Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

I went this morning and had the perfect setup happen. Gobbler was hammering in the tree. I got in close to him. He pitched down and came straight in to my decoys at 20 yards. He was spitting and drumming facing away from me. I repositioned to get a better aim and when i did he got nervous and swung his head around trying to find me. Like an idiot, i didnt take my time and make a good shot. I totally whiffed the shot. He flew straight up and away. How long before this bird is huntable again?

Five minutes.

Roost him again, kill him next time. Easy peasy. Z

If he didn't identify you as a threat, he may come to good calling within an hour.  Now he may be wary of your decoys for quite some time as he was fixated on them when his world blew up in his face.

He never knew i was there, He just turned his head around out the side of his fan because he heard leaves rustling. I just didnt take my time and let him turn all the way around, lol.  :'(  Sucker had me shook up, lol, but that is what its all about.

I would think it's very situational.
No rule of thumb to go by in this topic.
Been a couple years back but got too tight with one off the roost.  Heard him leave tree and he just about pitched down past me in the bend of the road. 

Shot and missed.
He jumped/flew straight up and down in the curve of the road just out of sight.  Disgusted with myself I peeped around the corner of the road a there he was 75 to 100 yards strutting.  I shimmied the vest and layed down in the weeds in the curve. 
I called him back up 10 mins at the most a didn't miss the second time. 

Also I've seen them stay in a tree for half a day after a miss. 

I would dang sure hunt him as quick and as often as I could.


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Quote from: Louisiana Longbeard on April 17, 2023, 05:05:05 PM
He never knew i was there, He just turned his head around out the side of his fan because he heard leaves rustling. I just didnt take my time and let him turn all the way around, lol.  :'(  Sucker had me shook up, lol, but that is what its all about.

You exactly right!  Everyone of them suckers makes me feel like I'm bout to go into cardiac arrest!  It can't be healthy for the body!   But makes up for it in your soul!  Very difficult to describe! Good luck go get him!


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My nephew killed the same bird three days after missing him (first day he could hunt again).  Knew it was him because he had a weird kinked beard.  Came right in like he owned the place.

It all depends on a plethora of factors. I've missed in the morning and gone back that evening and sealed the deal. Others that have witnessed executions have sometimes taken almost 2 weeks before they reappeared.

In a hour. Turkeys can't rationalize that they were shot at. They hear loud noises all the time and are nervous anyway. He will calm down and go right back to gobbling later. That is unless you put some shot in him. Saying all this , when I hunt him again , I would not set up in the same spot. Move a 100 yards and kill him. That's the advice I would give if you are going back another day. If I was gonna try again that day , I would go way around in the direction he flew. I would get comfortable and do no calling. Wait on him to start back up on his own , make adjustments and start working him again with a different call. I have killed a few over the years doing that. In this situation patience trumps everything. It may take several hours but you need to remain steadfast and do not call to him until he starts gobbling again. Good luck.

Get right back to business next day

I've seen minutes and Ive seen the bird completely leave the area and relocate

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OP your experience sounds strangely familiar to me!  He was back at it gobbling a few days later, didn't come in but seemingly undisturbed by my calling.
  It's the age old debate of whether turkeys are dumb as a rock or capable of intelligent reasoning.  Go get back after him and let us know if you get him!
  JT

Will probably be Saturday before I can get back after him. I will let y'all know

These birds are avoiding predators every minute of their life, and probably have close calls frequently.  They get over it.

I certainly think a bird can be killed the same day, next for sure.  I typically switch calls and cadence on a bird I buggered recently.

Few years back, I killed a tom out of a  bachelor group with my daughter (too young to shoot at the time).  She walked out to get the bird I shot, and the other birds actually went after her.  I had to get up and intervene and scare them off.   

On the walk back out, she was calling, and they ran up the hill we were walking out, got ahead of us, and we flushed them (certainly killable) coming around a corner.

I think it is a combination of how horny, and how smart the bird you are hunting is.  (There is often an inverse relationship here, with the more horny a bird is, the less smart he becomes, very similar to human males)

Simply stated, if you hunt him again, you will find out.   ;D

"Scientifically", it all will depend on the connection the bird made with the calling and the decoys and any danger he now associates with both.  There are turkeys that will not make that negative connection,...have not "learned" to avoid doing it again,...and there will be turkeys that, for whatever reason, DO make that connection and will avoid approaching turkey calling, decoys, and perhaps even that specific spot. 

As stated, you will find out which it is when you hunt this gobbler again...    :D 

Quote from: Louisiana Longbeard on April 17, 2023, 09:55:55 PM
Will probably be Saturday before I can get back after him. I will let y'all know

If he's there, you'll get him....good luck...

Go to the bar and you will see a guy get shot down and with-in 2 min. he's after someone else. Tom's no different. He want's loving just as much as a bar dude. Circle around and get him going the other way.

