Run and Gun?

[dirt_a_KISS]

Last weekend i got my very first bird thanks to you guys from my previous topic i posted and i need help filling the other tag. While scrolling through the thread i seen a couple of guys say how they got birds with the RUN and GUN method. I have looked up the run and gun method and did find some things on the topic, but i still have some confusiuon about it. The first off what is excatly, is it like still walking for deer and what calls should i do if any?

[Lawdwaz]

If I don't have a gobble right off the bat, I'll start walking. It may be a huge circle or a back and forth straight line in a big block of woods. Both early in the morning and late morning my favorite call is my Faulks Crow call. I like to be the first crow on the block to call. Granted I always start with my owl hooter but then spend plenty of time on the crow call AFTER it's barely light enough for a crow to fly!

If I get no response with the CC, then I'll start off with a light diaphragm call then a box, a bit louder. Still nothing? Start walking and calling. Make a light hen yelp every 100-150 yards, roughly.

You change things up when terrain dictates. Come to a big bowl or basin? You might want to pull your foam pad out and take a seat for a bit. When your at a spot where you call will really carry like the bowl/basin, start with the crow call and try and shock them.

I don't worry too much about bumping into a silent gobbler that might be coming in, they aren't what I'm looking for.

When backtracking, call the same way. Many times birds are interested and coming from a long distance and following you.

Lots of ways to skin the cat, so YMMV.

[sits in trees]

RUN N GUN...you get out just as the sky starts to lighten and sit there and listen (all ears). then when you hear gobbling you head to that area but not close enough for the turkey/turkeys to see you. Get with a couple hundred yards to the gobbling at best and sit by a tree maybe set a hen decoy and start you calling and dont move, at this point you are trying to get the turkey to come to you..

When running and gunning you need a good amount of land because this wont work on ten or 20 acres in most cases, need big areas, state land(be carefull) or farms.

You have to be fast and scoot thru the woods silently but quickly, hence RUN and gun. Its alot of fun.

Find big open areas of woods with varying terrain and walk along paths and listen for the gobbles and head towards them....thats it in a nutshell...

[Pygmy]

Running and gunning typically involves covering a lot of ground trying to find an active gobbler...

In many cases, where there is access to a lot of land, it is done by driving roads and stopping at places where you can listen to a large amount of real estate, and listening for birds..If nothing is gobbling, try to get an answer by crow calling, owl hooting, or calling aggressively on your turkey call. I know guys who NEVER leave the road unless they hear a gobbler...Not exactly my idea of communing with nature, but sometimes it works..One of my friends routinely covers 100 miles in a morning of hunting.

I call my version of running and gunning "walking and talking"...I walk ridgelines, woods roads,etc. stopping every 100 yards or so to call and listen for an answer. I find that calling somewhat aggressively seems to trigger a gobble better than subtle calling, so I mostly use loud yelps and cutts on a box call. Before you call, look for a potential place to set up in case a gobbler answers close..You sometimes need to "dig a hole" in a hurry..

[G-Man]

remember to head back along almost the same route if possible a lot of birds will follow you like trolling silently following and when you head back toward them they get excited and gobble

[josephmrtn]

sorry to revive this but i just HAD to bite... my version of spring run and gun is go out in the morn sit possibly call a little but just wait till i see of hear turkeys or if none of that happens usually about 8 oclock i start walking and try to find em, once there "found" its time to either put my legs in gear and RUN or try to sneak up closer and then pop up and shoot... (ive crawled within twenty yards of turkeys) and then GUN i try to get within 20 yards before i shoot but ive taken turkeys at 30 and 40 yards this way... its a GREAT way to waist ammo!!!!!!! cause you WILL miss sometimes... my fall method also called "last resort" is to chase the turkeys or after i shoot at em when they fly... a flying turkey is an easy target ive shot several that way as well as my friends taking some that way... and if you cant get them flying when they land in a tree sneak up to the tree and shoot em down.... ive used all of these methods and they all worked for me... knowing the lay of the land as well as turkey travel paths is ESSENTAL!!!!!!