mauser06

ok...i am finally ready to fess up to a big time rookie mistake i made this morning..our opener....i am having trouble living with myself..and am currently NOT talking to MYSELF lol...but i get to the far side of the BIG hay coverd hill...waiting for the sound off...think it was 545 one sounded off...then within 5 minutes i had many birds gobbling HARD right infront of me in the woods...all deep throaty good sounding gobbles..i was pumped...2yrs ago the same thing happend...same spot...i snuck in and rolled a longbeard at flydown..not thinking..and excited to hear a gobble for the first time in a year i ran to the spot i sat 2yrs ago..being sneaky....but forgot the key factor...the reason i didnt hunt there last year...they logged that hillside...the fenceline isnt touched...and there are trees in a gulley...where i went in...still gobbling...ahhh stupid blowdown in the way i need 10more yards! maybe ill just sit in it!..sneak over to it...poke my head around a tree to think about sitting there...FLAP FLAP FLAP!!! one gobbler and 2 unknown birds fly away!! DANG...ok i heard a few more to the left 100yds away...lets see what happens.....hen is calling in the bottom assembling her flock...gobbler goes nuts infront of me..YES! stupid me....i reply with a series of yelps...flap flap flap....2 birds fly out of that tree!! i royally screwed up...TWICE..there were atleast 3 diffrent birds gobbling...maybe more....plus the hen...it should been an EASY textbook hunt! the hard part should been walking out with a longbeard!! and i go and screw up because i wasnt thinking!!!! i am MAD at myself...i KNEW better...sunday scouting i said DONT walk in here they will bust you....stupid stupid stupid!!!!!! my question is...do you think they will come back next saturday?? im the only one that will be hunting them im 95% sure...thats why most of the time its a text book hunt there...i love it....but im afraid that they are gone....ive never spooked turkeys and planned to go back and hunt them..i dont know what to expect....i got a new setup planned...should workout just as good if i can get them to go left...which shouldnt be a problem being there isnt much woods and theres good sign left.....but do you think i ruined them birds?? the first 3 heard/maybe seen me...the other 2 just plain out knew i wasnt a hen...weather they watched me make the call...or looked when i called and KNEW there wasnt a hen because i didnt have the deks out..i dont know...anyone ever deal with anything like that before?? im upset with myself..i KNEW better!!!!!

JW

yes they wil be int he same area...been thee done that......missed a shot......next morning didn't miss......day after that....called in his buddy....din't miss....so will be in same area....at least IMO

JW

Goose 11

They'll be there! Don't be too hard on yourself, it happens! I mean remember,you are hunting the greatest of God's creatures! THE WILD TURKEY. Aren't they great?!?!?!

Anyway....

Sounds like you have a plan for the next hunt, I'd be early and I'd make sure they didn't & couldn't see me set up.

Let us know how it all goes down.

Trae

Antler Eater

I agree sooner or later they will be back.

I know of a ravine that is slightly timberedin the middle of two grain fields. I know of no one that hunts turkeys there. It just doesn't seem like it would be theplace to do it.I hunted it one day a season for four years and shot a tom there four years in a row.

mauser06

thanx guys.....im cooling down lol....im just ticked...i KNEW better and told myself not to do exzactly what i did......but youll have that...im always there EARLY.....so thats not a problem.....instead of standing in the field waiting for sound off ill sneak around and take the best way into the area im thinking of....come to think of it that area was REALLY scratched up...and has a naturally open flat...i bet that might be someones strut zone....and will be easier to sneak into....i would used it before but it seems far from the turkeys...when its actually not far at all....ill end up 150yds or so from the birds...i dont wanna get much closer! lol...thanx guys......ill let you guys know how saturday goes.....ill be back then...unless by some how...some way i tag both my birds tue and thursday at school this week..........

JW!...thats the most reassuring thing i could read! i was hoping someone had a story like that lol.....thats awesome..i sometimes give turkeys too much credit.....but thinking about it....they roost there year after year for a reason.....they like it for some reason....they might have seen me....but its probably been 2yrs since any of them been shot at in the spring..(by me ahah) so really......they might have seen me..but dont REALLY know what i was doing there....and i didnt hurt them or do anything REALLY bad...im feeling better...thanx alot

Strut&Rut

Hey Mauser, I thought you stated on one of my threads that you considered yourself a veteran[8D]

You're right, it was a rookie mistake. You've got to get a few more under your belt to calm that anxiousness...

