Absolute Giant

Turkey Newbie here:
I have been hunting the last four days. The property that I hunt doesn't hold a lot of turkeys but I have seen and heard some everyday that I have been out. I believe I have seen the same two toms running together every morning. Not sure if this is good or bad but I have beensetting upalong field edges most often, getting myself in the woods just enough to get hidden. I have tried the decoys, setting out a Jake and Hen but maybe these toms are decoy shy. One morning I had two toms come in gobbling and strutting but they hung up about 70 yards. Theyeventually acted like they got nervous and started to headaway from me. Thinking maybe they didn't like the Jake decoy, the next morning I set out two hen decoys.They cameout into the middle of the field about a hundred yards from me and I yelped to give them my location. I believe they could see the decoys from where they were but just kept on going across the field. The last time I went out I left the decoys at home. About midmorning, 10:00 a.m. I got up and started to walk down a logging road. After walking about 500 yards from where I was sitting I heard a gobble and it sounded close. I sat back up against some cedars and under brush, waited about 10 minutes and started doing some calling and scratching in the leaves. The gobbler responded and eventually sounded like he was working his way toward me. After about an hour of calling and him responding he got tight lipped and I couldn't get him to answer back. I believe that he might have got hung up because of a fairly large crick that he might have been across from. Knowing this I got up and quietely moved to the other side of the crick and seated back down and started some more calling. The gobler did respond but only gobbled once. I never did see this tom. I have one day left that I can go hunting which is Thursday and it looks to be a rainy one. Any thoughts/suggestions on what I should try. Should I take the decoys out with me or leave them at home? If so what setup should I use? I don't have a strutting decoy yet just two jakes and three hens. I thought about just setting up a single hen in a feeding position. I am learning as I go. The last few days have been fun even though I haven't filled my tag. Maybe these turkeys I am seeing in the area are a little to educated although I don't think they are over hunted.

Thanks for your suggestions.

The Outdoorsman

Well Im sure others on here can offer alot more advice than I can, but I have personally found that one jake and two hens has worked good for me. Also, not sure how you are calling, are you doing nothing but yelping or what. I like to add purring in there from time to time, and do it for about 30 seconds and go back to a few yelps. I also dont like to over-work my calls either. I've read that once a tom starts gobbling, he wants you to go to him, so I basically force him come to me. I call enough to let him know Im still there but he better come to me. I would set up near the field edge again but I would work a different spot, maybe in the direction the toms walked out of sight to. Also try and make sure you are not getting too close to them as they could see you while in the roost,, but that doesnt sound like whats happening. Its also just my theory, but if your decoys are facing where the birds are, they (the birds) will usually hang up and wait for the decoy to come to them. Its like the tom is saying, "hey, im here and I know you see me, now come here." I like to face my decoys at me or slightly off to one side or the other of me.

Absolute Giant

Thanks for the advice on the decoys. I might try the one jake and two hens setup. So you typically face all the decoys toward you or slightly turned? I do mix in some purrs with my yelping. The other day when I seen the gobblers heading on across the field I tried to cut at them but that might have not been the thing to do. The first time I wentthis spring I saw two hens pitch down from the roost out into an open cut corn field and soon later saw a tom pitch down in the woods but he soon made it out into the field with the other hens. All three were coming out across the field but the leading hen was heading to a corner that was about 80 yards from me. The other hen and gobbler were following the leading hen. I had a Jake and Hen decoy set out in front of me. After doing some yelping and purring I could see that I wasn't gonig to presented with a shot. After some more yelping I decided to cut. As soon as I did the gobbler turned and imediately headed back to the woods he pitched down in. The leading hen came over to my decoys and got within 5 ft of my feeding hen. She clucked a few times scratched around and headed back to the corner she was going to. The other hen followed her. As far as the gobbler I heard him gobble a few times back in the woods but never saw him again that day. I figured it was a boss hen that came over to my decoys to check things out. What was it that sent the gobbler the other way? I was hidden by tall grass so I am certain he didn't see me.

Thanks for your help

The Outdoorsman

Yes I will always try to face the decoys in my direction. Not much you can do if the turkeys show up behind you and hang up, but being infront of you, I feel that if the gobbler sees the decoys and sees that they can see him, he will hang up wait for the hen(s) to come his way, "I can see them, they can see me" type thinking. Now just like any wild animal, they are unpredicatable and could still hang up with your decoys facing away from him. Just the chance you take. As for the cutting and the tom leaving to go back into the woods, probably not the calling that needed to be done. Its hard to say why he took off, but I personally wont do any cutting unless I still cant see the bird and feel he has hung up. Also, when these birds cross the field, do they always go to the same spot when they cross it? If so, you may want to set up closer to that spot and in the woods about 30-35 yds with your decoys in the woods too. If there is no rhyme or reason to where they go once they get into the field, you're going to have to play the odds and go where you think they may go and set up close to there. Good luck.

