Stuck In A Rut

[btruegs]

Hello everyone,
I took a drive up to colville for my first turkey hunt and hoping to get a thanksgiving turkey. I went to the little pend orielle NWR and didn't see anything, heck we saw 2 crows and that was it. While driving, we saw easily 150 turkeys on private land, everyone had no trespassing signs up. I bought a box call, brand new hunting shotgun, and nothing. I know it's a sin to ask for hunting spots, but are there any areas on the refuge for turkey? Any public land in colville? i am from spokane but i don't see anything around here, if you guys know anything that would be great.

[btruegs]

P.S.
I am also trying to obtain some public land hunting maps.

[MtnMuley]

I would go knock on those doors because it's this time of the year us when most landowners consider turkeys a pest.

[bobcat]

Maybe try the Colville National Forest office:

765 South Main
Colville, WA   99114

509-684-7000

[BOWHUNTER45]

So do u live in Spokane ? If you do I can not see you having no where to hunt  I am on the west side and can think of 100 places to hunt ..Seems you seen a few no Trespassing signs and scared you off .. Most farmers will let you turkey hunt ..Just need to get out and ask 

[MtnMuley]

Well just share with him just 1 of those 100 spots so the poor guy can provide his family a Thanksgiving dinner...

[btruegs]

So do u live in Spokane ? If you do I can not see you having no where to hunt  I am on the west side and can think of 100 places to hunt ..Seems you seen a few no Trespassing signs and scared you off .. Most farmers will let you turkey hunt ..Just need to get out and ask 

Yes, I live in spokane. And that is pretty much what hapened. Guess i will look around some more.

[btruegs]

Maybe try the Colville National Forest office:

765 South Main
Colville, WA   99114

509-684-7000

I would go knock on those doors because it's this time of the year us when most landowners consider turkeys a pest.

Will do! Thanks for the advice!

[zkhowes]

Just got back from Colville and also got blanked. We hit it pretty hard putting in 20-25k steps (going to small my fitbit friends this week) a day on public land off orin-rice an Haller creek.

The snow gave us a nice canvas for our search but we only saw ONE turkey print. General consensus is they were holding on private land. What's the best way to ask permission? Felt kind of forward knocking on the door in all my gear.

No birds but wow an amazing area. I pretty much watched white tails for three days. The snow was full of rabbit and coyote tasks as well. The public land around colville is clean and accessible. The people we met at the bar were great.

As a west sider, I only wish it was closer. I hope to be back in the spring. PM me with some tips if you have any.

[turkeydancer]

Most of the No Trespassing/No Hunting signs in that area were for the deer hunters who like to drive the roads until they see something, stop, shoot, and leap the fences to collect their "prize".  This time of year with the snow, the turkeys will be lower and in bigger family groups  (more targets but more eyes to bust you also) which usually means they're on private land.  The people are usually great about giving access for turkey hunting, especially if you get away from the main roads where the people are asked/hammered all the time. It doesn't cost anything to ask and you've lost nothing if you do get a no. FYI - I took my first turkey off The Little Pend O' (Buffalo-Wilson, cross the river and then up the hill) .... and a few turkeys off of Haller Creek State Land before they logged the heck out of it .....  but those were during the spring hunts.  I still hunt public land from time to time, but it's kind of nice hunting birds that haven't been scared by everyone and not calling in a ton of hunters who like to come walking into the calls.   My bet is for private land especially this time of year.

[baldopepper]

Try driving up Hwy 25 early in the morning or late afternoon.  If you can drive from about the Porcupine Bay cutoff to Kettle falls without seeing birds I"d be shocked.  If you can't shoot one you would probably have to be carful not to hit one with your car. On and off huntable ground the entire drive and what you can't hunt is well posted, but there are a lot of birds on open ground.

[chromology]

I'm new to all of this too, but I've found the onX HUNT app to be incredibly helpful in finding land to hunt on. I think you get a free 7 day trial of the premium services (then well worth the ~$30 after that). It'll give you a clear picture of all the state and federal land as well as names of property owners for private land. I've used that to research logging companies that own land in the area that may be accessible... Good luck! Let me know if you want to stumble around in the woods together sometime, maybe we can help each other figure it out! (Or more likely scare all the game out over to the other guys here on the board!)


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