.308 Swar

I am getting so discouraged. I am getting birds to respond and get close and then nothing. Never close enough to shoot. I cant tell you how many days since season started that i have been in the woods try to kill a turkey. Damn it is starting to get frustrating.

Well today it is raining like hell, so i figure well i will try to sit on a edge of a road and see waht happens. The whole forest was silent. So i am sitting there partially coverd in a blind and other part of me getting rained on. So i sit there and sit there calling about every 30 min. 3 hours go by one shows up way down the raod....and you got it, I couldn't call the bird in to save my life. Then to top it off about 3o minuets later i was starting to get restless and move one of my now lifeless legs and it sounds like a B-29 is flying over my head.... The damn bird was so close i could feel the turbulance off of its wings. Scared me so bad i almost crapped myself and about dropped my shotgun. Well after my near heart attack i packed it in.

I dont know if you all go through this your first year hunting turkeys but damn it is geting discouraging. I dont know if many of you had someone show you the ropes but i dont have that opprotunity. I am haveing to be self taught and i am not sure what i am doing wrong.

I read all of your posts and you all make it sound so easy.
Also, after about 9 am the birds shut all the way up. I have tried hunting them all in the after noon and nothin ever responds back.

Dont know how much more of this abuse i can take from these crafty birds. Hell my girlfriend is starting to wonder if i am even hunting...I keep comin home with a story and not a damn bird.

Thanks for letting me vent....

.308

slicendice

Trust me, we've all been there. Turkeys are a funny, wary bird that will give even the most seasoned hunter fits. It doesn't sound like you're doing much wrong. Just unlucky.
It happens to all of us.

I don't know if dekes are legal where you hunt, but it sounds like a deke may help bring the birds in close enough to close the deal. Especially on that road set up you were talking about.

Also, if you can hunt until dark, you may want to try to figure out where the birds want to roost and get there before they do, and bust them in the evening before they fly up.
Even if you can't connect on them in the evening, it would give you a good idea where to start in the morning.

Hang in there!! When you bust one, and you will, let us know!! We'd love yo hear about it.

Good luck,

Slice

barefoot

Hey! If he was THAT close, you must have done SOMEthing right! Hang in there and learn rom everything that happens. You'll get one eventually. That's the stuff that makes turkey hunting fun! As for your girlfriend, take a camera... or better yet... take HER!

Turkey Addict

>308 Swar,

Hang in there bud, We have all been there. I had a buddy to show me the ropes, and it still took us two two years before I got my first Gobbler. He would get his but we couldn't get mine. I can't remember being more frustrated with anything in my whole life. Now that I got a few gobblers under my belt I still have days like that. But let me tell you, when you do get him, and you will, it will be the most rewarding feeling you'll ever have. Hang in there! Its all worth it.
Thats way my sig is what it is, I have been there.

dog1

308,

You're in a fraternity now, you'll never be able to get out, might even cost you a girlfriend or two over the years.

The first time I saw a mouth call was in 1972 I believe. Me and a buddy stoped by a sporting goods store the night before opening turkey season to pick up a few things on the way to our camp and coming turkey hunt. We each bought a mouth call and the next morning we set up about 100 yds apart (we used to hunt together this way and it worked) and with never practicing with the mouth calls we started calling. Well I can tell you, we sounded like two different Blue Jays being strangled by someone. We thought that if others could call with those things we could to and wouldn't use our box calls. Didn't see a turkey for two days! We still have some good laughs about that deal.

I still use mouth calls and other types, I buy those Wal-Mart specials and my buddy buys custom made calls. I kill just as many gobblers as him and let him know it. As a matter of fact, he just pulled a good one on me. He sent me a picture of a turkey his son in law got that weighed 28 lbs and 10 ounces, and it was hanging from the scale. I had a feeling something was up but congratulated them anyway. That was yesterday, today he sent me a new photo with the real weight, 20.10 lbs.

What I'm saying is that, turkey hunting is addictive, hang in there because it only gets' better and you'll have memories to last a life time. Most of all, enjoy it, and do occasionally take your girlfriend/wife, even if they don't hunt, that way they'll see what you're really doing and might not leave you, however, they may think you're a little crazy.

dog1

benhuntin

Ive been turkey hunting for the past 20 years and some years are just like the one you're describing. Dont give up. I have averaged 2 turkeys a year for the past 10 years but this year is giving me fits.
After you read about my current season you shouldnt feel too bad.
1. Opening morning, turkeys relocated during the night and I spooked them off of the roost going in to my setup that morning.
2. Called in a nice gobbler to 35 yards and MISSED.
3. Spooked a couple of deer and they ran right towards the gobbler I was calling. Gobbler went the other way.
4. Had a gobbler coming in when a wild hog decided to come in and start knawing on a tree in front of my blind. Gobbler went the other way.
5. Had one bird come in silent, behind me. He was probally 20 feet behind me and I didnt know it. I shifted a little to get more comfortable and he took off.
You'll get a bird eventually. Just go out and enjoy the nice weather and time in the woods.
Another note. Over half of the turkeys ive killed in the past 20 years came in silent. Dont think that just because he quit gobbling that he isnt still on his way. What works on turkeys one day wont always work the next. Learn as much as you can from the Turkey hunting magazines, videos and the people here and put it to practice out in the woods.
Good luck.

Stickemup

You ain't having a bad season, you're just turkey huntin'!!! LOL.

The part about the girl friend almost made me fall out of my chair laughing. That sounded just like my EX-wife. My current wife knows better than to mess with my turkey hunting.

Hang in there! When you get your first bird, you won't know what happened until it's over.

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trapper T

Hang in there man, your doing better than I my first time out. I was usually lucky to find sign my first two years.( the birds use to be really scattered up here). Four years before I tagged one. To call one in that close my first year like you did, I'd hung it up in the WIN column Your doing fine. Plus now your sunk you'll chase these critters the rest of your days now