calling out to him to make your presence known, and realize with two guys (or more) moving around in the area, the birds are probably not there anyway, so don't think by you calling out you screwed up someone else's hunt (and your own). Better safe than someone shooting you.

That said, when I run-and-gun, I'll slowly walk and let out a yelp or two every so often to see if I can entice a gobble. If you fear risking calling too much and de-sensitizing the birds or shutting them up, you can try a owl or crow call to entice a shock gobble. I run-n-gun in areas that I know birds MIGHT be, but I'm not sure if THEY ARE there. So I do this to cover a lot of ground to hopefully catch a gobbler sound off far in the distance. If I hear a gobble, then it is game on, try to judge where he is, where you think he is going, and set up by a tree nearby. Sit and call him in the rest of the way. 

 

[hunterbob1]

Welcome M.O.Man.I commemerate You on asking this question.Shows respect.You mentioned North Jersey.Well there's alotta land to cover.Wawayonder and Newark water shed come to mind.I've been successfull in both.Here's my take.Being you've scouted you should have a pretty good idea now where you would like to greet the sun rise.That said be in your set up (no flashlight) 1/2 before sunrise. So think of it as deer hunting. You wouldn't want someone tramping through the woods within at least the first 3 or  hour's.After that I'd say your good to go on your journey! Enjoy!be safe!

[Bucndoe]

You will probably hear another hunter before you bump into him/her. I keep a small orange hat in my vest just in case while moving, I don't trust anyone outside my household with a gun in their hands, especially on public land. Go slow and look around hard. If you hear a gobble sit down and set up real quick. I have taken plenty of birds within ten minutes of getting a gobble while walking around,

[ModernOutdoorsMan]

Appreciate it guys, that was mostly what I was expecting to hear. I'll be in the DWG tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. And unfortunately I wish I realized my name was M.O.M. before I used it 

[Bucndoe]

1 minute ago, ModernOutdoorsMan said:

Appreciate it guys, that was mostly what I was expecting to hear. I'll be in the DWG tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. And unfortunately I wish I realized my name was M.O.M. before I used it 

Reminds me of Doctor Detroit