There have been more than a couple of "tough ones" and I'm sure we'd prefer that if we're all telling the truth, but I'm curious as to how you killed the toughest turkeys. What did you do different and what clicked?
I have one in mind I'll share. Merriams are known as the easiest to kill. I would agree they're obviously the loudest, but every once in a while one becomes a "runner". I've seen stories of these birds on the forum from others as well. It's funny to me when the stories of "I thought these birds ran into the call but they're running away instead" start to roll in. It becomes mind boggling how they will gobble at you and legitimately hit high gear going the other way for no apparent reason.
Anyway, the first day I struck him, I lost track of him after a few minutes from this track meet. Left me shaking my head going "what in the world was that about!?" The next day I went into the same area and struck him from a long ways off. After getting close to him a couple times and listening to him go the other way, I decided to shut it down. I looked at my map and saw how he was just traveling the top of a ridge. I decided to drop down the mountain below a bench and sprint ahead of him. I got far enough ahead of where I thought he'd be, and as I made my move perpendicular to him to set up, he hopped up on a giant Boulder right in front of me. Simultaneously, I raised my gun as he fixed his wings to either take flight or hop off....I popped him.
He was all alone, and unless he'd been screwed with already, no reason to be a "runner". It was neat to be able to look at the map, put it together, get ahead of him and have everything work so quickly.
I'm curious as to the stories you guys have on how you killed "the tough ones".
I'll try and post a pic of this bird but it's never easy on my phone. You can see the sweat pouring off me from my track meet.
(https://i.ibb.co/zPMyPNH/5-CA3-D9-E5-957-C-47-C4-BE64-07-B1041-F3-B4-D.jpg) (https://ibb.co/KVPMVmz)
The Boulder he hopped up on in the background
(https://i.ibb.co/vXDjkwM/40-CADDE3-C7-E5-4-E49-9769-F80-BBE2633-D0.jpg) (https://ibb.co/2Z5kdnp)
Persistence, patience and luck.
In your case, stop calling, advance 100 yards on the gobblers trail and set tight.
If they are hard headed I aim a tad low to put more pellets in the neck bones. :toothy12:
I have a few different tactics for birds that are flat out ignorant.
But, I feel ya with "runner Merriam's". Me and my brother got into a set of breaks on public in Wyoming about the 3rd week of their season. Never saw another hunter that week. But much evidence of hunters having been in there the prior 2 weeks. Gobbling bird after gobbling bird.........we'd get set up......bird goes the other way. Probably 20 times in 5 days between the 2 of us.
The last morning there, I managed to get fairly tight in on a roosted bird. he gobbled hard from the limb. Shortly before I figured he was gonna fly down, I let out 3 VERY soft tree yelps on a diaphragm. He gobbled back. I slid the call over into my cheek and turned on the red dot. Bird flew down. Gobbled when he hit the ground. I clucked once and 2 soft yelps. About a minute later he runs his noggin up over the rise and I filled it full of Longbeard XR.
A mile away and an hour later..........the (next thing to it) silent treatment brought he demise to a beautiful snow tip for my brother, too.
I love to call to birds. I love to get them to grandstand......strut......gobble the whole way in........ But, then there are those times.......those birds.......that are totally ignorant and beg me to be ignorant back. I'll stoop to it. ;D
Easiest way is to catch them in a field and pop them with a 22-250. Probably not recommended (unless you are in Texas) but it's the easiest.
I will say that it sounds crazy but I've pulled a few calling stalks and got very close to a gobbler before he made just the last few and I mean very few yards. It's a risky chess move but sometimes it works.
Hard to kill gobblers that have had a lot of hunting pressure. More than likely he has heard and seen it all over time. Getting as close as you can within his bubble without bumping him and continue working him with soft slow calling. This kind of gobbler will test your patience and your calling ability. That's why i think it's important to practice your calling and cadence/rhythm. Sure you can kill some gobbler with a squawk, we have probably done this at some point. Setup and knowing your terrain is just as important in killing him. Never forget about throwing in a few gobbler yelps, you may need to convince him another gobbler is here to fight and take his hens.. Lots of variables and tactics can be used and you can still go home empty handed. These gobbler kills in my opinion are the most memorable ones. The ones you have hunted the hardest and longest ...
Quote from: Gooserbat on March 05, 2023, 09:16:03 PM
Easiest way is to catch them in a field and pop them with a 22-250. Probably not recommended (unless you are in Texas) but it's the easiest. I will say that it sounds crazy but I've pulled a few calling stalks and got very close to a gobbler before he made just the last few and I mean very few yards. It's a risky chess move but sometimes it works.
????
Couple years back I had one that would gobble at my soft clucks in an open pasture.....100 yds away. I could see him and worked him probably 10 minutes.... Could see him all the time but he would not get any closer. Took out an ole Lynch box call and it will make a pretty good gobble....I gobbled couple times and he moves to my right on a straight walk walking away out of sight. I waited about 5 minutes not making a sound. Never moved from my set up. After about 5 minutes I gave him couple soft clucks followed by some soft purrs. This went on few minutes but I did not gobble at him. All of a sudden he pops over a little rise in the pasture looking in my direction. I just set there watching him and slowly he began taking steps toward me. After few steps he gobbled and I immediately cut him off with one cluck....he gobbled right back. Every time he would gobble I would cut him off with a cluck. He kept coming thinking that gobbler he heard had left....he came in on a string and I took him at 38 yards. One of my most awarding hunts.
