Piedmont results

[Hoosier06]

Glad I didnt waste my time with the 2nd hunt tag. I talked to one of the refuge rangers or whatever descriptor that they go by and found out that the success rate was dismal for a draw tag. I did a bunch of E scouting and couldnt find anyway to get an advantage with all of the access points and easy terrain. With the issues listed above and the limited time for the hunt it led to me hunting elsewhere.

 

[turkeyhuntinfool]

Good luck Rick

 

[Gadget]

Good luck Rick

Thanks Jim, gonna give em a try again this morning, see if anybody is ready for a dirt nap.

 

[Gadget]

Welp.....went back to the same spot. About half the trucks compared to yesterday so many guys gave up after the first day. So heard 5 here the first day and nothing the next. I just sat there on the main road waiting since the birds from the day before were in different directions. Finally 30min after gobble time the one I went after the day before gobbled one time far off the road. Made a big move, setup, 45 min later he gobbled once again a good ways off. Another big move, setup for 1.5 hrs and nothing. Did some slow stalking and made a big loop coming out, nothing.
Think I'll try a different spot this morning, one of my old haunts. One thing I noticed, they have alot of gates open that used to be locked during turkey season.

 

[turkeyhuntinfool]

Stay after them !!! The harder you work the luckier you will get !!!!

 

[Gadget]

Well third day done. Went to new spot, nothing at first light so started running the roads and just listening. At my fourth stop heard a bird gobble twice far away, drove down the road to get closer to him and see which side of the road he was on but never heard him again. Went back to my old spot from first two mornings, dropped down into the woods where I chased the one before and didn't hear anything. Tried some more places and nothing.

There were a few less guys again. Funny thing, never seen so many guys who wanted to stop and talk hunting on public land. Most trucks that would come by would stop, or if I was driving by they would jump out of their vehicle and come to the road. Must of talked to at least a dozen guys over the three mornings. I guess with the hunting so bad guys were desperate for information and curious if others were having bad hunts too so they wanted to chat. I didn't mind it, I will stop and talk to people sometimes myself, met some nice guys. I gave out info on my hunts, I tend to do that, usually guys will open up and give good info back when you do.
There was one character I met this morning, was driving about 25mph down the road and all the sudden I was passed by a bicyclist screaming down the hill at about 35 mph. I sped up to keep up with him and was sliding sideways on corners trying to stay with. Guy was in a full race outfit with numbers and helmet etc. I thought there might be some race going on and was checking for more bikes in my mirrors. We were coming up on a stream Ford crossing and I thought for sure the guy would have to stop and walk is bike across....NO! guy goes racing across the Ford bouncing off rocks through about a foot deep of water....how he didn't wipe out I do not know. He must of at least bent a rim. He stopped and I was surprised to hear he was there turkey hunting...lol. was sleeping in his truck. Had also been drawn on the first hunt but they let him come back for the third since the quota didn't sell out. Didn't know you could do that.

I'm prepped to go back tomorrow but undecided if going again with hunting being so bad, getting up at 3:30am and driving an hour each way is wearing on me.

 

[Gadget]

Didn't hunt yesterday, got up at 3am but was just too tired and needed a break. went today for the last day. Did not see one single person or vehicle in the refuge....lol, had the whole place to myself. Didn't help me much tho. Same story as the other hunts really. Went to the spot where I heard a bird the third morning, he didn't gobble but a different bird gobbled on the opposite side of the road. As usual he was about a half mile off the road. Went about 500yds towards him, he never gobbled again. Heard another start gobbling very far off, tried to get to him but he never gobbled again either. Probably 3 or 4 miles thru the woods today.

Looks like Cohutta is up for next week, maybe things will be better up there. The last week I'll hunt Big Lazer and my club then that will be it for the year.

 

[FLGobstopper]

I was curious so I looked up the total turkey harvest for Piedmont this year vs the past few years.

2021 - 14
2020 - 35
2019 - 30
2018 - 33
2017 - 33
2016 - 28

In summary this year was bad! I spoke to a wildlife manager at another WMA during the preseason that I had a quota for and he said they had already done about 2x's the normal burning this year to make up for what didn't get burned last year. (Guessing they shut down burning due to Covid? ) Not sure if that's the case at Piedmont this year, because I have nothing to reference being as this year 2nd hunt was 1st time for me ever stepping foot on the property. I do know that scouting the day before and covering a bunch of ground it seems I saw just about as much burned areas as I did unburned. Afternoon before hunt started they burned an area I was looking at going to scout and I passed by it and went to an area just on the other side where I actually hunted the next morning.

But, for y'all that have been hunting it for years and went this year, what was your take... more burning than normal this year? You think the vast amount of burning this year hurt the harvest numbers specifically?

 

[dutchman]

I hunted a grand total of about 4 hours on the opening day of the second hunt.

I was fortunate enough to kill a gobbler. 9" beard, 1" spurs, weight was only 15#. He was skinny. Killed him at 10:40 a.m. so that finished my Piedmont hunting for the season. I didn't get to cover much ground because I didn't have to. Sorry I can't provide any more information than that but it is what it is...

 

[FLGobstopper]

You were fortunate! It's always good to be on the X, which from your description is sounded like you were.

Just out of curiosity, how many times had you hunted there before, did you scout prior to hunt or just right place, right time, right bird?

Hear anymore gobbling in the area, did he have any hens, jakes or other gobblers with him?

 

[dutchman]

You were fortunate! It's always good to be on the X, which from your description is sounded like you were.

Just out of curiosity, how many times had you hunted there before, did you scout prior to hunt or just right place, right time, right bird?

Hear anymore gobbling in the area, did he have any hens, jakes or other gobblers with him?

I have hunted that spot before. My batting average in there is .667, I'm two for three in there...