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?
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.
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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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.
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.
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.
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.
Frist rule you dont call to turkeyunless you ready to kill him
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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!