last year, closest I had one strutting....... the barrel is 28" and he was less then a foot from that, say maybe 3 feet away. One more step and he would have been on the wall had he cleared that tree. Two dominants chased him off before he could clear the tree. Of course, the slow one to leave is hanging on the wall instead! [8D]

If I told you you wouldn't believe me!Onefall my buddy and I were on his farm setting traps. I was carrying a five gallon bucket with gear that weighed about 20 pounds. We set a few and were walking towards a spring in the edge of a field. There was a big rose bush growing right in the middle of the hollow. So,I asked him if he wanted to go left or right. He told me to go to the left.I got halfway around the bush and glanced down and there set a tom. He was about a foot away from my boot. He looked like he was setting on a nest of eggs.

I slowly turned around towards my buddy and said, "there's a gobbler right here at my foot, do you want me to catch him?" He laughed and said, "Yeah get'em." So, I slowly set the bucket down and reached down and grabbed him by the front of one wing and the neck, and broke his neck! My buddy couldn't believe it! He thought I was joking.

He had a 9 5/8" beard and 3/4" spurs. But, when we skinned him out he only had a few dry leaves in his craw. He would have probably starved to death.

Probably a crippled bird, either that or a really old bird who was literally on his death bed. You did the right thing in putting him out of his misery.

As for my closest, I would have to say about 10 yards, and that was really damn close!

I'd have to say 5 feet as well ,and I missed when my arrow ricocheted through my folded window on my blind ,i made the mistake of not having my window down completely and I had the bird lined up with my pin on my bow ,but forgot that my arrow was actually below the folded window and drove the arrow completely through it .The bird strutted and walked off into the wood's knowing something just happened ,but didn't know exactly what .

nubo

5 feet. Man, what a rush!!! Have a bird that close, on full strut, and gobble! All but blew the hat off my head. Oh, and incidentally, I center punched that rascal. My first bow killed turkey ever. Lots of fun!

Yes really ,that close and i blew it .I couldn't believe that I never took that gobbler ,I swore he had a arrow pass right through him .I had heard a noise when I released my arrow but couldn't figure it out ,until i was folding my blind up and seen the hole in the window .I really thought I had hit this bird and it drove me crazy trying to figure out what had just happened .There was actually 2 big gobbler's and both were in strut one about 5 feet and the other about 10 feet ,both were very impressive bird's and I blew it LMAO now! but I almost cried then .

Sorry I was so wrapped up with telling you about these bird's ,I forgot to congratulate you on your great bird ,way to go .It's a rush for sure when that bird's almost crawling over you for sure .Congrat's again.

nubo

It's not quite the same as strutting, but one spring evening when I was out scouting before the season, I saw some turkeys coming my way along the edge of the woods. There was a washout alongside the field as the field turned into woods, so I jumped down into the washout and laid on my back. I was maybe a foot below the field edge, just lying between the field and the beginning of the woods. The washout also made an opening into the woods. Pretty soon, the turkeys got to where I was laying, and I had one tom stand at the edge of the washout, probably 12 inches from my chest as I lay looking up, gobble and then launch himself off the washout edge into the woods through the opening to go to his roost tree. Then the rest of the flock also flew into the woods and roosted, too.

The memory of hearing that turkey standing over me, gobbling, is something I will never forget. The gobble just thundered. I thought I could actually feel the air throb as he gobbled! Some turkeys have quite the voice!

As far as strutting toms, I'd say 22 yards, but this spring my wife and I had a tom struttin' and drummin' aboutforty yards away, for probably 15 minutes, before he moved off. That was the best drummin' I'd ever heard, and it went on for sooo long!!

About 20 ft.

Several years ago when my son was still pretty little I took him out to get his gobbler and called in a hoss that circled around us and stood almost next to me gobbling and drumming.

About 2 feet, here's one of his pictures - that's my knee in the photo, I could have kicked him...
-fsh