spot and stalk
01-29-2007, 09:08 AM
#12
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Jackson, TN
Posts: 836
RE: spot and stalk
Ok, here's my two cents worth.
With ten years experience you obviously must know what a challenge isin store for you. I've been turkey hunting since 1981 and have sneeked up on several birds. Everything must be in your favor - wind and/or rain or other noise to conceal your sound, terrain must be perfect, etc. Onenice stalkthat comes to mind occured in the mid 90s in Alabama on a management area near Tuscaloosa.I founda chuffa plot that the turkeys were really using. I hunted there one morning but right at sunrise a huge thunderstorm blew up and I had to run back to the truck for cover. After it blew over things settled down and I headed back to the food plot. I was sneaking down the road, which went through the wood, when I saw turkeys out in the plot. It wasn't a very largefield and the right half of it ended on top of a little hill that fell of into the woods to a creek. I knew if I could get down there quiet and undetected that I could sneak up that little hill and get a shot on an unsuspecting bird in the food plot. It was raining and the rain made a lot of noise concealing my sound. I was able to sneak down the creek and belly-crawl up the rise for an easy 20-yard shot at a bird with the longest beard I've ever taken.
I've never bow hunted for turkeys, I admit, but my best friend did back in the 90's and I spent some time filming for him. That was a tremendous challenge and we were sitting still on the ground calling the birds, not stalking. We used natural materials to construct blinds (cane, tree limbs, logs, etc) and my friend (who was 6'5" and would be on his knees)would wait to draw then the turkey got close and went behind a tree or turned away from him while in a strut. This was toughhunting and we were all set up for it, so I can't imagine how hard it would be to spot and stalk as you are describing with a bow.
If you can scout enough to figure out patterns it will be to your advantage. Early in the season here in Tennessee the hens are usually still in large groups and roost together. When scouting last year I watched a group of 30-40birds fly down from the roost to roughly the same spot in a soybean field. Gobblers would join them and they would strut and follow the hens as they worked their way down the fieldto re-enter the woods in another location. There was no way to call them away from those hens or sneak up on them while inthe field, but we figured out where they were coming back into the woods and my nephew was able to bust one during the early youth hunt.
IF you can use those ditches you mentioned or other terrain features to conceal your movement it isn't that tough to get close. Knowing which waythe turkeys are wanting to go would be a great help also, as you can get in front of them and ambush one as they came by. Your going to have problems drawing if there is more than one or two birds, but you'll have to figure that one out yourself.
Another suggestion would be to have a partner that can stay back in the distance and help direct you to moving birds with hand signals.
Good luck and keep us posted on your success.
With ten years experience you obviously must know what a challenge isin store for you. I've been turkey hunting since 1981 and have sneeked up on several birds. Everything must be in your favor - wind and/or rain or other noise to conceal your sound, terrain must be perfect, etc. Onenice stalkthat comes to mind occured in the mid 90s in Alabama on a management area near Tuscaloosa.I founda chuffa plot that the turkeys were really using. I hunted there one morning but right at sunrise a huge thunderstorm blew up and I had to run back to the truck for cover. After it blew over things settled down and I headed back to the food plot. I was sneaking down the road, which went through the wood, when I saw turkeys out in the plot. It wasn't a very largefield and the right half of it ended on top of a little hill that fell of into the woods to a creek. I knew if I could get down there quiet and undetected that I could sneak up that little hill and get a shot on an unsuspecting bird in the food plot. It was raining and the rain made a lot of noise concealing my sound. I was able to sneak down the creek and belly-crawl up the rise for an easy 20-yard shot at a bird with the longest beard I've ever taken.
I've never bow hunted for turkeys, I admit, but my best friend did back in the 90's and I spent some time filming for him. That was a tremendous challenge and we were sitting still on the ground calling the birds, not stalking. We used natural materials to construct blinds (cane, tree limbs, logs, etc) and my friend (who was 6'5" and would be on his knees)would wait to draw then the turkey got close and went behind a tree or turned away from him while in a strut. This was toughhunting and we were all set up for it, so I can't imagine how hard it would be to spot and stalk as you are describing with a bow.
If you can scout enough to figure out patterns it will be to your advantage. Early in the season here in Tennessee the hens are usually still in large groups and roost together. When scouting last year I watched a group of 30-40birds fly down from the roost to roughly the same spot in a soybean field. Gobblers would join them and they would strut and follow the hens as they worked their way down the fieldto re-enter the woods in another location. There was no way to call them away from those hens or sneak up on them while inthe field, but we figured out where they were coming back into the woods and my nephew was able to bust one during the early youth hunt.
IF you can use those ditches you mentioned or other terrain features to conceal your movement it isn't that tough to get close. Knowing which waythe turkeys are wanting to go would be a great help also, as you can get in front of them and ambush one as they came by. Your going to have problems drawing if there is more than one or two birds, but you'll have to figure that one out yourself.
Another suggestion would be to have a partner that can stay back in the distance and help direct you to moving birds with hand signals.
Good luck and keep us posted on your success.
01-29-2007, 12:41 PM
#13
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Abilene, Texas
Posts: 2,731
RE: spot and stalk
ORIGINAL: Criggster
Do you mean that you are going to try to get within bow range by only stalking???? If you suceed in harvesting one that way with bow or shotgun my hats off to you!!
Do you mean that you are going to try to get within bow range by only stalking???? If you suceed in harvesting one that way with bow or shotgun my hats off to you!!
01-29-2007, 07:09 PM
#14
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Fort Collins CO
Posts: 69
RE: spot and stalk
I'm going to be hunting my parents property so it'll only be me out there. And tred makes a good point, there is too much technology these days. i've killed toms with 11 inch beards with my bow in my blind wearing jeans and a black shirt. it's not the bird i'm after it's the thrill of the hunt. i've even killed a 4x4 whitetail from 2 yards away it wasn't my biggest buck but it was my most exciting
01-29-2007, 10:59 PM
#15
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Augusta KS USA
Posts: 206
RE: spot and stalk
I would try it first in a area you know well with patterned birds. I would try more of a pattern and bushwack more than spot and stalk. Set up on route to a roost area for a ambush would be my advise.
An actual spot and stalk bow kill would be an awsome accomplishment.
An actual spot and stalk bow kill would be an awsome accomplishment.
