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Turkey Hunting Public Land At Your Local Lake
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May 22, 2024
You can bag a public land turkey, and maybe closer to home than you think! Simon shares some tips on when, where and how to find turkey on public land around your local lake, including 4 key habitat features to look for, how to scout, and a few insider tips he's learned from boots-on-the-ground experience hunting and fishing around lakes. OnX Hunt App is awesome, give it a try: https://www.onxmaps.com/hunt/app Other videos I mention: Creek Fishing Gear Video - https://youtu.be/pl05c0B_6O8 Antler Shed Hunting Video - https://youtu.be/z6dROfouZts Chapters: 0:00 - Turkey Hunting on Public Land 0:24 - I've Seen Turkey at Lakes 1:16 - When to Hunt Turkey at the Lake 2:14 - Where to Hunt Turkey at the Lake 2:47 - Four Key Features of Turkey Habitat 3:54 - Turkey Scouting Tactics 4:25 - Take Advantage of Lake Improvements 6:30 - How to Find Turkey at the Lake
View Video Transcript
0:00
What's up guys, Simon from Lake Hub
0:02
Spring is in the air, that means it is almost turkey season
0:07
If you're thinking about hunting turkey in public land this year, I want you to look no further
0:11
than your local lake. You might be surprised at what you find. We're going to talk about
0:15
how, when, and where, and four essential pieces of habitat that you need to look for when
0:20
you're scouting for your turkey season this year. Let's get after it. All right, I'm going to
0:24
level with you. I've never actually bagged public land turkey. But, that's mostly because I hardly ever hunt turkey in the springtime
0:35
I like to fish in the springtime. But during my fishing pursuits, I've seen lots of turkey
0:42
I've even taken a hand call with me just for kicks because I kept running into this group of turkey when I was fishing this one spot in a very, very suburban area and actually called to them and got them to talk to me back even after they had flown across the creek
0:58
And so I'm here to tell you, if I can do it, you can do it
1:04
If I can stumble across turkey and talk to them and get them to talk back, you can do it too
1:09
And that means that there are hannable turkey around lakes possibly near you
1:15
It's worth looking into. Step one is when to do it. Now, usually, let's say like in my home state of Texas, you can hunt turkey in the springtime in the fall
1:26
but in the springtime, that's the mating season. And they're going to be a lot more vocal and a lot more mobile than in the fall
1:35
In the fall, they'll move around too. But they just, they're almost dead silent
1:39
They don't need to talk to each other in the fall. So that gives you an advantage as a hunter to find them, zero in on them and hunt them in the springtime
1:49
The spring seasons are going to vary. I mean, even within one state, they could vary depending on whether you're north or south
1:55
or in different zones or you're hunting different subspecies of turkey. So you really have to pay attention to that
2:02
I'm not going to get into the actual seasons themselves. But just know that generally speaking, a lot of times there's going to be a spring season
2:10
and a fall season, especially if you live in Texas. That brings us to where to hunt
2:16
Here's the hard part. This is the hard part. It's finding the turkey, zeroing in on them
2:21
Now, the good news is that once you do, you have a general area
2:25
that flock is going to keep a really consistent pattern. They creatures of habit So once you do the hard work or scouting even from one year to the next you can get really close to zeroing in on the same flock year after year
2:43
And what you're going to be looking for are these four key features of terrain
2:48
They need water, they need food, they need timber, and some field
2:55
Okay. Now, that's the optimal. That's the optimal perfect environment for turkey
3:02
When I say timber, you know, we've got a lot of new growth behind me, and I've seen
3:07
turkey back in here. But if you have, let's say, you know, a few big old oak trees in kind of a stand and there's
3:17
all this new growth around it, they might like moving through these younger woods because
3:23
there's good cover, but they're still kind of open. so they can walk it. But they're going to be roosting in a big old tree, right
3:30
They're going to prefer big horizontal branches for roosting in. So if you see that kind of mix, new growth and old growth together, that's a good combination
3:41
If you see big old hardwood trees nearby a water source, nearby some field, okay, now we're talking
3:52
Now we're talking. So the first thing you do is scout for my. above, right? If you, if you're looking, you know, at Google Maps and satellite view
4:01
you're kind of checking out your terrain or you're using the on-X hunting app, which is really
4:05
great because it also shows you, you know, the border of the public land and all that. So
4:10
that's a really useful tool as well. If you're looking above, then you can start to kind of
4:16
pick out areas that might be sweet spots. And then you can start to scout those areas
4:23
lakes can be kind of interesting as far as public land goes i've hunted a lot of lakes and it can be
4:32
kind of weird because if you think about public land you might be in your head imagining you know
4:38
like a national forest or like this wildlife where you can just you know get lost for days and
4:43
