# Salt Fork Turkey



## starcraft36

Anybody turkey hunt Salt Fork? I went last year for the first time, heard some, but never saw one. 

Just seeing if anybody had an tips or advice as to where to go.


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## M.Magis

I used to hunt there almost exclusively. I first started many years ago when almost no one else hunted turkeys, so it was great having thousands of acres almost to myself.  the hunter numbers kept growing, but for a long time I was able to hunt weekdays, so it was still quiet. When it got to the point I could only hunt weekends, I quit going. It can be very crowded at certain spots on certain days. If you can hunt weekdays, particularly later in the season you&#8217;ll be fine. Now that we can hunt afternoons I think that could pay off as well. I&#8217;ve heard a lot of hot birds while crappie fishing late in the day. It&#8217;s odd, but it seems like the far, out of the way places were the spots that got hit the hardest by hunters. The Hosaks cave peninsula was one of my favorite areas, on either side. There&#8217;s always a vehicle or two, but the piece of ground is huge so I never ran into a person. Be warned that it&#8217;s easy to get turned around there once you get where you can&#8217;t see the water anymore. I&#8217;ve hunted so many areas out there I can&#8217;t list or even remember them all, but almost all of them held birds. It would pay to do a bit of scouting ahead of time. I hunted a few places that were a waste of time because it was so thick. Though, many times if you get through the mess you can find a spot no one else tries.


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## firstflight111

starcraft36 said:


> Anybody turkey hunt Salt Fork? I went last year for the first time, heard some, but never saw one.
> 
> Just seeing if anybody had an tips or advice as to where to go.


man that place gets beat to death....back 10 years you could see them and kill them ..you would be better off finding ..somewere out of the park to get your bird..

you pass more turkeys just to get to salt fork .then at salt fork ..it takes time to get good turkey spots ..but if you want to be good at it you have to put your time in ...start looking after the rain you do have to hear them just see the sings that there YOU DONT HAVE TO HEAR THEM....i dont call till i am hunting i will go look and listen never call in the woods you are going to hunt ....


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## Bulldawg

Used to hunt them out of the boat years ago , just to be able to find the spots guys couldnt really get to . Last time I did that was almost 15 years ago and even doing that I found it to be very crowded.


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## M.Magis

Bulldawg said:


> Used to hunt them out of the boat years ago , just to be able to find the spots guys couldnt really get to . Last time I did that was almost 15 years ago and even doing that I found it to be very crowded.


I used to do that too. Then I finally figured out that there wasnt one spot on the entire lake that was more than about ¼ mile from a parking spot. Couldnt figure out why I kept running into people. Turned out I was parking the boat 200 yards from their trucks.


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## Guest

Like Bulldawg mentioned hunting by boat is a good option. I have done this successfully at Salt Fork in the past and it might allow you to get to some spots that hunters on foot don't get to or let you get the jump on a bird before another hunter. Birds often roost down close to the water and you can listen from the water and then move in and beach it and go after them. You can cover lots of area too and you never have a bird across the lake you can't get to!

Its a fun way to hunt and if the hunting sucks you can fish! Make sure you take a gun AND a fishing rod! lol

Oh and watch for Bigfoot!


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## powerstrokin73

firstflight111 said:


> man that place gets beat to death....back 10 years you could see them and kill them ..you would be better off finding ..somewere out of the park to get your bird..


Some of This statement is very false. Yes there is a lot of people. But there is still a VERY healthy population of birds. I get a bird there every year. Last year i worked 7-8 birds in different places the first 4 days of the season, before i shot mine on thursday.


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## Danfc80

That was my secret at Salt Fork. I realized that when fishing, I beached the boat to get off and relieve myself. Deer and turkeys were running all over the place. If you study a map, you can spot the inaccesible areas where they seem to congregate.


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## M.Magis

Sorry guys, I promise you that there are no areas accessible by boat that aren&#8217;t accessible by foot with 15 minutes of walking.


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## firstflight111

powerstrokin73 said:


> Some of This statement is very false. Yes there is a lot of people. But there is still a VERY healthy population of birds. I get a bird there every year. Last year i worked 7-8 birds in different places the first 4 days of the season, before i shot mine on thursday.


did not say there werent any birds down there..just all the guys calling after them it makes my job harder ....why should i go some were i have to drive 2 hr to maybe see a bird ..no thanks


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## Bulldawg

M.Magis said:


> Sorry guys, I promise you that there are no areas accessible by boat that arent accessible by foot with 15 minutes of walking.


Not if you head back by the treatment plant across from sugartree marina , there are two bays back there and the whole left side is a little further than a 15 minute walk . But guys still manged to walk in some of these areas. Like everyone stated , there are a ton of birds around that lake . IF a guy knows the areas and knows the pattern of his birds , it wouldnt be hard for a guy to kill a bird there every year . But with the boat I was always able to run and gun if someone walked in on my set up , or things just didnt work out . Especially late season , those birds lose their hens and they will gobble all morning long . If you catch the right bird on the right day late season he is liable to come in on a string regardless of previous hunting pressure ! 

I actually did better at Peidmont hunting from the boat !!


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## M.Magis

Bulldawg said:


> Not if you head back by the treatment plant across from sugartree marina , there are two bays back there and the whole left side is a little further than a 15 minute walk .


Yeah, that is a bit longer walk. Its not too bad and Ive walked it quite a few times. Theres an old road bed that one can follow for at least half way out if you park at the old ramp.


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