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What time in the morning?

catman529

catman529

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Saturday morning I want to be out there as early as possible without being unnecessarily early....

Let's say 1 hour from the house to the hunting spot. That's about right... and it's public land, someone else could show up so I want to at least get a shot at parking there first. I am deciding between leaving at 3.30 or 4am. Sun rise is closer to 7am. Should be light in the sky around 6am if I am correct. I want to be there in pitch black and try and get set up before anyone else can show up. If that's possible... who knows how dedicated some people can be.

When would you recommend leaving? I could always use the extra 1/2 hour of sleep but I am still thinking of waking up at 3 and leaving at 3.30. I'd have over an hour of pitch black sky to get set up and start listening for toms sounding off. But is it too early? If it were private land, I'd head out an hour later but I want to be there first if possible.. like I said.

What would you do in this case? And what will you be doing yourself on saturday, assuming you're going opening morning, what time will you be there and public or private land?
 
Last week they were sounding off at 6:19. This week there sounding off at 6:10. I plan on being in my spot and set up by 5:30.
 
I knew a guy that hunted yanahali and when he hunted there, he arrived at about midnight and slept in his truck till about 4 then walked to where he was going. Some people are very determined to get their spot, but it sounds like you have a good plan.
 
DrenalinXT08 said:
I knew a guy that hunted yanahali and when he hunted there, he arrived at about midnight and slept in his truck till about 4 then walked to where he was going. Some people are very determined to get their spot, but it sounds like you have a good plan.
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Considering I get off work around 11pm on Friday night, that might not be such a bad idea.

Sunrise is 6:33am according to weather.com. Better check the "legal" sunrise table just to be sure so I know when to shoot legally....
 
in public land spots, it is always good to get in early so you can watch "goobers" show up right before light and you can adjust your strategy accordingly. There is a good chance you will see someone at some point while hunting public land(if there are birds there making noise you can almost guarantee someone else has seen or heard em too)and also a good chance they will be hunting the same birds you are. Keep your operation simple, don't take a bunch of stuff with you. After you think you got a simple operation, ditch 50% of that stuff and you will be ready to go. You're young and don't need a bunch of water and food, toilet paper or a fancy vest with a butt pad. Take that gun and a call and get yourself ready to belly crawl and outmaneuver those birds. Half the fun of hunting public land is not only are you trying to outsmart turks but you are also outsmarting the rest of the guys hunting out there. You will have a bunch of great stories after a few outings on public land chasing birds, good luck bud!
 
Earlier is always better than late! Public property requires more effort is this department for sure! Good luck!
 
Deck78 said:
in public land spots, it is always good to get in early so you can watch "goobers" show up right before light and you can adjust your strategy accordingly. There is a good chance you will see someone at some point while hunting public land(if there are birds there making noise you can almost guarantee someone else has seen or heard em too)and also a good chance they will be hunting the same birds you are. Keep your operation simple, don't take a bunch of stuff with you. After you think you got a simple operation, ditch 50% of that stuff and you will be ready to go. You're young and don't need a bunch of water and food, toilet paper or a fancy vest with a butt pad. Take that gun and a call and get yourself ready to belly crawl and outmaneuver those birds. Half the fun of hunting public land is not only are you trying to outsmart turks but you are also outsmarting the rest of the guys hunting out there. You will have a bunch of great stories after a few outings on public land chasing birds, good luck bud!
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Thank you. I am going fairly simple already. I will have maybe 3 calls, pocket and mag full of shells, full camo, and some toilet paper. Everything contained within cargo pockets, no vest or nice comfortable butt pad. Water wouldn't be a bad idea but I might just leave some in the car. I just need a couple calls and enough shells and stealth and patience... I don't even plan on bringing any locator calls.
 
