Missed a nice tom
05-01-2013, 09:43 AM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 17
Missed a nice tom
So for the first time ever I missed a tom. The most disappointing opening day of turkey hunting I have ever had.
Nothing last night on the roost, nothing this morning either. So me, my younger brother, and the old man set up in a spot we have all got birds in the past. Heard no gobbles, but saw a nice porcupine and had a hen come in.
So we started to do a little walk and talk around 8:30. I have a bit of a circuit I will do that often finds a bird or two. The old man headed home to go to work so it was just my brother and I. On the third call in the walk we got a gobble and he was close, one(maybe two) ledges below us.
We set up quick, put a decoy out on the logging road and got my brother setup for where we thought they would come. I set up about 30 feet uphill from him facing away from him. Two or three sets of calls later heads start popping up over the ledge. About four hens, a jake, and a very nice tom. He saw our decoy and was full strut. Had him and the jake gobbling a few times, just to see it and who doesn't love that sound. It was a good show, short but good. They were about 20 to 25 yards out from my brother, but he had setup with his gun facing the wrong direction, and moving it around a tree with so many eyes was not an option. They of course did not come up the logging road like we thought, what a shocking development
. Instead they continued up hill, coming towards my shooting lanes.
A few minutes later and the tom took the lead of the group. He crossed too quickly through one of my lanes, but I was ready on the next one. Well I thought I was ready. He came through at about 25 yards and I gave a little cluck-cluck and he stopped quick, and BOOM. The jake and the hens flew down hill and he jogged off uphill. I tried to call him back right away but that only slowed him down a step or two.
In the end there was a sapling at about 10 yards that ate a huge chunk of my pattern. And based on where that was on the tree I might have been a bit high. Did a circle walk through where he was and found no feathers or blood, so I think it was a clean miss. Maybe a few pellets hit him.
People say that unless he was really stung hard he should be gobbling, so I am going to be back there tomorrow AM. We'll see how it goes. One thing that did surprise me was that he ran away and didn't try to fly. not even a flap of a wing. I cannot remember seeing that before when we have shot birds in groups. Is that odd?
Well thanks for the vent folks.
Nothing last night on the roost, nothing this morning either. So me, my younger brother, and the old man set up in a spot we have all got birds in the past. Heard no gobbles, but saw a nice porcupine and had a hen come in.
So we started to do a little walk and talk around 8:30. I have a bit of a circuit I will do that often finds a bird or two. The old man headed home to go to work so it was just my brother and I. On the third call in the walk we got a gobble and he was close, one(maybe two) ledges below us.
We set up quick, put a decoy out on the logging road and got my brother setup for where we thought they would come. I set up about 30 feet uphill from him facing away from him. Two or three sets of calls later heads start popping up over the ledge. About four hens, a jake, and a very nice tom. He saw our decoy and was full strut. Had him and the jake gobbling a few times, just to see it and who doesn't love that sound. It was a good show, short but good. They were about 20 to 25 yards out from my brother, but he had setup with his gun facing the wrong direction, and moving it around a tree with so many eyes was not an option. They of course did not come up the logging road like we thought, what a shocking development
. Instead they continued up hill, coming towards my shooting lanes. A few minutes later and the tom took the lead of the group. He crossed too quickly through one of my lanes, but I was ready on the next one. Well I thought I was ready. He came through at about 25 yards and I gave a little cluck-cluck and he stopped quick, and BOOM. The jake and the hens flew down hill and he jogged off uphill. I tried to call him back right away but that only slowed him down a step or two.
In the end there was a sapling at about 10 yards that ate a huge chunk of my pattern. And based on where that was on the tree I might have been a bit high. Did a circle walk through where he was and found no feathers or blood, so I think it was a clean miss. Maybe a few pellets hit him.
People say that unless he was really stung hard he should be gobbling, so I am going to be back there tomorrow AM. We'll see how it goes. One thing that did surprise me was that he ran away and didn't try to fly. not even a flap of a wing. I cannot remember seeing that before when we have shot birds in groups. Is that odd?
Well thanks for the vent folks.
05-02-2013, 01:35 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: west central wi USA
Posts: 2,242
Been there, done that. Turkeys prefer running to flying if they have the option. Pretty common for them to run way. He'll be back. If you've never missed a turkey, you haven't hunted long enough.
05-02-2013, 06:46 AM
#5
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Southeast Missouri
Posts: 647
I would expect him back, first morning of Mo season my son missed a jake out of a flock, called them back in and i knocked down the strutter. Sick to my stomach causeI thought I crippled a bird, 30 minutes later he was strutting and gobbling again. He didn't want to play for the third time. BUT he has been in the same field with all of his hens ever since. My job wont let me hunt till the weekends, but I know he has been there for 3 weeks. Hes got a funky looking beard, thick and curvy, so i know its the same bird. Keep after him