Quote from: WV Flopper on March 05, 2023, 07:56:33 PM
Persistence, patience and luck.
In your case, stop calling, advance 100 yards on the gobblers trail and set tight.
This is it in a nutshell. I have an old addage I use all the time, "every bird has his stupid day" I just keep trying him until I hit that "Stupid day". Sometimes someone else hits his stupid day, but sooner or later they all wake up so horny they will throw caution to the wind. This usually happens late in the season. Many men have fallen to this "stupid state" as well.
Quiet down, back off the calling for a period of time, maybe just keep him interested. When it's evident he's not breaking, I hit him with a fighting purr sequence. I just started using this, it's a "final curtain" move on a stubborn Tom. Last year after a 2 hour daybreak session, a stubborn Tom finally committed and felt the wrath of #7's at 30 yards.....I really don't think he would have broke without making him think another Tom slipped in on his bride......
POk3s, great pictures in beautiful country! Toms that have played the game and won need extra effort, makes them all that more special. If he wont come in, its because hens are always moving, we know a Tom will know exactly where that call came from, if you sit tight to your original calling spot for 2 long , he knows its not natural, I will get up end move 10, 20 yds and have killed birds. Nothing works all the time but when it does, another tick to remember.
Quote from: eggshell on March 06, 2023, 07:28:39 AM
Quote from: WV Flopper on March 05, 2023, 07:56:33 PM
Persistence, patience and luck.
In your case, stop calling, advance 100 yards on the gobblers trail and set tight.
This is it in a nutshell. I have an old addage I use all the time, "every bird has his stupid day" I just keep trying him until I hit that "Stupid day". Sometimes someone else hits his stupid day, but sooner or later they all wake up so horny they will throw caution to the wind. This usually happens late in the season. Many men have fallen to this "stupid state" as well.
This has filled me with hope this morning lol. It does seem to be about putting in the time, not pushing them into the next county, and being patient.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I has a farm once that was full of turkeys, there was a farm bluff across the road adjacent to the road. There was a gobbler that stayed on that bluff and if he gobbled over there the toms (multiples) on my side would burn the woods down, if he didn't you would hear one bird gobble a few times. Fast forward a couple weeks into season and I set up before daylight. No gobble from bluff tom. 1 bird gobbled on my side, I happened to be 70 yards away from him. He pitched down with 2 hens and I called them right by me with him in tow. He had 1-1/4" spurs, and I was confident I had killed the bluff Tom until the same practice went o. For a couple weeks. One afternoon on the next to last weekend of season I decided to drive up and hunt. I saw a Tom and 6 hens leave the woods and I intercepted him on their way back to the road. He had 1-1/2" spurs. Never heard another turkey gobble on that bluff, and am still confident to this day that that turkey when roosted on my side of the road would make the rest of them shut completely down.
Quote from: WV Flopper on March 05, 2023, 07:56:33 PM
Persistence, patience and luck.
Yep,...and it often takes a really big dose of the last of those three. :D
Sometimes it is just a contest to see who is the most hard-headed, the turkey...or me. In my case, most often the turkey wins that contest. I will only expend so much effort on a gobbler until I am moving on to find one that is willing to play by my rules. Sometimes their rules and mine do not align and I have learned to accept defeat and move on.
one of those 'hard headed' birds was 2017 for me. from opening day until the last week that bird and a buddy gave us a downright fit. I know of 4 different hunters that tried to kill him with no luck. he would start gobbling about 30 to 45 minutes after daybreak and walk all around and out of hearing. he would be spotted several times but him and the buddy would always be heading away. on the last week I thought I'd give him one more try since nobody had been hunting there for over a week. just like clock work he didn't fail me. sure enough about 30 minutes after daybreak I heard him. I called soft and he sounded off flanking me heading towards a big hollow. I crawled in a hurry towards the direction I thought he would go and called soft again. BAM, he answered but started to veer off so, I did the one thing that I was told when I was a kid that you NEVER do in southern WV. I gobbled back at him and did so with force. I'm telling you he absolutely lost his mind. he lit into gobbling his head off and heading my way in a hurry. he stepped out from a big popular tree with his neck stretched straight out with his buddy behind him in full strut. just enough noise for him to put his head up a load of heavy 7's from a 20ga ended his rule of that area. one of the coolest hunts I've had
I figure there's always another day. I remember a friend called me to unfamiliar ground for a Turkey that had whipped him some. Told me right where he would be so I eased out there in the dark. Turkey gobbled right where he said he would be. I looked down at the ground and saw a bunch of cig butts where my friend had started all his days. I said " Nope", and made a circle out into a cutover, busted brush til I got in the SMZ opposite the road , sat down about 100yds from him just around a curve in the logging road. At daylight I answered his gobbles 3X and shut up. No cuts, kee Kees, clucks etc. Just yelps. Put gun on my knee when I heard wings. A few mins he eased around the curve eyeballing my position . 27 yds...... Was back at camp waiting when he came up. He was amazed," You sure don't waste time!". I smiled and said,"Well, you wanted him dead, Right...".
