School me on Camp Hope @ Sutherland Lake

[mazilla]

My partner and I drew Camp Hope for next Wed. Looking for any tips on hunting the area(heck, for turkey hunting in general)...my first thought is to hunt as close to The Corral as possible given it's reputation. This will the first turkey hunt for either of us(blind leading the blind) so I'm mainly looking forward to getting the first one under my belt and am not expecting to bag a bird unless it happens to land in my lap...or I can lure it in with a beer. ;D

 

[Chinny33]

omg, you are lucky. Ive been trying to draw for that for 3 years now!

As soon as you get into the parking lot at Sutherland (south west quadrant) the turkey's roost RIGHT next to the lot!

Fall turkey hunting is difficult because they wont typically readily respond or come to ANY call.

A few tricks that work:

1) The night before if you can, try to put them to bed, meaning, find the specific roosts they are in. Then in the morning, at dark o'clock be sitting within 20yds of that roost so you can shoot them at legal light

2) If you dont find them in the afternoon, at nighttime, again at dark o'clock, make Owl, Crow, or Peacock calls and wait to listen for their replies. Turkey's always fidget when they hear those noises at night. Its not a loud reply, so pay attention.

3) If you find a flock during the day, CHASE IT DOWN as fast as you can to try to break up the flock. (Personally, I use my dog for this. Its an upland bird, so its legal). When the flock is broken up, they're going to do everything they can to get back together. This is where you setup and start calling like crazy as if you are a lost turkey.


Try to aim for males! Females are legal in the fall, but again, try to aim for the males.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[mazilla]

^ Great tips, thank you!!


So I can just go to sutherland and walk it the evening before? I figured it would be off limits for some reason.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

I drew Bloomdale on opening day and didn't see any birds or much sign at all. I heard the other groups had a similar day. We had a great rowboat ride though.

 

[mazilla]

Bust at Sutherland. We set up near the playground until 8 then pushed the road back and forth to the corral at 5mph. We didn't come across a single turkey(sight or sound). The hunter for the corral never showed so we may or may not have accidentally stepped into that blind with the same results(I forgot the map, silly me). We did come across a puddle with three mallard drakes and two hens, a good 12-15 doe and two 6-8 point bucks...being good guests we decided to stick to turkey.