quiksilver

FOUR TAGS!!! I'm moving.

DoubleLung55

Guys , i have a huge tom on my farm , prolly 11 inch beard or so , over 20lb bird with huge hooks , but the last 2 seasons i have hunted this guy i can get to within about 70-80 yards and he always hangs up , but by the mid to end of season he usually wont gobble unless its on the roost , other then that he shuts up , i know the 3 major areas he likes to work but everytime i setup on one of them he seems to know im there somehow and goes to one of the others , do you have any ideas on a way to fool this old guy , i thought of maybe tryin to get within 60 yards of his roost way early , but when i tried that b4 he flew down uphill from me and worked away with some hens , he is a truely awesome looking bird and they have spotted him at the barn already eating out of the horse poop pile. i was wondering if anyone had a plan for hunting an old smart bird....

Also there are a few smaller toms and jakes , but when season rolls around they are never seen , we usually will see the big guy and maybe one other tom the first week then it seems that he runs them all off, what do yall think?

quiksilver

DL55-

It sounds like he's already got a pretty nice harem of hens with him, so he's not going to be too aggressive in seeking out additional hens. For those older birds, you'll want to scale down yourcalling aggression, and resort to a more cunning, ambush approach. He doesn't get that old by running to every turkey call that he's ever heard, and he probably hangs up and makes the hens come to him, staying out of shotgun range.

If you're going to call him, I'dgive a "float calling" setupa try, which is a two-man setup thatputs a shooter between the tom and the caller, and the caller dropping maybe 40-60 yards back, leaving the shooter out where the tom usually hangs up. This way, he'll keep lingering back at his normal "safe" distance, but he'll be none-the-wiser to your presence. He might just be unpleasantly surprised by some #4 shot. We got a big old bird using this tactic on a guided hunt last year when the tom kept hanging upalong a field edge.

I think your best bet may be to get in tight on him on the roost, put a couple decoys out, and wait for the hensto flydown. Then, using very soft clucks and feeding purrs (or no calling at all, if he's that call-shy)try to lure the harem of hens in close. If you can get one hento start responding, you're in business. Call tothem, not him. He'll follow. This is tough to do before the foliage comes on heavy, because turkeys can see pretty well in the early daylight, and the lack of leaves really leaves you in the open.

Another tip would be to try surprising him by swinging in from behind, or an abnormal approach angle. Old turkeys get wise to hunters coming in the same way and using the sametechnique all the time. Swing around behind him in the dark, and approach from behind.If you can get within 75 yards of a roosted bird, you've got a solid shot at killing him,you've just gotta hope they head your way.

He sounds like a limbhanger.

scmtnhnter

quicksilver ,if you would move for 4 how about 5 tags we get 5 tags a year i have already used one this season on openin day of the lowcountry season here in sc . i aint goin to say how many deer can take a year or u would move .lol.

RIStrutStopper

DoubleLung- Looks like quicksilver has some good stratgies. I was gonna suggest the two man approach, but he already had that covered and then some.

jhalfhill

my plan for henned up birds: go scouting the evening before the first day and locate the flock. wait til about 15 minutes before their usual fly up time and charge the flock. they'll all scatter which makes for an easy call-in on the first day. worked last year and hope it does again this year

the gobbler flew over to the next ridge and i was waiting on him when he woke up the next morning. called him right in for my friend.

krueger

yeah im checking in too. I bagged at least one bird for the last three years in a row, so you can count on me getting one around early may. Hunting in colorado and back on my moms farm in indiana. good luck team

Zdeerslayer

I would also suggest trying new calls and different calling techniques. The bird might be educated to your specific calls.

DoubleLung55

thanx a ton guys , the two man thing seems good , we did try that on him last season and it was working good , he was comin in on a string to my shooter i was calling for , he was at the closest we ever had him , 50 yards or so and we could see him through brush strutting his stuff our way , then all of a sudden i heard calling above us , next thing you know i see some idiot in no orange come walking down the hill , thats when all hell broke loose , there were turkey flying in all different directions.....

I also think now that i was getting way way way too close to the roost , i was getting to almost shotgun range of him on the roost , and then i was calling to his gobbles from the ground , so i think he caught on that his hens were still up and i was on the ground. im gonna try to just go in early , get fairly close , and then wait on him ....if only we could hunt after 12 in PA i would already have him , he roosts in the exact same tree every night , and i have already had him within slingshot range trying to roost them for the next days hunt. i have a good feeling about this being my yr....

DoubleLung55

man we gotta keep our post up on page one , i just had to dig into page 4 to find it!!