I am no Professional hunter by any means. I have killed my fair share of birds in my 3 years of hunting Easterns in Alabama, I am only 21. I have studied, scouted and tied up all the loose ends I know of when it comes to hunting these pretigous birds. I now have a question I would like to ask of you guys. Adrian and other seasoned hunters please feel free to help me as I have gone blank.

I have 3500 acres of PRIME hunting land in AL. Over the past 3 years we have really been into planting crops and food for the game(deer,turkey,ducks). We have also been doing a good deal of control burning in the pine plantations. We have seen quite a difference in the amount of turkeys from last year to this year. There hasnt been a single morning, and yes I hunt every morning, that I havent heard at least one bird. There are about 5 people who hunt this land hard with me. They hunt nearly as much as I do. Ok enough bout that lemme get to my question.

I tend to hunt the same areas over and over. But not the same spot, maybe one day on down the road and the next day the road that run parellel with it. I killed a bird in the area about 2 weeks ago. I let the area rest and hunted the northern part of the property. Even the day after I killed that bird I still heard 3-4 birds GOBBLING on that line. I am not the person who calls just to hear them gobble back to you. I am more of the silent and very little calling person. Since Sunday I have been back in the area and heard 2 or 3 on Sunday and 1 way off on Monday and TODAY, my god the bird were slam everywhere. I counted 12 diff birds that I could hear.

This morning I got set up on a bird, he was gobbling pretty hard, so I decided to give it a whirl. Well I got in there before daylight and set up no more than 60-70 yards from his tree. I listened for hens to be with him, but I heard none. I thought I had a great chance when I saw him fly down to the west of me. I let it settle for about 2-3 min and then I yelped very very soflty and he came out with a ROAR. I knew I had him so I put my calls down and waited. Well I waited and waited and waited. The next time I heard him gobble je was going away from me. This isnt the first time they have done this. There is no way with all these birds around me that they could all be call shy.

I am completely baffled here. He had no hens with him. Neither did I hear any the entire morning. I left around 8:45 and they were still gobbling. I would surely appreciate any help you might have for me. I am open to anything. I wont ever learn unless people tell me. There are some things that you cant learn from people, but I believe some of you have had this problem before. Thank you for your time. Sorry that I rambled on.

"GET YOURSELF A LEGACY"