road turkey hunting

AT Hiker

AT Hiker

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Or whatever you want to label it. Reading the road hunting thread got me thinking.

First; is it illegal to drive around a public road, park your vehicle, locate call, either go after a turkey if he gobbles or move on to your next locating point. This method is a way to cover a whole lot of ground on a large expanse of public ground, broken or unbroken tracks.

Second; My method is to park, call, if the the track of land is large, then I will go in for a run and gun method of hunting. If I have no luck, I will then hike back to the truck and move on to another place. Is this illegal?

I really see no ethics issues here, if you have large amounts of land to hunt this way and you dont then you are simply handicapping yourself. Especially if you know the land, there are certain places turkeys just do not use. So you move on to the next ridge a mile away.

If it is illegal, then there are a lot of ignorant people hunting public land.

If you disagree with it, how do you hunt such places? Trust me, I love walking, heck I have walked from Georgia to dang near Virgina on the the appalachian trail.
 
The two guys that got a ticket on Natchez Trace WMA will say it is illegal...I see it happening all the time there and at LBL.

I do not do it because I prefer to be in the woods at daylight and hunt the old fashioned way (and I think it is illegal). ;)
 
I despise the drive and call stuff. I don't deal with much of it from roads but atvs running ridge lines and calling are a gigantic issue around here. I've had tons of hunts ruined by some jack leg riding all over me calling. I'm sure it works but it is incredibly selfish and disrespectful to other hunters. Many times these yahoos will ride miles and miles and ruin hunts for lots of people they never knew were in the woods.

Growing up folks walked to where they hunted now they've gotten so lazy they feel they have to drive an atv to their spot. God forbid getting a little exercise
 
While I believe what you have described is indeed legal, on a WMA like AEDC, your not going to get many replies, the birds are conditioned that trucks stops, then a hen call, is bad juju.
 
TheRealSpurhunter said:
While I believe what you have described is indeed legal, on a WMA like AEDC, your not going to get many replies, the birds are conditioned that trucks stops, then a hen call, is bad juju.
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x2!!
 
Not illegal.

There are places where one can hear a bird for close to a mile in all directions if the wind is calm.

But, there is no use in using a locator call. If he's gonna gobble, there are enough crows, geese, cows, mules, roosters, distant train horns, etc to get him to sound off.

Now, getting to them can be tough :D !
 
TheRealSpurhunter said:
While I believe what you have described is indeed legal, on a WMA like AEDC, your not going to get many replies, the birds are conditioned that trucks stops, then a hen call, is bad juju.
Click to expand...

Totally agree! Never hunted AEDC but most public places I hunt are just the same.

When I hunted Alabama last year, we hiked in almost 1 mile before sunrise where we had seen turkey sign. As it got closer to sun up we heard a elk bugle about every 10 mins, you get visualize the road the hunters where driving on as they made a huge circle. Lucky for us, the birds never gobbled on roost and only gobble a few times after fly down. We killed one that came in basically silent, wish he made more noise but it was still a fun hunt as we were able to watch them for over 1 hour before they decided to come and check us out.
 
TLRanger said:
The two guys that got a ticket on Natchez Trace WMA will say it is illegal...I see it happening all the time there and at LBL.

I do not do it because I prefer to be in the woods at daylight and hunt the old fashioned way (and I think it is illegal). ;)
Click to expand...

I am always in the woods at daylight, whether I know a bird is in there or not. Never understood why people drive around in the early morning hours looking for Eastern turkeys. Merriams are a little different because they gobble so darn early and the terrain is so freaking huge, plus the rarely roost in the same location as the previous morning.
 
Setterman said:
I despise the drive and call stuff. I don't deal with much of it from roads but atvs running ridge lines and calling are a gigantic issue around here. I've had tons of hunts ruined by some jack leg riding all over me calling. I'm sure it works but it is incredibly selfish and disrespectful to other hunters. Many times these yahoos will ride miles and miles and ruin hunts for lots of people they never knew were in the woods.

Growing up folks walked to where they hunted now they've gotten so lazy they feel they have to drive an atv to their spot. God forbid getting a little exercise
Click to expand...

