Educated Tom or Bad Setup?

[Tom007]

It's easy to "Monday Morning Quarterback" your decisions as a Turkey hunter. This bird was coming, he answered pretty much all your calls. Real mature, experienced gobblers will come a certain distance without seeing a hen, then they get suspicious. When you backed off, he may have got weary, and it changed his approach. He kept moving, but seemed to skirt your location. It's happened to all of us. The only thing I can offer to you that has brought a "skiddish" Tom in is scratching leaves. He may have been waiting to hear the close range natural sound of his hen walking. I have had success with this. I always have a 3-4 foot branch laying right along side me just for this reason. You experienced what everyone of us have, you will learn and close the deal next time. Constant thinking about it will make you better.....be safe

[mountainhunter1]

This is pretty spot on from Paulmyr: "Chances are he's played the game before. If you go silent he and does decide to check you out you need to let him come. The silent treatment is working don't change a thing. If he goes silent you need to fight the urge to call and check up on him. Once you call to him he knows your still there and resorts back the his heredity. He "hangs up" and waits for you. The only time I will break the silence is if he keeps gobbling in the same spot and won't move over an extended period. At this point a shift to a new setup maybe an option. If he goes silent my guns is at the ready." (I can attest to having sat there frozen still looking down my barrel for an hour at a time when they had gone silent, especially when in wet leaves and there was going to be no warning in the leaves that he was on top of me. But time and time again when he peaked on the ridge with NO warning, I was ready to pull the trigger).

And I agree with Tom007 in that, had you scratched in the leaves when you heard him walking in the leaves, he very possibly would have poked his head over the ridge and took a peak and you could have most likely have scored.