Just completed my first skunked turkey season in 3 years and am putting a plan together for next year so this same s### doesn't happen again. I saw a lot of birds here in Wisconsin but the hens really put a damper on my ability to bring them into range. Did have the opportunity to bag several jakes but chose to wait for the longbeard.
So, heres the scenario... In the 3 or 4 areas that I hunt (with little hunting pressure) I know exactly where the birds roost and have roosted for the last 3 years regularly. Beyond this, I am unable to pattern the movements of these birds. To me, it seems that turkeys are nearly "unpatternable". In a field strutting one day, not the next. Gobbling up a storm saturday afternoon on a hill, not the next. I get within 75 yards of the roost, set up the way I've seen them travel, they go the other way![:@]
How can I better prepare for next year and outsmart these birds. Skunked is not fun![&:]
I would suggest to you that you be PERSISTANT--Do NOT give up on them. Let them teach you....every time out will be a lesson of some sort for you. Hunting these birds requires way more patience than most people/hunters have
Listen and pay attention to the hens! They control the "show"!
patterning turkeys???
