man what a lesson today....

got to the field where i wait and listen at this spot and one sounded off maybe 100yds in the woods dead straight in. i slipped in 15-20yds from the field edge...hes maybe 50-60yds infront of me gobbling good.

starts breaking light...i give him a soft tree yelp...he keeps gobbling and starts gobbling harder..

its about fly down time...i give him a flydown cackle and flydown with my hat...he lost it and cut me off and got REAL fired up...kept gobbling and a couple minutes later i seen and heard him pitch down...50yards infront of me just outta sight.

a couple minutes pass and no bird...no gobbles...crows crowing and no gobbles..hmmm? busted? henned up already!?

i decide to get real aggressive figuring he was henned up...hoping to fire up the hen(s) i cut hard and rolled it into a hard series of yelps on the glass call...he came unglued. he cut me off twice and double gobbled after the yelps. gun up and ready...

10-15 minutes no bird...no gobbles...give him some clucks and yelps...he cut me off and gobbled once when i was done...~50yds dead right. i repostition and get ready...he hears me and gobbles..

15 minutes and hes ~50yds behind me in the field gobbling...hmmm sneaking in behind me? i give him some soft yelps..he gobbles...i got good cover so i stand up behind a cherry and peak out...grass is waist high..i couldnt see him...he gobbled a couple more times...he went 100yds up the hill and left around the knoll...never to be heard again...

i move back 30yds and cut and yelp trying to fire him up...nothing.

10 minutes later i spot a turkey body slip behind a cherry tree less than 20yds infront of me..here he comes!! gun up...bird pops out...HEN!!!!! big hen. she clucked and milled around looking for me for about 5 minutes...no gobbler...no gobbles.

ive never had a bird respond like that and not show himself. im still scratching my head. i was honestly doing the victory dance in my head thinking for sure i was gunna be carrying him out.

my setups are always setups where for the bird to look for the hen, he gotta pop up within range.

my only guess is he was henned up and followed the hen(s) and gobbled the way out trying to get me (the hen) to follow...

dont know if maybe he slipped by when that hen was around me or not...i was glued and couldnt move...he didnt walk within my vision but could went left or right unnoticed...

i should have stuck around but i was shivering uncontrollably...i had to walk in in that grassy field for 1/2 mile...its waist high...pants were soaked...rubber boots filled with water....by 730 i was shaking so bad i had to go. walked the ridge out the way he left and couldnt get a response with the crow call


todays lesson.....he aint dead till hes on your back and your carrying him!

awesome hunt. very exciting morning...thats just how it goes....i did it all right...great setup...great calling...should probably hung around longer, but really couldnt. dont know if i should kept calling hard or not...i figured its better to call less than more. less wont spook him like more often does, but maybe in that situation i should have kept cutting hard and kept him fired up and kept trying to make the hens come...though the hens never spoke...

i'll be back for him in a couple days or next week if i dont fill my tag before then.

Man, sounds like a fun hunt except for being wet. At least you have a game plan for your next hunt

mauser,

I strongly encourage anyone that gets to within 75 yards of the roost to call very softly. Three primary reasons...

1) This late in the season, those gobblers know exactly where the hens roost. To be that loud, and that aggressive, really threw him for a loop. In essence, he gobbled hard to let you know that he was interested...but there was no way in hell he was coming to get you...

2) He may have not seen you. However, another bird roosted near him might have, and acted in a peculiar manner. A turkey's actions are sometimes more dependent on their flock, even during the mating season...

3) He may or may not have had a harem of hens. However, by the time you finished yelping and cutting, every single hen within 1 mile knew he was a lonesome and available man. In essence, your aggressive calling actually attracted his date for him...

