MEMBERS- WHAT IS YOUR RATIO OF TURKEYS TAKEN ON LANDS??

[quavers16]

This could include both Spring and Fall turkey hunting over all your years hunting the wild turkey. I will list 3 main areas- but members here could put down more.
PRIVATE LANDS
PUBLIC LANDS
CROWDED GUN CLUB LANDS
My own ratio goes like this over 28 years of Spring and Fall Turkey Hunting--Public Lands-75% of my wild turkeys taken--Crowded Gun Club Lands--25%--Private Lands= 0%. I have only been on Private Lands 3 times- so have never took a bird there. This could be an interesting thread...

[guesswho]

50 years of hunting, but this would be a close guess.

PRIVATE LANDS 2%
PUBLIC LANDS. 45%
CROWDED GUN CLUB LAND (Small property hard hunted leases) 53%

[Grumpy]

Public state land- 25%
Private ranch land- 75%

[quavers16]

I would have taken a private land gobbler had it not been for a trespasser. I was with my Brother in law and we were on his Boss's land---not too far from his backyard. It must have been a neighbor . He spooked the tom.

[howl]

Private lands? Aw, son! Don't you know locals hunt free on weekdays? I'm not sayin' I would, but then I'm not admitting to having ever stolen a watermelon, neither.

[OLE RASPY]

100% private for 21 years.

[swampchicken]

Instate 90% private
Instate 10% public
Out of state 90% public
Out of state 10% private

[phutch30]

50% private
50% public

[The Baron]

100% private both here in Ontario and on several State-side visits over the past 17 years.

[trap4fur]

60% public 40%private

[DBLGBL]

Hard to say what the percentages are for the 40 years worth of data. I used to hunt more public land earlier on but it was safer. Back in the day when you learned to hunt from a mentor not from videos or DVDs . When people respected that a truck parked at a forest service gate meant that they found another spot that morning, not tried to cut you off. I had some close calls with inexperienced hunters, one that really shook me up so I quit hunting public. I am fortunate to have access to more private land than I can hunt. I also belong to a lease but choose to let other members hunt high pressured birds. I have never killed a bird there but have called in a handful for guys just learning. So I would have to say 85% private 15% public .

2gbl

[2Shooter]

Instate
Public Land - 60%
Crowded Gun Club Land - 40%

Out of state
Private Land -100%

[BumbleFoot]

Private Lands >90% (75%)
Public Lands <10% (20%)
Crowded Club 1-2% (5%)

This would be even more informative if accompanied by % time spent hunting each. Then you could assess if kill ratios on each were proportional to effort, required more time, or less. My estimate of relative effort is in parentheses beside kill %.

[turkeyinstrut]

Instate
Private land 100%

Out of state
Private land 98%
Public land 2%

32 years turkey hunting

If I can remember correctly I have only ever killed one bird on public land and that was in Missouri the first year I hunted out there, got to be friends with several landowners and now have more private land than I can hunt out there.

[hobbes]

An approximate guess would be 10% private lands, 90% public lands. Most of those private lands birds came from back home in IL while hunting Easterns.

[rhs341]

36 years.....
75% private
25% club/lease
Never intend to hunt public if I can help it..

[sportrep]

99% club land
1% private

[soiltester]

99.9% private .. cept' the 2 I did get on state land when I finally got permit, back when in MI

[HunterGKS]

35+ years of turkey chasing & 0 birds on public land. I have hunted several WMAs in FL but the birds were highly pressured & shy. 100% private land birds.

[joey46]

Depends on the State:

OH - 90% private - 10% public
KY - 100% public - KY has lots of good public land
FL - 99% private - only taken two FL birds on public - my first Osceola in 2007 and my last bird of 2017 during a quota hunt (IMO FL is by far the toughest state for a public land hunter - took 6 years to draw this quota hunt)

[HarleyRiders97]

42 years turkey hunting:

98% private land
1% state game lands
1% national forest lands

[GLS]

41 seasons
90% public

[hookspur]

I've kept rather detailed notes on this during the last 35 years.

When I'm hunting alone, I spend 85.2% of my time on Public land and 14.8% on Private. And yet, just 75.3% of the toms called in are on Public, as opposed to 24.7% called in on Private.

When I'm guiding other hunters, we spend 35% of our time on Public and 65% on Private. And yet, only 25.2% of our toms called in come from Public, as opposed to 74.8% called in on Private.

It's plain to see that the success rate on Private land is substantially higher than what's experienced on Public. And yet, if given the option I would much rather hunt public land. That's just me.

[GLS]

And yet, if given the option I would much rather hunt public land. That's just me.

I like the feeling of independence of hunting public land. I don't have to wait for invitations. Ownership can change on private lands which can change things in a hurry. I feel that hunting public land birds sharpens me for private land birds which often have less exposure to other hunters.

[Meleagris]

First 20 years = 100% public
Last 17 years = 90% private
10% public