I didn't get out too much this month. I've never been as fanatical about turkey hunting as I am about deer hunting. Last time I went.. last Saturday. I stayed at our camp so I could go out early. That didn't work out I slept late. When we did get up there were a whole gaggle of turkeys about a 100 yards from the camp. Looked like all hens....didn't matter though country was too open...no way to get up close enough for a shot at them without spooking them. Anyhow, this was at about 8am. 9am I've had coffee and such and am heading up to my blind (set up night before). About 300 yards from camp, up hill. I was on 4 wheeler cuz I needed to bring my blind and such out with me. Anyhow, as I turn a corner in the tractor road, just off the field where we saw the turkeys, 3 red heads pop up out of the tall grass, 15 yards away. They are going buggy. My gun wasn't loaded (I was on the 4 wheeler) so by the time I jump off and get a shell chambered none were close enough for a real chance at a shot. Prolly 70 yards out. Those babies can run!

Anyhow, this is where my question comes in....I did take a shot. But into the ground in the middle of them. My goal was to get them off the ground, and hopefully seperate them, since it looked like they were all buggin out together. It worked, they all flew off in seperate directions on my shot. My plan was then to hot foot it to my blind and sit quietly with my hen decoy out for a while then start trying to call them jakes in to her. I know it isnt' fall but I thought perhaps bust 'em and then call them back together may be a sound tactic.

Remember it was the last day of the season for me with only 3 hours to go, and these were the first non-hens I'd seen all season.

So.......thoughts??? I'd like to hear your opinions before I tell you how it turned out.

(PS: I did learn to not oversleep. Had I been in my blind early those birds may have all paraded past me and I could have shot one and gone back to bed)

I'm going to leave this one alone[:-] I'm sure you will have a shoe box full of beards in the next 10 years

For a guess , Its hard to tell. Hunting Presure can play a role in this sort of situation. I've seen the bust of Hens and a Tom work in the spring a number of times, but as for the bust of Toms or Jakes it really could work out any way as they tend to take some time to regroup if at all.

I would have to wonder if just leveing the birds and getting to the blind waiting out a 1/2 hour and calling would have lead them to the setup area, with out the resent spooking of the birds that could aswell cause Silents for some time.

I know what LB is thinking here so, he's hit that guess I'll swing the other and say that the birds when silent for sometime, and the last hour of your hunt you either heard Gobbling close or seen a bird , but just ran out of time before getting the bird into range [&:].

How and the heck can we guess as to what these birds do, they change their ways so often it could be an either or ...BT

Thanks for your opinons guys.....I knew it was a desperate stab last chance hail mary tactic. And it turned out that I will have no wild turkey this year.

3 hours spent in my blind revealed not a single gobble, nor a cluck, nor a purr (except for those produced by my new Egg call). In desperation I considered shooting my hen decoy......but from what I've heard they don't taste very good.[:'(]

Take care guys.

Hunter Safety Classes are free

Gotta put some miles on those boots to consistently kill turkeys. Imagine how that scenario may have worked out if you had eased up to the edge of the field and peeked over the grass and saw 3 content turkeys, leisurely feeding away. You have to go where the birds are, not where you want them to be.

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