Next time, I suggest just using a few soft clucks and raking the leaves. To be honest, late in the season after everything greens up, I try to get close to the roost (50 yards or less) and just use clucks and leaf rakes. I've got a box of trophies to show the effectiveness


I am, however, quite jealous of your morning. I've been out once all year, drove 2.5 hrs to get there, and then didn't see or hear a bird all morning...[:-]

he was giving you that come and get me gobble........probably because you were overly agressive with your calling....i would definately tone it down some.....but it sounds like an awesome morning.

it was an exciting hunt. i never had one that fired up that close...usually they are being carried out by the time they are THAT fired up.


i didnt light him up heavy till he was on the ground for about 5 minutes....i did that figuring he shut down because he had hens already so i got agressive trying to fire them up....but i see exactly what your saying and what your mean...

im generally the same way with clucks and raking leaves. its a killer technique.



went to 4 or 5 different areas this morning to listen...not a PEEP! thought i heard one wayyyyyy off from my first spot, which is why i went to the other 3 or 4 spots. at the last spot i got out and sure enough the woods were exploding with gobbles. i grabbed the gun and started moving towards them...they werent 150yds away just up a small hill. atleast 2 gobblers but i thought i heard more than that...

thought the closest one was heading left so i headed farther left and got infront of him and setup...i know i know dont bother trying to call down hill...but ive done it with the right setup...and in seconds i found the right setup to try call him down hill...i was pretty much between 2 birds...but the one i was trying to get infront of was coming hard and fast to the hen that was yelping by the gobbler up behind me. i didnt even get a call out yet and i could hear him 40yds infront of me. then i watched him hang a right and keep gobbling. he stood on the driveway i walked in on and gobbled(couldnt see him) took a while but him and a hen walked up the driveway to the bend and into the field...all the birds i heard about shut down...i could hear live hens everywhere...

think i'll be back there tomorrow since i went unnoticed...i did make some soft calls but when nothing responded i waited a while and snuck out...figure i'll try to preserve that spot and get there before fly down next time...

hens are bad this year...i drove around after that and the fields are loaded with birds...think i saw 5 longbeards..all strutting and countless jakes and hens. i wont bother with the birds once they hit the fields...they dont budge...why move when the field got hens and food

the more i think about it the more i think i may messed up getting agressive like you guys say...

it was just instinct...i figured he was henned up and the only way i know to deal with that is get agressive and try to get the hens to come...but i called in a lone hen.....not the gobbler. i think he may skirted me willing and wanting to be with me but knew better than to come into agressive calling like that. i tried killing him with silence for 15minutes and that didnt work...but by that time he already had my pintpointed after my cutting.

i'll hafta go back to the old me....purring clucking and leaf raking. thats all i used to do all season...some soft yelps occassionally. knew how to cutt before just never really used it or agressive yelps unless i fired up a hen and was starting a fight.

i think if i i kept quiet and didnt cutt and yelp hard, i mighta killed him with silence. i did the soft tree yelp and fly down..he knew where to look for me.

10 years of this and im still learning and making mistakes...thats why i love it. always something to learn.

Dude. I had almost the same senario that you described... Gave him some tree talk and a few very quiet clucks and hear he is. Hunt over not long after 6:00am

thanx mrlongbeard! throw some salt in the wound!!!

honestly, i have an identical picture....actually from the same set of woods..they hit the ground within range though.

i should have tried killing him with silence off the limb.

i watched too many turkey hunting shows the last couple weeks at college while i was cooped up in my room working on papers and studying for finals. forgot my regular tactics, which are proven to kill birds. i got cocky and am frustrated with henned up birds.

just took a minute too long....probably a big ole boss tom that was gunna put on an awesome strut show for me...was probably all fanned out when i cutt and yelped hard...strutted a big circle around me and i wouldnt follow....

i'll get em next time. still an exciting hunt. and another lesson learned.

i just instantly assumed he was henned up and figured i needed to get agressive...

gave me motivation to keep with it though....been a long frustrating season to say the least. i need mornings like that to keep the fire going...been too many mornings of not even hearing a bird let alone working one...

With the scenario you just described I would've went with the fly-down cackle (like you did) and then went with some scratching with some clucks and purrs thrown in. Just be sure that you're not being watched by birds that may still be up in the tree.

Either that or just be quiet and make him think you're still in bed.

Well you still have some time left to try and bag that gobbler