Heading to mississippi

[megalomaniac]

man it really is tough hunting down there. I was hunting on 1500acres of private property, my nephew lives on it and knows it well. Mostly pine stands with some oak bottoms but geez its just THICK everywhere. Even in the open pines its lots and lots of privite thats chest high with open spots in it. You can see a long ways but due to the habitat you cant see turkeys but they can easily see you, plus there is just not A LOT of turkeys around. Plenty to hunt but nothing like here in TN or where I grew up in bama.

Having said that we were on birds every hunt and had oppurtunities a few times but they always came in silent and due to the pines I never heard them till it was too late or they just wouldnt commit. My nephew was able to finally connect this morning on one so it wasnt a wash and it was fun hunting but man that type of hunting will humble you.

good example. I heard prob 5 different toms in the past 3 days at all times of the day and we covered a lot of ground every day. Hunted sun up to sun down, and in that time I actually saw with my own eyes a total of 3 hens and 1 tom (3 times I had a bird gobbling within 70yds gobbling at calls and never could see them). The rest I could only hear them or find tracts ect. Its obvious they were around but man just getting eyes on them in tough.

Gotta remember... the birds in SE MS are the original wild turkeys. Never been restocked from birds elsewhere, been hunted by humans for a thousand years. They aren't the same animal. Population density is low to nonexistent in most places. If you heard birds on a 2d trip, it was a win. 3y ago I only heard 2 birds gobble in 31 or 32 days hunting down here.

They don't mind walking thru the thick stuff that would hang up a TN bird... heck last year I had one on public blowing the barn doors off at 35y on public and I couldn't see him.

Unfortunately down here most birds that get killed are over corn feeders on a food plot by folks sitting in a shooting house. There aren't many old generation turkey hunters left, and those that are left seem to be dying off. There's still some good ones down here... who abide by the creed, and are happy to leave the woods empty handed as long as they heard a gobble.

 

[REN]

Gotta remember... the birds in SE MS are the original wild turkeys. Never been restocked from birds elsewhere, been hunted by humans for a thousand years. They aren't the same animal. Population density is low to nonexistent in most places. If you heard birds on a 2d trip, it was a win. 3y ago I only heard 2 birds gobble in 31 or 32 days hunting down here.

They don't mind walking thru the thick stuff that would hang up a TN bird... heck last year I had one on public blowing the barn doors off at 35y on public and I couldn't see him.

Unfortunately down here most birds that get killed are over corn feeders on a food plot by folks sitting in a shooting house. There aren't many old generation turkey hunters left, and those that are left seem to be dying off. There's still some good ones down here... who abide by the creed, and are happy to leave the woods empty handed as long as they heard a gobble.

Man so true. They gobble different and move completely different through the habitat which threw me off. Was a great experience and I feel like on his place had a had a few more days I could have connected all the dots and finished the deal.

I was just happy I was so close on more then one occasion and now I have a mission to get back down there every spring till I put it all together

 

[megalomaniac]

Man so true. They gobble different and move completely different through the habitat which threw me off. Was a great experience and I feel like on his place had a had a few more days I could have connected all the dots and finished the deal.

I was just happy I was so close on more then one occasion and now I have a mission to get back down there every spring till I put it all together

If you can come for a week at all possible, I would. That's the amount of time I would feel comfortable saying a good turkey hunter should be able to kill a bird if there are birds around the area.

You can get lucky and stumble into a hot bird that commits suicide within 15 minutes of striking him at any time, but that's very few and even further between.

I've changed the way I typically hunt this year, sticking to a bird for at least 4 to 5 hours even though he isn't on the property I can hunt instead of covering 6 or 7 miles a day trying to get lucky and stumble into a hot bird. It isn't working out well for me, and I'm getting a bit frustrated. In fact, I've yet to have a tom on the private I can hunt, as well as the public this year. And I've hunted 13 days already.

 

[Rainbowtrout1]

If you can come for a week at all possible, I would. That's the amount of time I would feel comfortable saying a good turkey hunter should be able to kill a bird if there are birds around the area.

You can get lucky and stumble into a hot bird that commits suicide within 15 minutes of striking him at any time, but that's very few and even further between.

I've changed the way I typically hunt this year, sticking to a bird for at least 4 to 5 hours even though he isn't on the property I can hunt instead of covering 6 or 7 miles a day trying to get lucky and stumble into a hot bird. It isn't working out well for me, and I'm getting a bit frustrated. In fact, I've yet to have a tom on the private I can hunt, as well as the public this year. And I've hunted 13 days already.

In your opinion what is the reason for a lack of birds? It seems like the habitat is certainly there. I'm just curious why there aren't better numbers especially in the south

 

[megalomaniac]

In your opinion what is the reason for a lack of birds? It seems like the habitat is certainly there. I'm just curious why there aren't better numbers especially in the south

habitat SUCKS down here. Like Ren said, pines loaded underneath with impenetrable thickets of privet and yaupon. turkeys get picked off left and right in there. Forest service burns blocks every 5-7 years, too far apart.... so too little brooding cover, but decent nesting cover. Then you have all the outlaws that start hunting mid February when they first start gobbling. And don't stop hunting until all the birds are dead. Ninjas with pocketknives and ziplock bags everywhere down here.

 

[tntrkkllr]

habitat SUCKS down here. Like Ren said, pines loaded underneath with impenetrable thickets of privet and yaupon. turkeys get picked off left and right in there. Forest service burns blocks every 5-7 years, too far apart.... so too little brooding cover, but decent nesting cover. Then you have all the outlaws that start hunting mid February when they first start gobbling. And don't stop hunting until all the birds are dead. Ninjas with pocketknives and ziplock bags everywhere down here.

100 dollar non resident turkey stamp they signed into effect will fix everything

 

[Jbird22]

Unfortunately down here most birds that get killed are over corn feeders on a food plot by folks sitting in a shooting house.

Then you have all the outlaws that start hunting mid February when they first start gobbling. And don't stop hunting until all the birds are dead. Ninjas with pocketknives and ziplock bags everywhere down here.

I've got a remedy for both ... 1-800-BE-SMART

 

[REN]

In your opinion what is the reason for a lack of birds? It seems like the habitat is certainly there. I'm just curious why there aren't better numbers especially in the south

yeah the habitat just cant support it. Yes there is LOTS of it but very sandy soil and not a ton of food for them, add in predators and other factors and you just wont have a ton of them. That 1500 acres prob had a total of 50 turkeys on it at any given time and prob only 5 of those male by my estimation based on tracks and camera pics. Of that 1500 acres prob 70% of it is pines with a ton of invasive ground shrubs. Even the food plots they plant dont do great just do to the soil type.

From a majority of forests I saw around there they just dont manage it very well. Some burn but privet and others once they get a certain size fire wont knock them back, at that point you have to slash and spray or machine clear it and then burn. 99% of the people down there wont do that. Even the oak bottom areas are THICK AS ALL GET OUT

 

[Spurhunter]

We have access to several parcels in the area we hunt. My cousin and I split up this weekend to cover more ground. It rained off and on all day Saturday and we didn't hear a bird but l had something interesting happen. I'll tell that story in another post. Sunday I hunted a small 60 acre parcel and had a bird gobbling on the ground at crows but wouldn't answer a call. I got within a hundred yards of him but couldn't see him. He was moving toward the line and didn't have far to go. I'm assuming he had hens. Small parcels are tough but this one has some of best turkey habitat around and I absolutely love it. They just ain't ready yet is what everyone is saying. I don't know enough about turkey killing to have a theory.