mohunter82

if they have been in this same field almost every time then you should have an idea about where they are entering the field or even leaving the field. want to make your job easier? get to one of those places. the reason for facing a hen decoya certain directionis that the gobbler wants the hen to see him show off. so if you know which way they are coming then face the hen away from him.
If he is coming in then try really hard to resist the urge to call. if he is walking toward you then he is already interested.remember that a turkey doesnt move fast. he may not be hanging up but simply taking his time.
I.E. this morning it took 3 jakes and hour to make it a hundred fifty yards across the field to mysetup.
if youfeel the need to call then only use light purrs and light clucks.

bowmanaj

Just a suggestion.. but it couldn't hurt to be aggressive and mobile. Maybe make moves on them if they won't come in, especially if its the last day. Maybe forget the decoys for the last day and just try your best to get on them and get in front of them. I'm no expert, but one thing that helped me this year was trying my best to judge how far the gobble is coming from, and moving a little closer, get him to gobble, move a little closer, get him to gobble, move a little closer,repeat..until its obviously time to set up and he's pretty close. Its risky, but fun.. If they aren't gobblin much, I wish I had that figured out.. For no gobbling, I would agree with what was already said, set up on them where they are entering/exiting field. For rain, your field edge set up may produce.

Good luck, have fun

Absolute Giant

Well I took another stab at it today. No success stories to share, but I did have a fun morning. I didn't hear any gobbling on the roost this morning, it has been rainy the last few days and was really foggy this morning. After not hearing anything, about 8:00 I walked approximately a quarter of a mile to an area where I see turkeys some while deer hunting. I had my older brother with me (who is also fairly new turkey hunter) he didn't get to hunt much this year but did manage to kill a nice bird his first year hunting turkeys which was two years ago. After moving location we decided to set out a Jake and two hens into a cut corn field. After about an hour and some calling later I heard a gobble approximately 300 yards across the field. We had a pretty good idea where he was. He couldn't see the decoys from where he was because we were sitting to high up over a hill. We continued to call and he continued to gobble for probably an hour, he didn't budge, I'm not sure he moved 5 feet. We decided that we would leave the decoys (standing - probably not a good idea) and work are way down the hill and over closer to him. We backed into the woods and made our trek. We were hidden by the woods the whole way, had to make a big half circle. We made are way over and I would say that we got to within 80 yards of him. We both sat down waited a few minutes and did some soft yelps and purring. He gobbled, we got quite and he gobbled but wouldn't budge. After another half hour past we moved again and got closer yet. We heard him gobble and he sounded very close. I have to believe that he was 40 yards or less but we couldn't see him through all the undergrowth and everything being so green. We sat down again did some softer yelping and purring. He would gobble but again wasn't budging. We waited a very long time before calling again. Next thing you know we heard another gobble. It was another gobbler and he was just a bit further than the closer. It wasn't long and we heard another gobble but this time it was way back in the direction of where I decoys were standing. The two gobblers that were closest got tight lipped. We waited and waited and waited. We were convinced that the gobbler that was closest to us had left and went with his buddy elsewhere. The whole time we were waiting, the gobbler in the distance (over by the decoys) kept sounding off.It sounded like he was in the field to the west of where are decoys were. We decided to skip dodge and go after him instead. By now it is 12:00 and we only have an hour to hunt. We make the trek back to the decoys and when we arrived to the decoys we heard him gobble. He was still to the west so we decided to continue after him. We walked slowly through the woods so that we could get to the field on the back side. We were walking with my brother leading the way. All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks and said there he is. He was standing and in the open field looking right in our direction.............busted. He took off the other way. I have to wonder whatwe could have done to entice thegobbler we hadclosest to us in the woods to come on in. I had thought about cutting at him but didn't like the reaction I got from an experience I had earlier in the season. You can read about that in my above post. Any ideas on what you guys might have tried with this stubborn gobbler?Being a rookie at this I'm not sure. We were so close to him I believe we would have for sure been busted if we tried to get any closer. No turkey, but I had a lot of fun and I feel like I learned a lot being in the woods this spring. Hopefully next year will be a better outcome.

Good luck to everyone still hunting. Stay safe.

mohunter82

if you are goin to make a move on a gobbler like that. dont call while your getting into position. by calling and moving or calling while moving you are making the tom think that the hen is coming to him. so why should he move to go to her when he can stay out and show off some more and pick up some more ladies.

and another thing like i said before remember a turkey doesnt move fast unless it is spooked or coming to whoop some jake. be patient and success will come my friend.

The Outdoorsman

Well sorry you were not able to score. At least you had some action on the final day. Turkey's are fickle and you will go thru some tuff times with them. Just keep at it and learn from your mistakes and read other peoples situations and learn from them as well.

Absolute Giant

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. This website is awesome. I had thought about starting a new thread with "What's your favoriteseason to hunt"........when do you see the most success?With five seasons to chose from, I ended up withapermit for both third and fifth season this year. Fourth was my choice before fifth but wasn't able to pull it. What do you guys prefer and why? I thought too early the toms would be henned up making it difficult to calland inlate season thatmost of the hens would be bredand tom would be really on the look out for a hot hen. I would love to hear from you guys what your thoughts are on this maybe it will help when selecting a permit for next year.

Thanks again.