Andy S. said:
catman529 said:
Better check the "legal" sunrise table just to be sure so I know when to shoot legally....
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This may help you out. Fill in date, state and city close by and you will be set.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php
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Thanks, that helps a lot. weather.com says 6.33, this site says 6.34, the tables on the TWRA website say 5.32, must be screwed up with DST, but I think 6.33 is a safe bet for legal sunrise and I don't think it will matter that much unless I have a bird in range at 6.03 am which I highly doubt. I will just be listening at that point and not getting too close to any roosting area.
 
catman529 said:
TWRA website say 5.32, must be screwed up with DST,
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TWRA tables in the H&T guide are in standard time, not daylight savings time. See note at the top of pages 72-74 in the H&T Guide if/when you reference it.
 
Deck78 said:
in public land spots, it is always good to get in early so you can watch "goobers" show up right before light and you can adjust your strategy accordingly. There is a good chance you will see someone at some point while hunting public land(if there are birds there making noise you can almost guarantee someone else has seen or heard em too)and also a good chance they will be hunting the same birds you are. Keep your operation simple, don't take a bunch of stuff with you. After you think you got a simple operation, ditch 50% of that stuff and you will be ready to go. You're young and don't need a bunch of water and food, toilet paper or a fancy vest with a butt pad. Take that gun and a call and get yourself ready to belly crawl and outmaneuver those birds. Half the fun of hunting public land is not only are you trying to outsmart turks but you are also outsmarting the rest of the guys hunting out there. You will have a bunch of great stories after a few outings on public land chasing birds, good luck bud!
Click to expand...

Public land can be quite frustrating when hunting vocal birds. My brother and I once had a guy come in on us when we had 2 birds coming in within 100 yards gobbling and this guy walks past us towards the birds making the most awful sounds I ever heard from a box call. Needless to say, the turkeys shut up and we moved on. On the other hand it can be quite good hunting. This past weekend I had my 2 sons, 9 and 11, and my step-daughter, 10, on public land and called in my step-daughter's first turkey. By the way, I only had 1 gun with us. I have killed quite a few turkeys on public land. Just try to get away from everyone else and if you don't do any good early, try to find one that will gobble at you later in the morning. I love to find a gobbling bird late morning or around lunch. they will usually come right on in. Good Luck to you.
 
Meeting my wifes cousin @ 4:30 with about 20 minutes drive to AEDC from there and hopefully we'll beat everyone to the woods I've scouted out. I've got some back-up spots, but don't want to take someone else there if I don't have to... :D
 
I'll go ahead and warn you, if you roost turkeys the night before, or even through the week, don't plan on hunting them off of the roost. When they start gobbling everyone and their momma will head to them. best thing to do is get a couple hundred yards on the opposite side of where someone will most likely walk in from. Set up and wait for the "goobers" to spook them, because they will. Then as the turkeys go the opposite way from the "goobers" you will stand a chance of killing one. Good Luck
 
Earlier is allways better than later. Nothing like sitting in the dark woods thinking about the coming days hunt and watching the woods wake up, or you can do like i do sometimes and lean up against a big ole tree and sleep through the sunrise.
 
I always try to get to the parking lot 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before the average hunter would show up. sometimes it does not stop them from following you into the woods though. Last year had this one little spot on the wma that I wanted to hunt. Got there real early. had 5 trucks attempt to pull in but saw me then left. All you can do is try to get there first and hunt. you don't have much control over anything else. Just don't get to frustrated. Its suppose to be fun.
 
I will be driving a minivan... I wonder if that will deter some of the hunters or not. Still saving money for a truck. I need one pretty bad...

Main thing is I will be getting there frickin early. Thanks all for the advice.
 
Carlos Viagra said:
Put every gun case you have inside the van. Open them up so it looks like a van full of yahoo's are prowlin around the area.
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:grin: That and maybe add some soccer mom bumper stickers. :grin:
 
that and just drop about 20 or so beer cans around your ride hahahah make it look like you and some buddies partied all night and are now out looking for some turkeys lol
 

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