Quote from: GobbleNut on April 18, 2023, 09:31:06 AM
"Scientifically", it all will depend on the connection the bird made with the calling and the decoys and any danger he now associates with both.  There are turkeys that will not make that negative connection,...have not "learned" to avoid doing it again,...and there will be turkeys that, for whatever reason, DO make that connection and will avoid approaching turkey calling, decoys, and perhaps even that specific spot. 

I think this nails it!

Obviously turkeys make a negative association with things when they run into preceived danger, or they would not live long.  Question is, what is that association?

When we "bump" a bird, or we have that bird that gets nervous and does not come in, or when we shoot and miss, that bird is making some sort of association with danger, that he will likely avoid next time.  Could be an association with a call (tone, pitch, or cadence), could be an association with decoys that were not moving....  Could be an association with that weird bush (i.e. hunter in camo)....  Maybe that bird won't go by the tree that shot at him again?

Couple years back, I used my favorite box call, and had the largest flock of turkeys I have called in completely surrounding me.  Birds were calling, fighting, feeding, and strutting within feet of me at times.  Finally the tom I wanted gave me a clear shot (with some birds mere feet from me when I pulled the trigger).

Hunted the next day, and birds would not answer that favorite box call...  Switched calls, and immediately lit a couple of birds right up....  I have often noted that hunting the same birds, that sometimes they get stale with a call, and a different call can be a game changer.

Every bird is killable, but I now realize that not every bird is killable by me. ::)

I shot at one this morning in northern New Mexico, I think he now resides in southern Colorado, I ain't planning on hunting him ever again!

Mountain turkey are different though!


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I "missed" a bird, watched him run and go airborne and land a few hundred yards away in a big open field. I glassed him for a while and couldn't believe it but he started strutting and cranked out a gobble. I relocated just below a rise in the field and gave a few soft yelps. He hammered back and ran through the high grass right into my barrel.
He just wanted to die that day.

Killed one this morn that had a buddy (didn't know until he spooked when I stood up)

30 min later he was gobbling

Turkeys do what turkeys feel like doing


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Every time I have missed a turkey, I back out slowly and make sure to avoid going the direct he went...even if it is the fastest route.  I can remember at least a 3 times where I backed out on a missed bird, came back to the exact location where I missed and was able to hear him the next morning.  2 of those 3 are spurs hanging off my work bench in the hunting room.  The other one was called in for a buddy of mine.  Some will just wait for an hour or so, but I typically hunt pretty small areas, even on public, so I tend to tread a little lightly to avoid a total blow out.

IT ALL DEPENDS if the turkey flew over to the next county ... IMO... anything is possible ..... I guess ....

Quote from: tad1 on April 17, 2023, 08:57:58 PM
  It's the age old debate of whether turkeys are dumb as a rock or capable of intelligent reasoning.
  JT

I don't think it's either/or. Some turkeys are more intelligent than others, like dogs or people. Some are dumb as rocks and others, "smarter."  So I would say, it mostly depends on the bird whether or not you'll be able to get a shot at him again.

His brain is the size of a peanut, and he doesn't know what that sound was. They get spooked all the time. It's part of being a Turkey. Just a few minutes down the road you should be able to work him again. Reproduction is his driving motivation this time of year and he'll be back courting the girls just about as soon as his feet hit the ground.

Go get him!

Well I went back after him today. He gobbled his head off on the roost. Stayed in the tree two hours after daylight. Gobbled 50 times. He flew down to 3 hens. I chased them all day trying to pull him away. I gave up about 6 this evening. I'm going back after him Monday. I got a plan!!

I had one on the 17th located where he was roosted.  Set up on him, I was in a food plot. He was off of it by 50 yards in a creek bottom.  When time, I did a fly down with a real turkey wing, he was gobbling every breath, then he flew down into the woods bottom. I called him and he would answer me. But going straight away from me, and he went out at least 300 yards. I was very tempted to "chase after him, but I said,"Nope, I will call him in to me or not. "
I started calling softly about every 10 minutes. He answered me and seemed like he was getting closer to me.  Again, calling him and he was coming closer. " I said alright, this might work."  Then, BAM, I see a hen coming up in the food plot, and she walks 8 steps from my boots. There I see him, walking straight to me, he was wanting to strut, but the ground is wet. He's about 30 yards, and I needed to move my cheek to the stock, and the hen saw me, started head bobbin, what I call '"shuckin and jiving." I acquired the dot and pressed the trigger, and he was down.

19 pounds
11.50 beard
1.25 spurs

All of that to say this,  I never knew that hen was with him, I never heard her make a sound at all.  I also decided to stay put instead of chasing them.  the only reason I didn't give chase was because I had walked 8 miles the day before and I was TIRED!!!!

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO STAY PUT. IT WILL WORK SOMETIMES!!!! LOL

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Patience, maybe sometimes laziness, has put more gobblers in front of me than anything.
Congratulations!