Sherburne Turkey Hunting

Does anyone know how many turkeys were killed this season? My son and I hunted this past weekend for the lottery. We did not kill but had a turkey real close, It was henned up. Ashton, if you read this post please contact me.

I submitted for this year's Turkey Lottery and hope their population has finally rebounded.Sherburne used to be one of LA's top-producing WMA's but a series of Tropical Storms and flooding has decimated the once-thriving population.If we do not get picked,can always hunt right following the lottery.

Mandevillian

Good luck in 2018, hope you and the boys track down a thunder chicken. I am looking forward to my annual Texas hunt. Turkey hunting has become my favorite season-may even make a couple calls before we go. Keep us posted on how y’all do

Ya Turkey season is Zack's favorite hunting season. I need to try out one of your duck calls on day! Keep me posted on your hunts.

Will do. I made some single and double reed cane calls and gave most away. I will make y’all some later in year. Doing box calls and troughs for turkey. Trying to get to Tx at end of March got a couple spots that friends of ours live on with them big chickens walking about lol

Wifey and I got selected for Sherburne WMA Wild Turkey Lottery this April 21,22 and hoping to get up there early the day before to see what one of my favorite wild turkey wma's might hold.If nothing else,we can always try Little Alabama Bayou for sac au lait and bass!!!

Mandevillian

My two boys and I got selected for Sherburne WMA Turkey Lottery also. Last year the birds did not want to corporate. Maybe this year we can score on a bird!

RJA-67,Not sure if ya knew this bit of info but many years ago I was extremely fortunate and bagged a jake that had been banded about a year before we shot him.Sherburne WMA was at one time one of the premier wild turkey WMA's in all of LA and unfortunately,a series of high-water events has decimated the once-thriving wild turkey population.Quite a few years ago I met an extremely nice gent and he pointed me in the right direction and we continue to hunt the same general area and my wife and I did roost a huge gobbler a few years ago and we did not go back to exact area as we paddled a long ways down Little Alabama Bayou and this year will have my Southfork 16 by 52 flat and hope to do a half-way decent scout trip the Friday before Lottery Dates!!Good luck to you and your boys,my older son will never forget the excitement when we realized the jake I shot was banded!!!

Mandevillian

Wifey and I checked into Oak Tree Inn few hours ago,ate delicious dinner at Penny's Diner and our waitress advised that another hunter,from Hammond,also checked in and he was going to scout.We have a reasonably decent idea where to start our quest for a Sherburne gobbler and will launch my Southfork tomorrow and head down Little Alabama Bayou to where I killed banded jake(area was loaded with turkeys bunch of years ago-has everything a turkey would want)and we plan to walk and stalk,blowing owl call and possibly using crow call to elicit response from gobbler.Have brand new decoys and we stopped at Bass Pro in Denham Springs for some sac au lait goodies(just in case turkeys do not cooperate)and unbelievably,we ran into one of our Medicare clients,from Covington and he was as surprised to see us as we were to see him!!!Told him about the fine and fat sac au lait I have been nabbing in beloved T-Funky and hope to get him out there before spawn ends.Did pick up nice buoy for when I get back to T-Funky and sac spawn ends so I can locate schools on brush piles and mark their congregating spot and catch away!!!One thing that seems kinda apparent is that the big sacs are still on bank hiding as close to cypress trees as possible and hope to redeem self for losing true wall-hanger of a slab!!Did not see any replies regarding Youth Lottery Hunt and think the severe flooding events of past few years decimated wild turkey populations to the point that LAWLF might want to consider re-stocking population(just my humble opinion)!

