Turkey Scenario
Looking for advice.....
Sunday met my father out in the woods at 0600. I showed him a map of the area and where I normally see turkeys at and where they may roost. So we both pick our spots and move out. Not long after the owls started hooting and the gobblers responded. All are closer to my father than me.
Once sun rose all went quite, no response calls or any noise.
About 830 I decided to move from my spot as no birds coming into the field I figured I would check my trail camera nearby (public land) and see if I can locate any gobblers. Well when I get into the woods, I make some calls and I get a response, tom was pretty far away and closer to my father. So text my father he said they sound like they are right behind him so he is waiting. I give it a few more minutes, make another call and get a response again, sounds further away so I assume they are moving towards my father. I sit still and get no response for half an hour so decide to get the trail cam and start to pack it out back to my spot to plan my next move.
When I get to the spot I was near earlier calling I decide to make another call just for locating purposes as I didn't want to spook anything. Guess what, Tom started the crap out of me by responding not even 100 yards away. When he went silent I thought he was moving away so I hunker down to the base of a tree and not a minute later tom came into sight. He got within 20 yards, head white as can be but I had no shot due to the saplings between us. So I let him pass, once out of sight I made a couple soft calls and no response.
Tom continued towards the bottom I had my trail cam at and later on we got him and another hen to respond but they where moving away.
Any advice, don't think there is anything I could have done to ensure I took this guy other than not mixing chore work (trail cam) with hunting. Was surprised that he moved in on me though but was glad he did.