go backpacking or whatever but lakes are just not like that lakes are a margin right so there's
4:50
always going to be this this if there's a huntable area then you need to hunt that margin and you're
4:58
going to be restricted to that margin so what you need to do is you need to take advantage of any
5:03
improvements that are there so to my right your left is a utility line there a you know power transmission line and there a cut line in the trees to allow for that transmission line
5:15
That's a great spot to move laterally and be able to access different parts of the woods or to look for sign
5:23
So that's not exactly a huntable area in and of itself, but it's a highway to be able to get to other areas
5:32
you can also look for, look for other cut lines for, say, like, sewer mains or water mains
5:39
natural gas lines. There will be a lot of times utility roads or fire roads in order to provide, you know
5:46
the utility companies or municipalities access to be able to maintain those lines
5:52
And those are great places to start your scouting. So if you find, if you kind of find an area that's got that mixed habitat of old growth, new growth
6:02
water food sources, big old trees for roosting. Then you can use the utilities and improvements
6:13
walking paths, hiking trails, you know, little jogging paths like this behind me
6:17
to be able to access that area and get into the woods. Hey, that tip right there
6:24
That's worth one of these. Come on. Give me one of these. Give me a little like
6:28
It'll help us out. Now we're going to talk about how. there's no replacement for mileage there's no replacement for mileage i mean you can you can zero in you know
6:38
use maps to zero in on on habitats that might be good but they're not all going to be great they're not
6:45
going to all be perfect and you're not going to find turkey at all of them you have to play the numbers
6:49
so you have to you have to pick the sweet spots in these hannable areas and then scout them i mean
6:55
put the miles on i like to do double duty i've talked about this in other videos like my shed hunting
7:00
video or creek fishing video if you're out creek fishing you know sometimes you're going to put miles on
7:05
so scy for turkey or look for shed hunts or if you're out shed hunting then you know look for turkey
7:12
or take a fish rod with you you know i call it turkey fishing you know take a single shot shotgun
7:18
and a fishing pole and just kind of go out and see what happens you know what i mean you know wear a camel
7:23
shirt maybe some eye black and you never know you know what happens besides just putting on my
7:30
you also have to do a lot of listening in the springtime if you're scouting in the
7:37
springtime you got to listen you gonna hear the birds before you gonna see the birds and they probably gonna see you before you see them anyway especially if you hiking and you kind of stumbling through the woods making a lot of noise so a lot of stop and listen be patient put on those
7:55
miles but also stop slow down absorb the woods be the woods let them fill your head
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understand all the subtleties that are going on make sure that you're not missing you know a single
8:09
cluck or gobble or anything okay it takes time it takes a lot of time to scout but once you
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really learn a habitat then you know it and it's good year after year after year it might vary
8:24
a little bit but you have a sweet little gym you can go back to year after year hey once again
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we're lake hub we're sharing the joy of lake life we want you to have more fun at the lake so
8:37
hit that subscribe we got a lot more in store for you As far as legality goes, that is going to vary wildly
8:45
Not all lakes are huntable. Not all huntable lakes are huntable equally
8:52
You can't hunt all species with all methods of take. So the rules are going to change quite a bit from one lake to the next
9:01
The place to start is usually going to be at the state level. Check with the state
9:05
See if you can find information about hunting a certain lake that you've identified near you
9:09
that has, you know, a lot of good woods and cover and habitat. If you can't find anything at the state level, then go to the water authority
9:16
Who runs the lake? Who's responsible for the lake? Who built the lake
9:20
Then call them up. Talk to somebody. Start picking brains. Show up at the office
9:26
If you're really, really serious about hunting a specific area, then start shaking those trees
9:33
You know, you'll get some answers. You'll get some answers. Some lakes, you can just walk on and hunt, you know
9:39
Some lakes you can get like a special state permit. You know, that's how it is in the state of Texas
9:44
There's a lot of lakes you can hunt with a special extra state permit. There are also a lot of lakes that give away passes, but it's a limited amount
9:53
and it's a certain amount of time before the season starts. So there's just subtleties and you just have to know what they are
10:00
There you go, y'all. You can do it. You can find turkey at your local lake
10:04
You can hunt turkey on public land and you can bag one
10:08
So come on, put your face paint on, get out there, gobble till you wobble, and if you like it down the woods in the springtime, don't miss out on my shed hunting video
10:18
We'll see you next time
#Outdoors