Mandevillian

Well,.wish I could report that Wifey and I scored on a Sherburne turkey but that would not be anywhere near accurate but we did give it a real good try,were not successful,not on turkeys but we did tag along our nice Slab Daddy jigging poles and Crappie Psychic trailers and Powerbait Crappie Nibbles(neon chartreuse)and Wifey caught a very fat Lakerunner and nice bluegill and I managed 3 sac au lait and fat goggle eye and we chatted with a few fishermen,think we were the lucky ones as it did not seem like many fish were being caught.We did have a little difficulty trying to locate the trail we typically use to access some nice turkey woods and the landing in Little Alabama Bayou might no longer be there.We arrived at Little Alabama Launch just a tad after daybreak and chatted with BR fisherman and his son,told them we were chasing some turkeys(hopefully)and would try our hand at sac au lait(why not as Little Alabama Bayou very clear)and if the turkeys did not cooperate,at least we had the tactics that are working on T-Funky for quality slabs.Hit the turkey woods a tad later than I wanted to but no big deal as I did not anticipate hearing any gobblers and the only thing we heard was a shotgun blast,probably around 8:00 am,long ways from us but S of us and on opposite side of Little Alabama Bayou,hint,hint!!Quit our walk and stalk hunt around 9:30 and slowly made our way back to Southfork ,started jigging and Wifey about immediately set hook on very fat Lakerunner and we played around with the Little Alabama panfish,getting some nice sac au lait,goggle eye,nice bluegill and we accidentally left our ice chest in our hotel room,not big deal,used trash bag and nice and cold water from Little Alabama Bayou to keep our catch fresh and ended up with decent haul.Probably not gonna chase turkeys tomorrow due to expected terrible weather and when we turned in our hunt/fish report at CampGround check station,we chatted with LAWLF employee who seemed surprised that we caught some fine sac au lait and he told us that one gobbler had been killed,16 lb bird with 10 inch beard!!!We told him we had an idea someone scored on a gobbler and have a reasonably good idea where it came from.Think we gonna make return trip mid-week and chase some of those fine sac au lait.Think I mighta done better by concentrating on fish vs virtually non-existent wild turkeys and the LAWLF employee reported seeing very few turkeys!!!We will probably wait a few weeks before considering a return trip and the water in Little Alabama Bayou looked gorgeous!!

Mandevillian

The turkeys did not cooperate this weekend at all. Hear a hen during the Saturday evening hunt. The nats were bad and the thermocell somewhat kept them at bay. This was not a good year at all for turkey hunting. The population needs to building back up, the flood a few years back killed the majority of the population. At lease you caught a few fish!

Yep,We felt blessed to catch a few nice fish and I almost always nab a few sac au lait in Little Alabama Bayou and we had such a good time and the water was absolutely gorgeous.We might go back in a few weeks,just to try jigging up nice stringer of slabs with a few chunky perch tossed in.I basically filet every fish and the Lakerunner was quite a fat specimen!!Think the LAWLF needs to re-stock Sherburne and surprisingly,we saw zero squirrels and not a single hog,though we spotted evidence that we probably were on the trail of some hogs and certainly woulda shot one had we crossed paths with one!!!

Mandevillian

Ronald sorry to hear no turkeys. My trip to Texas was a bust. Nothing seen or heard. I think I was late based on pics and sightings earlier. Did see six deer and found a bog where 50-60 deer were eating grass in water next to road-awesome sight. Also lost all water in crawfish pond. Comebacks n teal season lol

Think my wife and I gonna make a return trip to Sherburne WMA to fish the Little Alabama Bayou(way clearer than my local Tchefuncte River)and dem sac au lait hard to beat as table fare!!

Mandevillian

Just an FYI, flood set them back big time, but swamp bottom birds are used to flooding and have been known to live in flooded areas for weeks at a time by eating the buds in the trees. Pretty sure it's the over abundance of hogs that are keeping the birds from re-establishing in Shurburne and I would bet that others that know the area well would agree with me.

Decided 4 years ago I would not hunt there again until they started to rebound. That year there were maybe 10 birds killed, my buddy killed two of them, he called in one for lottery and I went with him during the week and called in another one. I know certain areas where birds can be found every year but refuse to kill another bird in there until things change. Personally I can't believe they haven't shut down the season there but then again the few gobbler kills they do have every year don't hurt the breeding success by much or at all.

Crawl 79,There certainly are a few areas where turkeys seem to always show up and Wifey and I were at most maybe 500-750 yards North of where the turkey was killed on the lottery hunt we participated in,just the other side of the bayou we hunted off.Probably numerous factors decimated the once-thriving turkey population,not the least is predation and severe and ridiculous amounts of flooding.I guess the good news is that there have not been many birds killed and the LAWLF agent we spoke to said he saw a flock of maybe 4,kinda know where he saw them,and most folks not willing to head as far back in those woods as we typically do,though I must admit I was not too inclined to trek back more than a few miles based upon the lack of turkey sightings and very slight kills!Hope to return next year,again on Lottery and there is always the week after,typically Mon-Wed.Good luck if you head out next season,gonna concentrate my efforts on Tchefuncte slabs!

Mandevillian