Starkville area turkey hunters???

[Greenhead22]

I'm looking for a place to hunt this weekend in the surrounding area. I'm stuck in starkville this weekend working on a business plan due monday morning. I don't have a problem paying a guest fee, etc. I just want to get out and here a bird gobble. I've never been over to Noxubee Refuge so I'd be lost as to where to go and such.

[Hung Up]

Try out Noxubee Refuge. Killed a bird opening morning about 3 years ago. Try in the Section Line Road/ Dummy Line vicinity. Never heard so many different birds in my entire life. Get ready to have plenty of company, but don't be discouraged.....just park your truck and get in there with the rest of the hunters!!! This is without a doubt where i'd be if I were still up there.

[JMallard]

There is plenty of public land up here. And alot of students kill birds. You just have to know where and when to go.

[Greenhead22]

That's the problem, it's public land. I don't think I'd like the notion of having to hunt from the ground, using decoys, plus all the calling, and have some rookies tipping around from each direction trying to get a shot, at the gobbler, the dekes, or me.

[blacklab101]

"Having to hunt them from the ground" What else are you gonna do Ghead22, get in the tree w/them while they are on the roost? [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Just had to do it, good luck this weekend.

[Greenhead22]

I'll get my Ol' Man Vision out of the box if I have to, just to get out of a possible firing lane, lol.

[featherduster]

GH22, some tips for hunting public land. Call softly and not very much at all, leave the decoys at home. Clucks and purrs while scratching in the leaves works pretty daarn good for me. Be mobile but be careful. Most rookies call alot and call loud so they are fairly easy to locate. Before they outlawed rifles, I missed getting shot by about 10 yards with a .220 swift on PRIVATE land. Guy shot a jake right in front of me from a tree stand just across the fence from my land. He had no idea I was there and almost sh*& on himself when I stood up from a brushpile while he was retrieving "his" turkey off of my property.

[shiloh]

GH22,
Had a good hunt on John Starr a couple of years back. Parked right on HWY 25 and only went a couple hundred yards. It is a much smaller place than Noxubee and I think it is passed up for Noxubee fairly often. I don't know what it is like now. I have not been that way in several years.

[timberjack]

Don't be discouraged about hunting public land. I was the same way until I was forced to go out there. Now I have a couple of big tracts of private land that I hunt but I still hunt the public land too. Those places are wrapped up with turkeys. I've been hunting public land for about 10 years and I've never had anybody come in on top of me or been in a dangerous situation. But then again I never hunt the crowded areas and I hunt at times that I think the pressure is the lowest. You are missing out on a great opportunity. Just remember, use your head.

[peewee]

GH22 how do you go to state and have never been on the Refuge. Are you a city slicker or something. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] When I was up there at school I was on the refuge or John Starr or the Tombigbee several times a week. Whether deer, turkey or crow hunting. I used to love to put on the waders and go pond hoping in the spring and catch tons of bass and bream. Man if you dont use that area while you're in college you really are missing out.

As for the turkeys, I prefered to hunt the Tombigbee early in the season and the refuge later in the season. A little trick (chase the burns). They do a lot a prescribed burning up there and believe me there will be turkeys in the vicinity. If you dont hear one be patient I promise the are there (but they are smart public birds). My friends and I killed numerous birds up there while I was in school.

P.S. A bicycle on some of those closed roads will help you escape some hunting pressure.

[Unkljohn]

GH22
The bicycle advice is the best I've seen for hunting at Noxubee. In just a few minutes of pedaling you can get far enough in that you wont even see another hunter. There will be enough birds gobbling close to the roads to keep the wannabes in the easily accessible areas!!! [img]images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]
JT

[Wildfowler]

I agree, The Noxubee NWR is a wonderful resource. I went to school at state and dern near flunked out because of that refuge. If that refuge were not there, I would have gone crazy from boredom in Starkville. I went up there everyday, either hunting' or fishing', or just plain ole "low-riding'" ( groovin' ) down those endless miles of gravel roads....... Wow! I just slipped off into a daze from thinking about all the times we used to spend hours riding down those gravel roads.

Get out there and enjoy that place!

[peewee]

Wildfowler you wouldn't of had a cold one in your hand while you roaming around there would ya! [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Hambone]

Wildfowler, did you ever talk to Bob while you were out at Noxubee?

[Greenhead22]

The bicycle sounds like the way to go, but I'm sitting here trying to remember the last time I rode on one.