Black Hills, SD
Gonna be in the upper 30’s where I’m headed.
Winds 5-10 supposedly.
Going to a new spot. Got my kayak and fishing poles in the truck if things don’t turn out like I hope they will.

Good luck

Today is the 4th. May the fourth be with you

They fired up about 9am this morning. Walked down the mountain after one, bout 600 feet in elevation drop, got to the powerline and heard 4 different birds. Tried to set up on one but he stopped gobbling and hasn’t appeared. Gonna see if another one will fire up and chase him.

Another one fired up and someone spooked him off. Headed to the truck cause storms are about to roll in. These birds on this club don’t gobble til after 830-9 o’clock. Weird.

Didn’t hear a peep. I’m not even sure I would call it turkey hunting anymore. Just drivin’ to the Hills to watch the sun rise.

You need to go find The Hunting Public guys. They're laying them down in SD in the black hills

Had one hammer about 60 yards out while walking back to the truck. Didn’t think a bird would have hens at 1130, he did of course. They took him off. Thunderstorm ran us out.

Yeah, I’ve been watching those episodes. Pretty sure I know the general area they are hunting and it’s a bit of a drive from my house. I’ve got two more spots I want to try then I’ll probably head down there, along with everyone else who has seen the videos and recognizes the area.

Imagine that. THP giving up spots. Who woulda known.... they can film these damn shows without screwing area after area.
They showed pull in after pull in in AL. Gate after gate. Gave up their campground in AR. Now they are doing the same in SD.
Thats one thing I’ll give the Pinhoti project. They keep the places they are hunting discreet- for the most part.

I would think the hunting public would benefit from helping the hunters that hunt public and giving ups spots should do that

I have a feeling that all the new Youtube stuff making public hunting look really cool is going to make public hunting a lot more crowded in the future. Hell it almost makes me want to give it a try.Just remember that most of what you see is the good stuff of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I don’t want to come across as rude, but do you hunt public land much? Specifically for turkeys ?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say No, No he doesn’t.

swamp people killed alligator hunting, and duck dynasty killed duck hunting......
If people weren’t already hunting these spots how would they recognize the gate. If someone can figure out where they are more than likely they are already hunting that area. I don’t recognize anywhere they Hunting in bama nor could I find it by just looking at the gate on video.

I dont hunt anywhere much anymore. Lucky if I get to go 6 times a year. I just dont see why anyone cares what the hunting public shows on their videos. If I drive by and see your truck parked at a gate on public at 4am I am assuming you know where a Turkey is and I will likely go see for myself next time you are not there. Its public land anyone can hunt it. I would think seeing where they go gives validity to their videos and gives other public land hunters hope and k knowledge that may help them kill a bird or two!

If you hunt public land, and encounter some of these characters that decided to give it a go this year, you’ll realize they watched way more than THP to get them goin. Me and TurkeyJoe had a fella walk an hour in the dark down a peninsula between a big bend in a river in Missouri at 5:30 am. Now this was a mile walk from our truck, where he had to park. He walked down a dead end road, to which we had obviously parked at and went down (there was no other obvious direction to go from the truck).

Guy gets about 10 yards away and I shine my light so I don’t startle him too bad. He’s got everything any turkey video ever shown.....blind, decoys, shooting sticks...now he’s the second person we done turned around that morning. The other guy is halfway back between the trucks down a trail (he showed up at 4:30). This guy has a map open, sweated down, and tells us he’s fixing to go past us to a food plot that’s about 300 yards from where we stand. Which we already know that’s where the turkey is close to from hunting the morning before, or at least that’s what we hope.

Uh...no dude. You parked next to 2 trucks and walked down in here to someone who got there 2 hours before you got there. You need to go the other way back to the truck. Didn’t you see the other guy too?

Reply back was he didn’t flash his light at me.

Folks.....
If someone has a truck parked there when you get there, they are there first. Let them hunt. If there are 2 trucks parked there. There ain’t no more room. If you can’t get up to get there first, go somewhere else or take up golf as a hobby. You can book tee times and ride a dadgum cart to where you are going.

Publishing any info on public hunting is bad for people that hunt public land

I don’t have to worry about them hunting my spots with those vehicles they drive.

You’re not wrong but I can’t stand this mindset in public land hunting.