I made ONE good move when I didn't approach him from the easiest position. That's all- and luck.
On top of ridge. Tom would come to 60yds and hang up...walk back out to 90 and strut some more. Went on 4 different times. Last time I called to him at 90 yrds, knowing he would come to 60 and then go back. Snuck out the back of blind and ran around the ridge (it was wet). Came up to where he was going to be. Peaked over the hill and sure enough he was at 60 from the blind headed back my way. Dead at 30yrds. Stupid bird! I felt so proud of myself!!!!
Great stories guys. The tough ones are always the ones you remember most vividly!
Patience is key. The most effect tool in your bag and it's cheap. Stay with them and wait on him to make a mistake. When he does you have to catch it and then capitalize on it. A old timer once told me years ago that every bird is killable on a particular day during season. You just have to be there when that day breaks.
I usually end up losing the battle ;D
I also love the "patience" answers. It's probably the easiest tactic to deploy but also the toughest to do. You feel like you're doing nothing but really it's probably the way most hard headed gobblers are killed.
In my situation, I live in the arid, southwest corner of Wyoming where antelope outnumber people. I have ZERO turkeys close to me and my "in state" spots are at least 5 hours away. There are a few pocketed birds in the mountains about 2 hours from me. The population is low but it's a fun hunt. The "wait them out and kill them another day" doesnt really fit into how I have to hunt, but I understand it fits into most peoples style. I have however just flat left turkeys before. I seemingly have to cut my losses and find a different bird to hunt before my long weekend getaway is over and I have to head back towards home.
I like to match being dense with being more denser!
I can sit against a tree for hours with the best of them!
I want the tom to think "man, that guy is really dumb!"
I too agree that every bird has a time when he is more vulnerable. I also believe in proximity... a gobbler who won't give you the time of day will all the sudden hammer the same call he's been ignoring just by closing distance. I've heard it likened to a bubble- on any given day that bubble is a certain size, penetrate it and he's vulnerable. However, on some that bubble is more like plastic wrap tight around him! A good tip is approach as close as you safely can before making your stand and hopefully when you reveal yourself with a call he has no choice but to investigate....
I'll add one more thought. We create a lot of the hard headed birds by hunting them too aggressively the same old way. After a few encounters using the same call, approach and tactics he knows us as well as we know him. Many times I have seen an unkillable bird killed on the first try by a new hunter. I have killed several of these unkillable gobblers myself. New approach, new calling and he accepts it as a new hen and comes. I know a lot of hunters claim they change up calls and tactics, but we are creatures of habit and we may be holding a different call, but we're still doing all the same things. It takes deliberate thought to actually bring a new strategy.
Quote from: POk3s on March 07, 2023, 05:14:30 PM
I also love the "patience" answers. It's probably the easiest tactic to deploy but also the toughest to do. You feel like you're doing nothing but really it's probably the way most hard headed gobblers are killed.
In my situation, I live in the arid, southwest corner of Wyoming where antelope outnumber people. I have ZERO turkeys close to me and my "in state" spots are at least 5 hours away. There are a few pocketed birds in the mountains about 2 hours from me. The population is low but it's a fun hunt. The "wait them out and kill them another day" doesnt really fit into how I have to hunt, but I understand it fits into most peoples style. I have however just flat left turkeys before. I seemingly have to cut my losses and find a different bird to hunt before my long weekend getaway is over and I have to head back towards home.
Same way with me, with my place of employment, it's not uncommon to work 7 days a week, 30 or 40 days straight. I've worked up to 4 months straight without a day off before, it's the nature of the beast. Anywho, when I turkey hunt, i typically take the first handful of days of the season off and after that I'm forced to hunt evening after work. The closest place I have to hunt from my house or work is a hour plus drive in any direction and it's all pretty heavily pressured public land. When I hunt, I don't wait on the gobbler, if I'm working a bird and I've not killed him in 35 to 40 minutes, I'm leaving him and find one that wants to die. In my case, I have to find the right bird that day because I just don't have the days to waste sitting in a spot waiting on one to walk in.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: WV Flopper on March 05, 2023, 07:56:33 PM
Persistence, patience and luck.
I had one bird I hunted all season and couldn't get him to work. One morning I had heard zero gobbles and at 0930 was heading back to truck and gave one last series of cuts on the glass pot call. He gobbles one time about 200 yds away down in the creek bottom. I follow a horse trail to get around him and when I pop my head up just over the rise of a small hill I see him in full strut about 30 yds away.
I drop back down and collect my thoughts before slowly rising up w gun ready. He's behind a small tree between us and I give a few clucks on the diaphragm to pop his head up. BOOM! Best set of hooks I ever shot!
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Eggshell wrote:
QuoteThis is it in a nutshell. I have an old addage I use all the time, "every bird has his stupid day"
I have an old adage too: "Turkey hunting is easy....you just gotta find one that wants to die!"