Hello, I am fairly new to Turkey Hunting, this will only be my 3rd season.
I do not have access to a lease to hunt on, so I will be going to LBJ. Has anybody ever hunted Turkey at the National Grass lands? if so, please let me know how you did. Thank you

Thank you

You probably wont get any meaningful advice on a public forum. I have hunted there twice and worked birds both times, but never sealed the deal. Find a creek on google earth and go hunt!

Good advice on he Creek on google earth. If you search back over several years on here there are a few good threads on the place.

Good luck. have fun and be safe.

Haven't hunted there in years but have taken birds there in past years. One of he biologist up that way is also on the NWTF state board, and she told me that the last couple of years had good hatches with last year being the best they've seen in years, so there should be lots of jakes and plenty of 2 year old birds.

That being said, the turkeys in that area see a lot of traffic much of the year with deer, quail, water fowl and turkey hunters that frequent the area, so most birds quickly learn to spend more time on the private land that borders the public. One of the biologist told me that during a study birds wearing transmitters actually stayed on private land and would only travel fence borders and seldom crossed over onto public during the season. When they did it was only for a short period during mid day hours when most hunters left the woods to break for lunch.

That being said, when you can scout and find those few areas that don't receive as much pressure, there's a good chance of locating birds who's patterns have not been disturbed. A friend just took his son to a certain unit up that way for youth weekend, and he took a nice gobbler and 2 hogs on this past Saturday. They worked several birds, but the hens made it a tough hunt. They managed to lure that one tom in close enough for a shot.

This same friend along with his son and another mutual friend took about 7 birds between the 3 of them last spring, so it's possible to be successful each year. You just have to put in the work and time to locate birds and the best areas to hunt...

Wonder if everyone that hunted lbj killed that man birds if any be left after a couple years?

I use to take 10-13 birds a year with my four and a couple buddies. Gotta put in the leg work.

I'll be out there next weekend and I'll give a report. Hopefully a good one too!

Hey buddy, did you get a gobbler?

Nope. Saw a whole lot of tracks at most locations I went, checked out about 5 different units in the 3 days. Didn't hear any noise until the last day, but there were also 2-3 other hunting groups, so I can't rule out if one of them had a gobble call.

So, as far as an official report:
Lots of tracks on the ground - so birds are out there moving about.
Very quiet birds as of now, maybe they'll get more vocal as the weeks progress?

Pitfall of hunting public lands, had 2 different birds working and some MUTT got between me and my birds both times and scared them off. My BIL chewed him up, he said he was running and gunning since heard the birds gobble but he didn't hear me calling them. Funny that he passed within sight of me both times but he couldn't hear me calling.

Google Earth is your friend! I'm new to Texas, my stuff is still on the moving truck headed here and I killed my eastern 5 minutes into the season on the Grasslands having never stepped foot out there previously. Not the ideal method but when time is limited you can definitely rule out lots of area quickly!

Are there Easterns at LBJ, or are you referring to Caddo? As far as the TPWD website, LBJ out of their zone, so that would be great if they have made it that far west.

Agreed though, Google Earth will help you find the potential habitat, then you need to do the footwork.

I hunted Caddo-- but was just recommending google earth as a great scouting tool. I used it, coupled with the TPWD map and it worked out pretty well.

Are yall saying to find a creek on LBJ ?