Colville Tactics Questions

[bhammac]

First time hunting out in Colville Nat Forest.

Was hunting the areas NW of Kettle Falls and mostly in the national forest at elevations 4 to 1K'. Heard two total goggles in three days. Everything else was silent.

Drove all over, hiked to ridges, off side roads and was trying for shock gobbles...nothing. Found two roosts, sat in tight next morning and the birds flew down without a sound and slipped into the woods.

The few opportunities I did have were from glassing birds, scooting around the terrain in front of them and setting up. The last Tom stopped at 50 when he saw my decoy and slipped off. I called to him once.

The only other tactic I thought of throwing at them was to wait at the roost until dusk and hunt then.

How do you hunt or locate silent birds? Is this typical of the Colville? I would love to hear or have a private message about tactics, etc.

Thanks.

[baldopepper]

It's the time of the hunt when most public land birds have been pounded pretty hard. Many of been called at, bumped and in many cases been shot or shot at nearly daily for two weeks. Most of the dumb ones are in a freezer some where.  Honestly seen a lot more hunters this year than I've seen in a while, even during the week days.  Birds around me are still very henned up and pretty well chased out of their normal patterns.  About all you can do is stay persistent, try to get a patern on some and ambush hunt for a while
I think in the next week or so the pressure will be off a bit and the hens will be going to nest, then calling is going to be more effective. I'm guessing that at least 50% of the birds taken are shot on restricted private ground and frustrating for those who only hunt public ground to hear about. Many hours of disappointing hunting can culminate in just a few minutes of excitement if you can stay at it and get lucky enough to finally find the right bird.
 

[outdoorspapa]

My grandsons & I hunted opening week near Chewelah for the first time with a similar experience.  99% of birds were on private land - majority were henned up - hiked a ton of public forest with no response to calls or sightings - most birds were spotted where landowner fields meet up with forest - We found using OnX and knocking on landowner doors was our best shot, even so, we only had one tom respond to our calls.  Ended up with more of a spot and stock type of hunt.   PM me if you would like more detail. 

[ljsommer]

Nothing is moving or talking in Colville.

[RobinHoodlum]

Huh, I just spent 3 days in Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Orielle Counties for work. Mostly windshield time, but saw birds hanging in fields and moving in each. Can't speak to how vocal or receptive to calls they might be, but saw strutting toms among them