Im talking more of main paved roads that typically border a property, not ATV trails. I dont know why anyone would drive a ATV through the turkey woods, unless your handicapped of course.

For selfish reasons I would love to see public places be virtually designated wilderness. No ATV, vehicle, or wheeled access allowed off main roads. I would also like to see most roads closed during turkey season, LBL sort of does this in one section.
 
I agree knightrider, not thats its road hunting but the simple fact the way the law reads it appears it is road hunting. But if you walked 50 yards into the woods would it be road hunting? You see, its a grey area to me and one that should be addressed.

Many years ago I had lots of places to turkey hunt, we would hunt one farm and if we struck out we would head to the next. First thing we would do when we got out was hit some kind of call to see if a bird was near, if he wasnt we would go for a walk. If one gobbled we would make a quick plan to go after him. I really dont see the issue with this, but after reading the deer road hunting thread I am wondering if I broke the law every weeekend when I was in high school.
 
reckon bear hunters with their dogs tied on top of the dog boxes riding the roads waiting on them to scent 1 is legal? ,seen a lot of that in Tellico over the years
 
mike243 said:
reckon bear hunters with their dogs tied on top of the dog boxes riding the roads waiting on them to scent 1 is legal? ,seen a lot of that in Tellico over the years
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Good question and a new perspective for me. Never bear hunted, only hunted rabbits with dogs a couple times and didnt care much for it, so Im a little biased on using dogs to hunt with.
 
Final steps TC said:
If that was the case TWRA could have a hay day at Chuck Swann just about every morning there is a hunt !!
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No kidding, it has become laughable to dopes driving and calling. My favorite was last year when I was taking a nap on a ridge above my truck, some tool comes by stops behind my truck and rips off the worst yelps ever on a box. I naturally answered him first with a soft yelp followed by the most thunderous gobble I could muster on my mouth call. Rather than leave the guy literally slipped out of his truck and used my tire as a backrest to begin a non stop 10 min barrage of yelps, cuts, and cackles before I ruined it all by hollering that he might want to try a better set up. He was mad and called me an a hole.
 
Don't see a problem with it! Would much rather do that than sit in a blind and deer hunt them all day, just my opinion!
 
Legal/illegal/ethical/unethical...whatever..some birds will definitely get conditioned to it. I was set up on a ridge last year with two gobblers hammering, about 200 yards from the road. A guy pulls up in a regular listening spot and the birds shut up. He calls...nothing. Both birds went back to hammering as soon as he cranks the truck back up.
 
Setterman said:
Final steps TC said:
If that was the case TWRA could have a hay day at Chuck Swann just about every morning there is a hunt !!
Click to expand...

No kidding, it has become laughable to dopes driving and calling. My favorite was last year when I was taking a nap on a ridge above my truck, some tool comes by stops behind my truck and rips off the worst yelps ever on a box. I naturally answered him first with a soft yelp followed by the most thunderous gobble I could muster on my mouth call. Rather than leave the guy literally slipped out of his truck and used my tire as a backrest to begin a non stop 10 min barrage of yelps, cuts, and cackles before I ruined it all by hollering that he might want to try a better set up. He was mad and called me an a hole.
Click to expand...
that's funny, will remember that if someone pulls that move on me on public land
 
Bullfrog said:
Legal/illegal/ethical/unethical...whatever..some birds will definitely get conditioned to it. I was set up on a ridge last year with two gobblers hammering, about 200 yards from the road. A guy pulls up in a regular listening spot and the birds shut up. He calls...nothing. Both birds went back to hammering as soon as he cranks the truck back up.
Click to expand...

Ditto. Had a similar situation a few years ago. I heard the truck approach and stop, and soon the crow call started.

I was whispering, "Don't gobble, don't gobble, don't gobble!"

He didn't, and after the truck left, a few soft clucks and purrs got him fired back up again :) !
 
TheRealSpurhunter said:
While I believe what you have described is indeed legal, on a WMA like AEDC, your not going to get many replies, the birds are conditioned that trucks stops, then a hen call, is bad juju.
Click to expand...
And if you happen to be working a bird anywhere in the area when the truck stops, and the hen talks, kiss him goodbye.
 

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