# deer and turkey hunters



## ropensaddle (Mar 26, 2007)

well at least I put this in off topic forum. just was trying to see if any tree men on this site are hunters. I'm an avid bow hunter and was blessed to harvest a pope and young two years back on public ground, not some place you shake a corn sack and ten bucks come running. I love to watch them shows on tv, but some of the guys couldn't even kill a deer where I hunt, they talk on the stand and such, public ground in mountains is where I learn, and noise gets you busted in a hurry there. Also on elevated terrain you have to deal with thermals, and is the hardest hunting swirling winds blow hunts too often and I hunt twenty feet up, and sometimes get busted by these hill deer they know where to go to smell !! These deer do not smell any people in the off season and If one deer smells you its almost always over,opcorn: :smoking: wilderness is different from woods near towns.
I have a friend that says a deer is a deer but he has never taken a buck except on private ground even though I have put him in some of my best spots!!
If you hunt, try public ground if you want the challenge, and if you kill one of those ghosts of the wilderness you will have a trophy worth noting. I have killed over twenty deer with my bow on public ground and three gobblers!
have been bow hunting 13 years and first three none . If I went to a pay to hunt ranch, I probably could double them numbers but would not have learned as much on scouting, which is the thing that got me addicted! Trying to pattern their movements eliminate my detection and so on and turkey well I'm new to this have only called three in bow range and made kill, challenge to take this bird with a bow have missed been busted drawing .they make me mad half way into season with little sleep and lots of walking hilly area but
when you have their head in your hands and breast in deep fryer nothing is sweeter!!!!!!!!!


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## windthrown (Mar 26, 2007)

*I hunt...*

But there is no sport involved here. The elk and deer literally come within easy shooting distance of the living room couch here. And the turkeys... man, they are scores of them around here all the time. 3 toms were looking in the living room window about a month ago. Making the funny popping noises and squabbling. Heard a group of turkeys all day today wandering around up in the back 80. More elk tracks here yesterday. Maybe 5 in a group on our property lately. We can bag 2 of any tag game here per year with our acreage in Oregon. We can also emergency hunt 2 more, and shoot all the non tag animals we want (red squerrels are a nuisance). :hmm3grin2orange:


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## Wismer (Mar 26, 2007)

I hunt deer and want to get into hunting turkeys


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## ropensaddle (Mar 26, 2007)

windthrown said:


> But there is no sport involved here. The elk and deer literally come within easy shooting distance of the living room couch here. And the turkeys... man, they are scores of them around here all the time. 3 toms were looking in the living room window about a month ago. Making the funny popping noises and squabbling. Heard a group of turkeys all day today wandering around up in the back 80. More elk tracks here yesterday. Maybe 5 in a group on our property lately. We can bag 2 of any tag game here per year with our acreage in Oregon. We can also emergency hunt 2 more, and shoot all the non tag animals we want (red squerrels are a nuisance). :hmm3grin2orange:


Ok you are like my buddy but, I have hunted on his farm and all I'm saying is deer that get used to people living nearby are easier to hunt. Hunting pressure also will definitely have effect on these animals not all private ground is easy but all is easier than public ground there are three deer per acer where I'm hunting, and they have had bad and good hunters after them for years! This xtreme pressure makes them wary and most hunters will take the easy way out and settle for private ground, and when I hunt my buddy's farm it's a break for me, and i have killed a buck on his farm he has not killed one where I hunt. He is starting to believe me after I challenged him to kill a buck here and three years gone by, still no buck! He tells me his stories of getting two sometimes three bow shots on his deer, and I tell him he will only get one chance if he gets lucky and does his homework. On the deer I hunt a true pro hunter would film a lot of hours to make a video here, and have to learn how to hunt again!!! Hey at least he would not have trophy fees and might kill a buck that is smarter than the average hunter, some of these bucks die of old age and a few trophy deer are made in these hills, that is the biggest reason I hunt there and not my buds farm. The pope and young are there and I took one and am trying for another! If you are getting tired of hunting because it
doesn't seem challenging, try public ground I'm sure you will find it a bit more of a challenge especially up close and personal with a bow!!! :rockn:


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## ropensaddle (Mar 26, 2007)

Wismer said:


