An old turkey hunter taught me years ago "when" to know its time to shoot!! I surely hope this is good advise to fine hunters with limited birds in front of them. The wormy thing above the male birds beak is called a snood. The longer the snood, the more aroused and excited they have become walking into your set up. Use caution though, it happens quickly. As soon as the turkey is no longer enchanted by the set up, and is about to be in the next zip code, that ole snood with draw up the size of a pencil eraser. I just wanted to pass this on, I had not seen it posted yet and I am new to the forums, and love this forum and wanted to share some sound advise. If you watch several videos you will see it happen. Be safe, have fun. AL
Yup, One of the things I talk about during my seminars. Learned it long ago, high and tight does not always mean the birds are leaving though. It is also a sign of dominance if you have a couple/few birds coming in it can just show he is a subordinate. There are other keys to watch for too, such as "head tilt", "wing fold" and "head color" all have there meanings at the time.
Here is a good picture, I tagged the birds as far as social structure and you can see the snood difference on these birds, all coming in to set.
MK M GOBL
Wing folding/reseting on his back, the high arch head over his back with neck stretched out and quickly shortening snood. Definitely worth paying attention too. Especially is the head color changes.
Ha. I'd watch it if I could see it. Been wearing coke bottles since grade school.
You are right, but I am not much of a watcher any more. If he is in range, my gun is up and I have a bead on him, he going down. I like watching them flop more than watching them strut.
Quote from: g8rvet on April 13, 2018, 05:35:52 PM
You are right, but I am not much of a watcher any more. If he is in range, my gun is up and I have a bead on him, he going down. I like watching them flop more than watching them strut.
Yep... If I can see the snood, I can probably kill the bird... At that point, I am generally looking at where the neck meets the feathers.
Although, I do enjoy posts such as this, and appreciate learning and digesting anything I can about turkey behavior and activity...
Part of my game is taking a dominant bird, when I have multiples come in I wait till I can determine this. It is also a key point in taking doubles as a solo and sometime with another hunter. Now if I have a single come in and he has a full fan I'm squeezing the trigger!
MK M GOBL
Quote from: MK M GOBL on April 17, 2018, 12:13:10 AM
Part of my game is taking a dominant bird, when I have multiples come in I wait till I can determine this. It is also a key point in taking doubles as a solo and sometime with another hunter. Now if I have a single come in and he has a full fan I'm squeezing the trigger!
MK M GOBL
I reckon if I had more than one, I would do the same. Not been an issue for me for a few years. I usually take the brightest head and/or longest or thickest beard.
I agree, there are many parts on an animals body language that telegraph what they're about to do. If I can see a snood it'd be a dead bird if it's one I wanted
The ol snoodle noodle will always tell you a lot about a man's.. Ehm I mean bird's mood
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Snood and wings are dead give aways... also watch head color
:funnyturkey:
I do watch the snood as the bird comes in, as to me a good sign if they are loosing interest or seeing something that makes them nervous. But once they are within range, all my focus goes to the front sight.