jerrrrstanley

Well we went for the opening day in VA today. I took him to the exact same spot he killed his first archery deer from. After it started getting daylight we had one 100 yards away gobbling his head off. After 30 minutes of us talking back and forth he went silent and i thought he went the other way. I finally spotted him sneaking in to my left. He strutted and gobbled and then started circling me and slipping closer and closer. He got within 50 yards and thats when I heard my dads safety click off (he was watching my back and couldn't see the big gobler). BOOM, dad smoked him a good sized Jake. He apologized and said I knew you could see one but this Jake was going to bust us. He shot him at 15 yards coming right at us.
The big tom I was watching left there quick. How long would yall wait before trying him again? Is there anything I should change like not using the same call i was using this morning? This was only my second spring turkey hunt.

Whitetailmadness

Really hard to tell,but in most cases he'll not easily come to any call again,at all or if he does he'll most likely not make a sound and you'll never know he's coming.

jerrrrstanley

That's what I was affraid of since he didnt come straight in this time. You could tell he was very cautious. I'm going to give him a week maybe 2 and try him again. The good part is there is very little hunting pressure where I hunt. No other turkeys were calling even though they were around. The only one talking was the big gobbler. Does this mean he is a dominant bird? Do you all think he would respond to a gobble call? If yall can't tell I'm kinda new to spring turkey hunting! Hahaha

jerrrrstanley

Thanks for your help. I had a great time this morning and I know I have caught the bug. I had a 20 ga this morning but I am going to switch to my 10 ga single shot. I am going to pattern it tomorrow with #5 shot to see how far out I can shoot. Again thanks and i will probably have more questions after I go again next week!

JoeA

When you do hunt him, set up in a different location (if possible) at that spot. Try soft calls early, let him know you're there, and then just scratch in the leaves. As long as he thinks there's a hen there, who knows he's around and you have sharp eyes and long patience...he can be taken.

Good Luck and BTW...got pix of the jake? Your Dad may kill bigger birds, but there's only one first bird. Congrats to you for sharing the experience.

Chapy101

Congrats to your Dad! That is great. We had them close but couldn't bring them in yesterday. Hope you find the big Tom again. Good luck.

jerrrrstanley

Well I patterned my H&R 10 ga with #5 3.5" shells and my saiga 12 ga with 3" #5 shot. Both have full choke. It did not go as good as planned. The 12 was the winner in the pattern contest and the 10 won in the kicking contest! I'm only able to shoot out to 35 yards comfortably. I am going to try some #6 hevi shot to see if I can get a better pattern out to 45. Any other shells yall can think of for 12 ga that holds a good pattern?

Tikka 30-06

I like Winchester Supremes a lot.