Do birds Gobble less on public land because they are keeping their mouths shut again this year lol? I've hunting down in the swamps, in the woods and over rye fields and nothing. I've tried with and without decoys which I prefer to go without. I've also tried owl, crow, hawk and yelps to get one fired off and nothing seems to work. Trying to figure out what I'm doing to change it up. I've also done the light calling and wait 10 to 15 minutes before calling again. Sat in fields close to 3 hours and nothing. I'm going to keep at it just need some advise. Thanks

Have you found fresh sign at any of these spots?

Yep, hunt the sign, not the gobble.

I've seen some tracks here and there. The scratching has been at a minimum compared to last year. Guess I need to get further in closer to the swamps and creek run offs.

When I hunt public I never use a locator. Never.

What’s a locator? The crow calls and such? NUB here.

I've found plenty of fresh sign, but have only been hearing gobbling from the trees. After about 0620 I haven't heard a single gobble. Also haven't heard anyone shooting.

Yea, I would find some fresh sign. Tracks, scratching, chit, strut marks, etc. Calling is only effective when you're at least in earshot of them. Gobbling is a lot of fun and very useful when it's happening, but very frustrating when it's not. Hang in there!

No no no no!
You should be advising every public land hunters to use the old faithful owl hooter!
That way, the rest of us know where the idiots are!

I think the problem with public land is they do not any predator control. If a bird gobbles in the tree the coyotes are waiting for him to pitch down.

I don’t think anyone would agree with that

Can someone explain why they don’t use locator calls on public land?

Tell you my dealings with Public land turkey! I see them on occasion during deer season close enough to shoot even sometimes with orange on then spring they get killed or run off it seems. The ones that gobbles are killed quick. Met a guy hunting at one location that came down here for two weeks just for turkeys. Competition is stiff probably 1 turkey for every 1000 hunters in some locations. Just stay after it if you like it never know you might get on a roll.

Actually, I have seen the coyotes and hunters go up on one public tract of land and gobbles go down. Not saying they gobbled like on private no access land, but seem scared to gobble. Seen one strutting in road one day on mentioned land never gobbled any that I heard.

the prevailing thought is that the more a public land bird gobbles, the more competition to kill it there will be ... let it gobble on its own & run like hell to kill it

Revert back to the old days of very little yelping, very soft and sporadically. Faint clucks to go with it. Patience will be a virtue. As others have stated, find some fresh tracks, scratchings, etc. If you've hunted enough, use your instincts to wait them out, they will more than likely come in very slowly and quietly.

I hunt public land a lot but don't hunt an area unless I've found fresh gobbler tracks. Where I hunt, the woods are very open and I see many hunters drive right down to the roosting areas next to the creeks. Those birds are sitting there watching his headlights. They may gobble a time or two in the tree, but are not going to fly down in that area. I do a lot of long walking and hunting after 9:00 am.

Pretty much sums it up. I don’t want anyone to know where I’m at and I certainly don’t want to advertise a gobbler. Making one gobble much is about a sure fire way of getting cutoff.

Just find a spot with new and old scratching and set up on it. Don’t call much if any at all but most importantly be patient. Patience has killed a lot of turkeys. Maybe not the most exciting way but it does work.