> I hunt deer and want to get into hunting turkeys


Nothing I have done is the same as calling up a longbeard and only been hunting them three years get a slate call at first, easiest to master then practice on a mouth call, but away from all frying pans connected to your wife lol. Then find birds with woodpecker, or coyote call,after opening day owl hooters don't work here, believe me you have never heard more owl's in your life lol. On public ground be careful you stay out of other hunters setup, but when you finally get this bird to commit and he struts and gobbles into range you will be hooked. A lot of times they don't make a peep, so keep that in mind not as fun then but still meat for the table!!! The only reason I work is so I can hunt I have the addiction bad :biggrinbounce2: :bang: :bang:


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## KMB (Mar 26, 2007)

ropensaddle,
I bow and rifle hunt in southwest Arkansas. Sounds like you're directly north and maybe a touch east of me...right? You probably don't want to give away your location, which is understood. I'm basically surrounded by private owned land, but I do have a small area which I share. I was crazy busy last fall and didn't do much hunting. Gonna try and make up for it this year. But I have debt to look after and the little bit of firewood I sell helps, so I have to make sure I have enough split and stacked in the next few weeks - plus getting the house ready for our first little one (going to find out what he or she is tomorrow...if he/she will cooperate and let us get a good look  ).
I guess you wouldn't have a recommendation for productive public land hunting in my area?

Kevin


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## windthrown (Mar 26, 2007)

*Not quite...*



ropensaddle said:


> Ok you are like my buddy but, I have hunted on his farm and all I'm saying is deer that get used to people living nearby are easier to hunt. Hunting pressure also will definitely have effect on these animals not all private ground is easy but all is easier than public ground there are three deer per acer where I'm hunting, and they have had bad and good hunters after them for years! This xtreme pressure makes them wary and most hunters will take the easy way out and settle for private ground, and when I hunt my buddy's farm it's a break for me, and i have killed a buck on his farm he has not killed one where I hunt. He is starting to believe me after I challenged him to kill a buck here and three years gone by, still no buck! He tells me his stories of getting two sometimes three bow shots on his deer, and I tell him he will only get one chance if he gets lucky and does his homework. On the deer I hunt a true pro hunter would film a lot of hours to make a video here, and have to learn how to hunt again!!! Hey at least he would not have trophy fees and might kill a buck that is smarter than the average hunter, some of these bucks die of old age and a few trophy deer are made in these hills, that is the biggest reason I hunt there and not my buds farm. The pope and young are there and I took one and am trying for another! If you are getting tired of hunting because it
> doesn't seem challenging, try public ground I'm sure you will find it a bit more of a challenge especially up close and personal with a bow!!! :rockn:



The deer and elk here are not people trained, nor are they at all tame. Nor are they the same deer and elk over and over. They spook very easy. We are way out in the boonies here, on a logging road that dies about a mile past us. Out here are literally 100s of square miles of nothing but logging roads and trees around us. We have over 100 acres here. They wander in here for the apple trees and easy pickings in my gardens. That does not make they 'easy game' in the sence that you are referring to. They are just as tough to shoot here as up in the mountains behind us. 

The turkeys are another matter. They seem to like the people fringe, and wander around the range of private properties out here. They go for miles in a day, all over. Huge groups, and smaller groups. We had a peacock come in with a flock of turkeys last year. Turned out to belong to a lady a few miles down the road and we returned it to her last month.


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## musch (Mar 26, 2007)

I know what you mean. I sat watching deer wander around for two days right in front of my stand last year. 

Finally the third day, I spotted the right 8 pointer. 

But just to shoot a deer? Piece of cake. Couple of friends got does to fill the freezer. 

Turkeys, on the other hand, are still fascinating to me. I am hooked on turkey hunting, as I have only been doing it a few years, and they are much more of a challenge, where I have been hunting, anyways.


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## ropensaddle (Mar 27, 2007)

musch said:


> I know what you mean. I sat watching deer wander around for two days right in front of my stand last year.
> 
> Finally the third day, I spotted the right 8 pointer.
> 
> ...


challenge is right they literally have eyes in the back of there heads and after opening day the dumb ones are dead! Here retirees are a hunters nightmare they have all the time in the world go around two weeks before season to all plots and locate. They usually focus on easy to get to birds, so I hunt way in usually two miles is far enough away from roads to get on birds that will at least talk. I hate when they hen up but I usually get a few chances with enough persistence and work. The next gobbler I get I think I will mount in strut instead of just the fan because they are a true trophy.:rockn:


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## 046 (Mar 27, 2007)

really fortunate to have access to lands owned by Osage indians back before statehood. 

needless to say these are pristine deer hunting grounds.


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