TURKEY'S public or private.

steveo007

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2011
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chula vista
Just wondering if its just me? seems like all the good amounts of birds are on private land.having to call them to your side of the fence
with no chance to relocate or head them off at the pass,dont get me wrong I don't mind this type of hunting,just curious,and would like
some of your guys input,knowlege is the key to success.thanks.
 
That's what I hear from 99% of the turkey hunters in San Diego county. They are unpressured on private land and know to stay there. Gotta catch them either in route from or in route to their safe havens. But I've never gotten one, just lots of reading, so what do I know!
 
It all depends on what kind of private land. I think the local parks, county preserves and state land hold the bulk of the birds since they get little to no hunting pressure. For example, on My Country Club, there aren't a whole lot of birds roosted on the hunting property once the hunting season is under way because of the hunting pressure. Its literally just like hunting public land without having other guys bump your spot. But on adjacent private property, you'll have 30 to 40 birds roosted in various areas that also travel onto hunting property.

There used to be a decent amount of birds that would roost on a regular basis on public land (noble canyon, kitchen creek, palomar, areas near eagle peak rd, etc.) but with the large amount of hunters that began hunting these areas, all the birds relocated to nearby private property to get away from the pressure. Even Love Valley at one point had turkeys roosting in it. I once counted 3 gobblers and 6 hens in Love Valley back in 99'.
 
Yep I've been frustrated with a particular group of birds that roost in a small fenced in, off limits area that is surrounded on both sides by huntable CNF. Problem is, I can't draw them onto the huntable portion. Their routine after flydown is to head directly across the street onto more unhuntable land. They know where they're safe.
 
When I used to hunt CNF, my favorite tactic was to go into spots after all the hunters called it quits. I use calls with different sounds (raspy, higher pitch, etc) and set up right on private/public boundary and call birds onto public land. One thing to take into consideration is by now these turkeys have heard all of the off the shelf turkey calls and the non stop 20min yelping from box calls. In order to sound different, you need to practice listening to real hen talk and act like a real hen. Change your cadence, tone down calls to match what hens are doing currently, change the deflection in the stress in your yelps, throw out some keekee's with your yelping, and most important don't over call.

If you know the travel path of the turkeys, leave decoys at home and set up in an ambush spot or on a known strut zone. If you know where the birds are strutting, put a single hen feeder in the area and just sit and wait. All if these are known turkey killing tactics that I have learned from veteran turkeys hunters and they really work well. Here's a scenario I use several time in one particular spot on CNF that is very popular but is always completely free of hunters after 11AM.

My routine was hunt a area that's right next to a state park that required a long hike. If I didn't get a bird there by 10AM, I would hit the road to a popular spot and either wait for hunters to leave or hunt away from others. I would set up right next to a hill over looking boulder creek road, put out a single feeder hen and call using a mouth call that has a very natural sound. I would take 15min naps and call in between my naps. Usually 8 times out of 10, I would get a gobbler in the same spot every season (two out of the same spot in 2003).
 
Gene's right mid day when they leave or after lunch or even better midweek. I do the same for archery deer in the crowded areas.

I normally only hunt opening weekend and then midweek if I can when I can.
 
Yea the spot I hunt gets packed in the morning but everyone clears out by 11am or even 10. Between 10 and 1pm there's occasionally a gobbler that'll wander the valley but I haven't been able to close the deal yet. Might try again tomorrow.
 

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