I have hunted for years, everything but turkey. My turkey "experience" is two youth hunts where I tagged along as my sons hunted, but with a hunting friend who did the calling. These ended well:
1) Took 15 minutes, gobbled at first light, came in nice, 12 year old son shot him at 10 feet. 19 lbs
2) Took til 10, but came on a run, 15 year old son shot him at 20 yds. 20 lbs
My personal turkey "experience" is one jake with a bow last October, wasn't turkey hunting, but in a deer stand, they came in caught me drawing (we have fall archery season), called them back and shot jake.
It's fun and I'm trying to figure it out, my wife comes along when she can, so I am calling and she's the shooter. this past weekend was opening season, here's how it went, no shots, but fun:
- Saturday got to where we wanted to be before light, only to find a truck already there, so we went to another spot. At first light I yelped one answered FAR away. This was the first turkey my wife heard gobble in the woods. Was in the general direction of teh field I wanted to be in, so we didn't move closer, aftraid to interfere with whoever was down there. Also she saw two deer. Driving out later on a dirt road, a jake ran across the road in front of us. We headed down the road a bit, quietly got out tried to run up along a field and get past him and call him. Nothing.
- Sunday I was in the field I wanted to be in Saturday. Was light rain/fog. I was setup before light, one hen decoy 15 yards infront of me. Quiet yelps as it got light. Nothing. After it'd been light for awhile I heard two fly down into the woods next to the field. I called quietly and sat. 10 minutes later they walked out about 100 yards from me. A hen and a struttin tom. I purred quietly and one soft yelp and the hen came my way with the tom on toe. tom was strutting his stuff the entire way, was fun to watch. hen passed at 30 yards, tom took his sweet time. Hen made it to the edge of the woods, turned and yelped, then stepped into the woods. That got the toms attention and he made a b-line to follow, but on a different path that took him 40-50 yards from me at the closest.
they went into the woods and he never made a call. she was making some very quiet yelps while in the field, he was actually making some quiets "pffft" sound as he strutted and walked in circles.
I figured maybe he'd come back later after he was done with her. I sat quietly and called softly every 15-20 minutes. About 90 minutes later from the direction they went, sure enough he gobbled, not in response to me, just out of the blue. He was a ways off. I answered and he gobbled again. I gave it about a minute and called softly again, he gobbled again, coming closer. Now at this point I am sure he's coming, but from behind me, immediately behind me was thick and I couldn't see.
I continued to call quietly every few minutes and he continued to gobble every time and some on his own. He ended up 10 yds behind my right shoulder gobbling his head off. I could barely see him as he moved, but not good enough to shoot. He stayed there gobbling and strutting for another 5 minutes. I needed him to finish coming to the field where the decoy was. At one point I think he saw me move as I turned my head to try and call "away" from him. Next I heard was about 2-3 minutes later and he was moving off.
I quickly moved into the woods to try and entice him back, but NOTHING. After about 15 minutes he gobbled again, FAR away.
I thought I knew where he was so I took off after him. I didn't call at all, just moved as fast and quiet as I could, I figured he was two fields over on the other side of that field. When I got to the edge of that second field, he gobbled again, I was closing in. So I figured I'd get across this field to the edge of the woods and try to call him back out.
Oooops. He was walking the field edge, I saw him as I crested the rise in the field. I immediately dropped down, but I think he saw me as I never heard him or saw him again. I dropped into the woods 75 yards and moved fast around in front of him, hoping to pull him in, but never heard or saw him.
I lost.
So, questions:
1) Is there anything I can do when he's with a hen infront of me to change his chosen path to bring him closer, or am I just out of luck?
2) when he did come back, should I have changed position and gotten 10 yards into the woods rather than sit in the field with him coming in behind me?
3) did I screw it all up by chasing him?
4) I am using a 20 guage with 3 inch mag turkey loads out of a full choke. Is 40 yds to far?
He seemed hot to find a hen as he was gobbling by himself as he walked.
any advice for "next time" would be appreciated!