Accidental spook of two gobblers....

[Sevenyearsandcounting]

I walked in two miles into some public ground I hunt. People rarely hunt this spot and it shows.

Now I have this annoying habit. I'll make a mock turkey call with my lips and turkeys have never responded since it's very faint and weak. Usually I just do it to make the kids laugh.

Well long story short I make a few squeaky noises and bam "gobble gobble gobble" and boy are they hot. No leaves on the trees so I think they were 200+ yards away. I rush towards the exit but I'm still a mile in and the birds are on my feet so I hide. The birds were following my feet had to be. They walked within fifteen yards of me. I'm dead still but not in full camo I had blue jeans and a camo shirt with no hat. Dumb move. After a serenade of gobbling the long beard putts crap he's onto me and boom they're off. Flying faster than any turkey I've seen.

This sucks. I know I can leave them alone and give them a week and maybe they'll be ok for opening day. But I really think I screwed this one up. A good public spot with little pressure is rare.

Has anybody else bumped birds and had them work to calls a week later? And seeing as these toms were 200 yards away I can't believe they even heard me. I guess I really do need to quiet down my calling this spring. Maybe that's why I haven't been able to call in my own bird yet?

[g8rvet]

My nephew and BIL busted up a bachelor group of 3 longbeards and 4 jakes when they killed one of the jakes.   I called one of the jakes to me the next day.   I killed one of the longbeards 4 days later.  Within 100 yards or less from where they shot the jake (and spooked the toms). 

They will be fine.

[Happy]

Don't worry too much. They are still killable. They get spooked all the time. I have noticed that if they get repeatedly busted up and pressured then they may relocate a bit and maybe be a little less vocal but they are still killable.

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[Erno86]

May I suggest avoiding wearing anything blue...or for that matter, anything red, white or blue; since they are the colors of a jake or a tom's head.

[mtns2hunt]

Bumped two this am. They will be back on the roost this evening. On most occasions I have found that turkeys stay on the same roost unless you really mess with them.

[Farmboy27]

You should be okey. But a little friendly advice. Don't call if you're not trying to kill one.  Sure it was with your voice and quiet but it was still a call or an unnatural sound. If you want to hear a gobble then use a locator call.

[Yoder409]

No worry.

Turkeys have little to no long term memory and not much short term memory either.

I spooked one on purpose about 6:30 yesterday morning and he was gobbling by 6:45.  I ended up working him 3 hours later.

[Forked lighting]

Frist rule you dont call to turkeyunless you ready to kill him

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[Life of Riley]

I was walking to a creek in SD this year because there had been a pile of turkeys in there that morning but I had a poor setup and then after a few hours it downpoured. I came back around 1pm and decided to setup in the creek bottom and wait. The problem is that there was absolutely zero trees/cover until you got by the creek. Walking across the prairie I noticed 3 bright red heads periscoped up staring at me from 80 yards away. Birds obviously saw me, but did not run away. I turned away from them and walked slowly towards the timber at the edge of the creek 200 yards to the east of their location. Once I hit the trees I walked in a short ways and setup my gobbler lounger and a decoy. I did no calling for 30 minutes, and suddenly I heard three birds start gobbling. Looking to the top of the creek bottom I saw three fans coming my way. The birds walked right by me, but before they got to the clearing where I had a shot they cut across the open prairie. I don't think the birds were spooked and were definitely kill-able, but I set up too far down in the creek bottom. Were I closer to the top I would have had a good opportunity. I'm starting to think that where you set-up is  probably the most important thing in turkey hunting. Unfortunately it seems I always guess wrong on where to do it!