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Early greenup

WORM82

WORM82

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
2,886
Location
Jonesborough TN
I'm in the minority of hunters that would rather turkey hunt before the woods start getting green but looks like this year it will be green before season starts.
 
Sign me up for an early spring every year. 2012 is the most extreme example I know of. It was 93* opening weekend and basically full foliage. Heard tons of "hell, they'll already be done" speculation and I was worried too. I don't know if hens actually nested early so gobblers were lonely, if the early green-up just forced them to gobble more and look harder for hens, or if there was just a bumper crop hatch in '09-'10. But the hunting was awesome.
 
The green up is happening fast! I'm looking forward to the challenge of hunting them with my bow in the jungle...


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I think they work better with some green on the trees because they can't see is far. But I like a late spring and I like it to be terrible opening day so that lots of the posers stay home or not kill any. [emoji3]


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I don't care one way or the other except that it makes it somewhat harder for me to course a birds direction when the woods leaf out. On the other hand it's easier to set up close or re-position on a bird when it all green. 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of another...it's a tradeoff.
 
Andy S.":2gfztfcw said:
I'll adjust and be in the woods, regardless of where the foliage is. C'mon April!
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Same here. Different tactics for different conditions. That's what hunting is all about - being adaptive.

I personally like when everything is leafed out and quite windy. I like to sneak up on them to see how close I can get. It is challenging and fun under the right conditions
 
Southern Sportsman":3i4wqb6i said:
Sign me up for an early spring every year. 2012 is the most extreme example I know of. It was 93* opening weekend and basically full foliage. Heard tons of "hell, they'll already be done" speculation and I was worried too. I don't know if hens actually nested early so gobblers were lonely, if the early green-up just forced them to gobble more and look harder for hens, or if there was just a bumper crop hatch in '09-'10. But the hunting was awesome.
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Same here.... let some of those hens get on that nest early.
 
Hens dont initiate nests based on temps.... rather photoperiods.

Personally, my favorite time to kill turkeys (when its easiest for me) is when trees and leaves have put on the first small leaves. Some cover in the woods, but not so thick where they cant hear you or you cant hear them more than 200y away.

I dont care for bare naked woods, but I HATE complete greenup at the end of season trying to run and gun.

Gonna be a lot of ticks and maybe even chiggers this turkey season

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I despise the open winter woods. Birds hang up, can't move and it's overall a crap experience. I love green woods with close quarters combat and being able to slide in tight
 
I'm an open woods guy myself. I have very little timber to hunt and for whatever reason it just seems the field birds are much more responsive to calling in my parts before greenup. I LOVE the years where we get to hunt the last couple days of March.
 
Southern Sportsman":27wguiag said:
Sign me up for an early spring every year. 2012 is the most extreme example I know of. It was 93* opening weekend and basically full foliage. Heard tons of "hell, they'll already be done" speculation and I was worried too. I don't know if hens actually nested early so gobblers were lonely, if the early green-up just forced them to gobble more and look harder for hens, or if there was just a bumper crop hatch in '09-'10. But the hunting was awesome.
Click to expand...

Hunted all over the U.S. that year and experienced the same pretty much everywhere. That season was definitely an anomaly and proves there's more to it than strictly photoperiod.
 
Southern Sportsman":3dc2xtyl said:
Sign me up for an early spring every year. 2012 is the most extreme example I know of. It was 93* opening weekend and basically full foliage. Heard tons of "hell, they'll already be done" speculation and I was worried too. I don't know if hens actually nested early so gobblers were lonely, if the early green-up just forced them to gobble more and look harder for hens, or if there was just a bumper crop hatch in '09-'10. But the hunting was awesome.
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I've never seen anything like that year. It was pure insanity, I could've killed 50 birds that season if I was an outlaw. Every day was a gobbling fest and workable birds everywhere I went each day.
 
th88":1m7em8oe said:
Southern Sportsman":1m7em8oe said:
Sign me up for an early spring every year. 2012 is the most extreme example I know of. It was 93* opening weekend and basically full foliage. Heard tons of "hell, they'll already be done" speculation and I was worried too. I don't know if hens actually nested early so gobblers were lonely, if the early green-up just forced them to gobble more and look harder for hens, or if there was just a bumper crop hatch in '09-'10. But the hunting was awesome.
Click to expand...

Hunted all over the U.S. that year and experienced the same pretty much everywhere. That season was definitely an anomaly and proves there's more to it than strictly photoperiod.
Click to expand...

X2 and nobody will convince me otherwise.
 
Southern Sportsman":1yqyrhw3 said:
Sign me up for an early spring every year. 2012 is the most extreme example I know of. It was 93* opening weekend and basically full foliage. Heard tons of "hell, they'll already be done" speculation and I was worried too. I don't know if hens actually nested early so gobblers were lonely, if the early green-up just forced them to gobble more and look harder for hens, or if there was just a bumper crop hatch in '09-'10. But the hunting was awesome.
Click to expand...
i remember that season, was my second year killing turkeys, and I remember working a hard gobbling bird during the last few days of season in mid-May. My setup was terrible as I didn't know what I was doing but that bird was as ready to play as any gobbler I've called in.


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megalomaniac":1591qkkx said:
Gonna be a lot of ticks and maybe even chiggers this turkey season

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NOT CHIGGERS :shock:
Don't even joke about that

I remember 07 too. Opening weekend was unreal then I woke up in Alaska

I think 2012 was the year I was walking across a field back to the Truck and literally stepped on a hen that was on a nest. That's on here somewhere, gonna see if I can find it
 

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