Nice to be back in the Cypress Swamps again

[Huntinfool]

Public Land Osceola Cypress swamp gobbler down at 8am.

Fantastic hunt, played my cards perfectly and he flew right into my lap off the roost.

The new Mr Fox vest is officially broken in

Nicely done man. Congrats.

 

[Toddmann]

You out Foxed that swamp gobbler. Congrats Rick!

 

[Gadget]

Welp I’m still here, maybe my last morning. I ran into some young guys from out of state on my way out yesterday, said they never hunted Florida and looking for their first Osceola, I told them a general area where I heard some long off gobbling, came in this morning and they’re parked in my spot….that’s what I get haha. Not a big deal, gobblers were far off from that spot and I drove up to where I heard one yesterday which I already planned to do. Been very little gobbling all week 1-2 gobbles on the roost mostly, gotta be close or you’ll never find them and get in the game.

 

[Gator89]

One of my deer lease buddies called me yesterday, said his out of towner was done and headed home to Utah.

Told me to come on and see if I can thin the population, said he's seeing 5-6 good birds regularly on his place.

I plan to be there Saturday.

 

[Toddmann]

One of my deer lease buddies called me yesterday, said his out of towner was done and headed home to Utah.

Told me to come on and see if I can thin the population, said he seeing 5-6 good birds regularly on his place.

I plan to be there Saturday.

Sounds like a slam dunk!

 

[Gadget]

That’s a wrap for Osceola this year. 5 days hunting, sat down and loaded my gun on only 2 birds but fortunate to close the deal on one.
Got close this morning, decided to play aggressive, made some good moves and got about 60yds of him on the roost, wasn’t sure if I blew it or not until I was able to get setup and call to him, when he cut me off and gobbled thought my chances where really good, so close with clear path in front for him. Then the hen yelped and I knew my chances just went down the toilet. Once they were on the ground I got her riled up a few times and thought she might drag him by but they moved off eventually.
Good trip that I got one but not much opportunity only getting to sit down on two birds on a 5 day hunt.

 

[Huntinfool]

Has this trip (and other recent years) made you start to reconsider those private land invites?

 

[Gadget]

Has this trip (and other recent years) made you start to reconsider those private land invites?

No not at all, will always enjoy hunting public land the most, I'll hunt private land if it's a large tract with wild birds that aren't baited. The small tracts where I have permission is just not gratifying at all, baited birds in some way, coming to bird feed, horse feed, cow feed etc.; used to seeing people. My friend had gobblers coming on his property every day while I was staying there on this hunt, I could of shot one easily. To me, no "real" turkey hunter would want to kill one that way. Not a real turkey hunt, just an opportunistic turkey killing on half tame baited bird.
An exception to this is somewhere like Texas, almost every property in texas is full of corn feeders, they have guys that get in deer hunting tower stands and shoot them with deer rifles when they come in to the feeders. I've hunted properties like this, Sheldon was with me on some, he can tell you I purposely hunt in areas with no feeders, heck on one hunt I got permission to hunt a tract in Texas that had no feeders at all and I chose to leave the baited property to go hunt the property with no bait. Hunting on a baited property causes the birds to behave unnaturally, even if you're not hunting over the bait you know they will fly down and go to the bait.

 

[Gator89]

No not at all, will always enjoy hunting public land the most, I'll hunt private land if it's a large tract with wild birds that aren't baited. The small tracts where I have permission is just not gratifying at all, baited birds in some way, coming to bird feed, horse feed, cow feed etc.; used to seeing people. My friend had gobblers coming on his property every day while I was staying there on this hunt, I could of shot one easily. To me, no "real" turkey hunter would want to kill one that way. Not a real turkey hunt, just an opportunistic turkey killing on half tame baited bird.
An exception to this is somewhere like Texas, almost every property in texas is full of corn feeders, they have guys that get in deer hunting tower stands and shoot them with deer rifles when they come in to the feeders. I've hunted properties like this, Sheldon was with me on some, he can tell you I purposely hunt in areas with no feeders, heck on one hunt I got permission to hunt a tract in Texas that had no feeders at all and I chose to leave the baited property to go hunt the property with no bait. Hunting on a baited property causes the birds to behave unnaturally, even if you're not hunting over the bait you have to change your hunting tactics to consider how the birds are gonna act knowing they will fly down and go to the bait.

I do like to set up between the roost and the hens' preferred food source, if it can be identified. I used this method with great success hunting turkeys in Wisconsin. Birds roosted on the property I had permission to be on. Upon fly down hens would head south to feed in the neighbor's corn stubble from the past fall's crop. Killed 3 good birds over 2 seasons setting in a ground blind within shotgun range of the hens' preferred route to exit the property I was hunting.

Nothing wrong with setting up where the birds want to be.

 

[Gadget]

I do like to set up between the roost and the hens' preferred food source, if it can be identified. I used this method with great success hunting turkeys in Wisconsin. Birds roosted on the property I had permission to be on. Upon fly down hens would head south to feed in the neighbor's corn stubble from the past fall's crop. Killed 3 good birds over 2 seasons setting in a ground blind within shotgun range of the hens' preferred route to exit the property I was hunting.

Nothing wrong with setting up where the birds want to be.

Well yeah that's similar to the hunting Texas example I gave, If you wanna kill a Texas Rio there's about a 99% chance you'll be hunting a baited property. You have to choose how you will hunt it, sit in a blind 30yds from the feeder or try something different away from the bait.