As for your question, they'll be back. If that's a relatively un-pressured area, and a normal roosting site, they should be back very fast. From the description of the surroundings, though, in my mind I'm thinking that they actually walk away from you in the morning, and probably walk through the logged area right before fly-up in the evening, eating the bugs before going to bed...

You may have a difficult time pulling them up the hill during the morning if it is that open...

Good luck!

S&R

mauser06

i did consider myself a vetern by them descriptions...i never said i was THAT good lol......i knew better then to do that...i told myself not to last week! lol.....oh well live and learn....thats whatll make me better...the logged area is really wierd and hard to describe...the hillsides are so steep it isnt funny...they roost right about even with the flat i hunt them on...and normally fly down onto the flat and feed and do their turkey stuff....theres actually NO sign to the right...which is the logged area...its all left in an old orchard...and some oaks..its a real nice bottle neck/flat/point....and thats where 2 birds went when i called..i actually seen where they walked through the field and then went back into the woods.....im not sure if i should hunt the field...or in the woods...i dont wanna set up in the woods and have them come through the field and me not know it...and i dont wanna set up facing the field and have them take the woods and me not know it.....but im hoping htey will go my direction...i probably wont call until they hit the ground...if they go right though i just may be screwed...but i dont think they do that anymore...in the fall they do but right now the old pasture they feed in in the fall is WAY to think...i cant walk in it...i dont think they will...and theres no sign there....as you can tell i should have patterned them better since things changed back there lol.....but i been busy with college and such and havent had time to get out in the mornings...but i got 2 whole weeks to hunt them if needed....so if they dont come ill try something diffrent....hopefully they dont ALL have hens...we shall see what happens.....i might have to go back on my word of longbeards only...i only got 2 spring birds under my belt...both longbeards..i need to get my nerves under a little control lol....sometimes im calm as can be....sometimes i jump the gun and do stupid things like yesterday..... we shall see when the time comes......im hunting tue and thursday up at school if all goes as planned...i dont think i have much work to do this week...just final review stuff in class....so i think ill have hunting time up there too......

ktbearpaws

I have made these same mistakes before myself, thats what makes you learn to bea better hunter.
I think what would help you the most, is to keep calm.
If there is one thing I have learned. You Can't Rush A Gobbler!!
And remember, you have to make him come to you, not you to him.
People sometimes get in a hurry, or get gobbler fever, and try to sneak in on a Tom.
And sometimes they may get lucky and catch him off his guard.But more times than not they are going to get busted.
In my opinion. it isn't if you get the gobbler.
But did you get the gobbler to come to you, that makes a person a better turkey hunter.
If you get to anxious, and start trying to push the gobblers, you could wind up chasing turkeys all season, just to have an empty sack in the end.

mauser06

thanx for the advice kt...its not that i meant to get in close....between the logging that slipped my mind....and the foliage being WAY thicker then im used to i figured i was a good 100yds away....i wont push closer then that...usually farther....i love working gobblers.....thats the fun of it......one i killed i was waiting over 2hrs....he was roosted a good 500yds away....i knew he would come up to my spot sooner or later...preseason scouting told me so...so i waited from sound off till 8am.....only heard him a few times on the roost...then at 8am he gobbled...i was like no way...he gobbled again...75yds away..looking for me....i answered..he gobbled 2 more times and the rest is history.....thats the hardest thing for me to do is be patient......it doesnt run in the family lol....not hearing a live turkey gobble in almost a whole year had alot to do with my excitment and jumping the gun and making my rookie mistake.....if they come back all ill have to do it work them into my set up...if it takes me all season to get one to work then it takes me all season.....and i got enough calls to keep them guessing every day! lol....and alot of back up spots so i dont burn that spot out.....even though ill be hunting at school this week im more anxious to get back there saturday....if they did move i hope i can hear them from my setup incase i have to move or adjust....i honestly dont see them going far the more i think about it....they been roosting there longer then i can remember.....and jut for that reason...they can see good...and are high in the trees...i know a guy that killed his biggest gobbler back there yeaaaaaaars ago....and hes killed many birds...more birds from that flock die of old age or predation then they do from hunters i bet.....im not looking for a monster...but the chances are good there..i cant wait

9th tine

Yes they will be back there,Those mistakes are made,That's called the learning process.
I did something simular about four year's ago.
I had been roosting the birds for four days,But the nite before I didn't get out there.When I went out the next morning I set up in the dark,When Day started to break I noticed I was sitting directley under the bird's.
They had decided to roost in different tree's
All you can say to yourself is OOooooooooK now what.
Go back the next time and do it right hopefully