RE: What did you learn this year?
play the game and be patient.
i set up on the closest birds that were gobbling the most...i always pick the bird thats gobbling the most to setup on.
setup and had them going bonkers...but noticed they all sounded like jake birds. oh well we will see what happens..i was on a point/hillside that turkeys always hang out on..right when they hit the ground another bird lit up and hammered pretty far to my left. they shut down immediately. i never heard another peep from them. stuck with it...clucked, purred, scratched leaves...once in a while id give some soft yelps. a good half hour to anhour later he gobbled where i last heard the jakes. 150ish yards infront of me. kept at my calling...just calling a little every 15-20 minutes or so..a half hour or so later he let outa gobble 100-150yds infront of me to the right. hmmmm...
didnt hear anything for a good while. figured he was just passin through with hens or something...but i kept hearing what i would sworn was a turkey scratchin in the leaves. fighting not to take a nap on the warm spring morning...the birds tend to come back there around 9-10am..i was gunna nap till then..i gave one last look around before i shut my eyes and i saw a turkey body shining in the spring sun!!! i peeked around to see if it was a longbeard..head was behind a tree. he swung his head around at the same time i did...we had a stare down..he let out a big ole gobble and i seen a longbeard hangin...killed him and turned out to be a double longbeard!!
patience paid off...normally i would left that setup after i didnt hear anything for a while and went runnin and gunnin till 9 am or so and came back...i killed him at 8...but he was within 100yds of me for a good half hour or more...i followed his scratchings the whole way around me. it was him the whole time...