Do any of you guys have a strategy when it comes to henned up birds. I'm hunting mountains in East Tennessee and every bird I have had gobble, has been with hens. Normally i can wait a little later in the day and sometimes they will come in to the call. This year they seem to go straight away from me after they gobble 4 or 5 times. It's early I know, but I am frustrated as I have walked the soles off my boots and haven't heard very many and when I do, they are already taken. Last Friday, I busted a Tom and 4 hens off the roost, which would be OK except they all flew straight off the mountain through a laurel jungle and I wasn't able to locate them again. I've tried everything-decoys, gobbles, fighting purrs and ambushing-still haven't killed a bird. I've tried hard to find a lone bird but so far haven't been able to locate one. What can I do? What do you guys do?
1. Try calling to the hens...lost calls very early just before fly down can bring the hens running and the gobblers in tow.
2. Position yourself where the hens want to go as the gobblers are gonna go with the hens until its nest time.
3. Wait until after the hens go to nest and then go after em.
4. Set up REAL CLOSE to the roost at zero-dark-thirty and put out a couple deeks where you know the tom can see them.
5. Go home and take a nap till after the hens go to nest... :z-winnersmiley:
We must be hunting the same East Tenn birds, I am having the same problem as you are. I am hoping as the season goes on, the hens will leave the gobbler all alone and I will have a shot at him.
Find out where there going and get ahead of them and setup and Kill.
Hoot
If your hunting the same birds every day, give them a break dont pressure them.Take a day off.If they are roosting together you may have better luck after 9:00 am.And certain hens are loyal to a certain gobbler and they are also territorial, once they are bred the gobbbler should run to your gun barrell.Good luck
I think the gobblers in TN are talking to ones in FL. I'm having the same problem here in NE FL. Thanks for posting this question. I'm going to try hunting them later in the day (0900 +). :fud:
i have had the same problem in Louisiana. The one i killed this year was in the evening and wasnt around hens but did not gobble any. I will try a few of these strategies and see if they help. thanks!!
I'm hunting right across the state line in NC from you guys and i'm seeing the same thing you east Tenn. guys are.
Saturday was one of the most frustrating days i've had bird hunting in a long time.
They'll break loose here in a week or so. I've hardly ever had much success early in the season up here in the mountains. Seems like everything is a week or two behind, and the henned up birds make the first 2 weeks of the season a challenge.
I think one of the keys is usually to get somewhere that you can walk a long ways and sometimes you will strike a bird by himself. But that hasn't worked for me this year. I am going in the morning to some NF that offers some decent walking and I'm not coming out until I have a bird or it gets dark.
Good luck, hope you get a nice one. :anim_25:
What part of east tn you boys huting, I'm in morgan county and same thing here
Quote from: Trevor2 on April 14, 2011, 10:05:56 PM
What part of east tn you boys huting, I'm in morgan county and same thing here
I live in Knoxville. I hunt in Grainger County just inside Rutledge.
Same in west TN they are kicking my bottom. They just will not talk to me know matter what I do. I have called hens and jakes to within 15 ft. toms will not gobble.
Have you guys tried to mimic the boss hen to piss her off and bring her in?
Quote from: gunnerj on April 15, 2011, 02:50:45 PM
Have you guys tried to mimic the boss hen to piss her off and bring her in?
Yes. So far no luck with that either
Same thing happens in Middle Tennessee sometimes. The hens often take the gobblers away when i call. When that happens you have a few options: wait until the hens go to the nest or simply scout enough that you know where they want to go and cut them off. The Tom will answer most of the time, but he isn't going to leave a hen that he is with to go chase one he cants see. Sometimes you can try to call the hen and the Tom may be in tow.
I was told once to break them up like you do in the fall but never tried it
I was told to bust em up also but I'm always afraid the gobbler would be closer than I thought and spook him too
I guess it's just that time of the month.
Monday I had a big boy coming straight to my setup (1 strutter and 2 hens) and when he got 80 yards in front of me the hen showed up. He stood there...looked at my hens and then AWAY HE WENT with the "real" hen. I have no answer to that....just packed up my stuff and went home.
we are dealing with this same thing in NY. Only thing is here we can only hunt till noon sometimes the hens dont even go to nest by then. Hunting from 4:30 till noon with no gobbles only to see them in field in the afternoons. O well we will keep at it.
isnt this the question every turkey huinter this decade would like to know?
Quote from: Hootowl on April 11, 2011, 10:59:24 PM
Find out where there going and get ahead of them and setup and Kill.
Hoot
That would be my advice too!
Now I don`t feel bad, I thought it was me,here in Indiana, Looks like I need to find Big Toms facebook page and get it cancelled