I was hunting opening day here in NC and had the tom on the roost right where I thought he was. He was gobbling and all that then he and the hens pitched down into the field about 100 yards from me. They weren't on the ground 5 minutes and then all of a sudden they flew back up to the trees. They didn't go to the trees they were originally roosted on though....I could see the tom sitting on the limb, but he never came back down. 3 jakes ended up coming down and they came within 15 yards of me.
What could have been the problem???? I've never seen turkeys do that.
My guess is, if you were not the one that spooked them, then I'd say you had a coyote or another predator close by.
Some predator around that you couldn't see would be the most likely reason.
Something spooked them whether it be another hunter or a bobcat or yote. The jakes probably never knew what happened
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Hard to say on that one. Four years ago on the NC opener I had 5 hens and 2 jakes fly down on an oak flat about 75 yds from me. They fed and milled around for a few minutes and then, out of nowhere, one hen pitched straight back up into a big oak. All the others followed suite and they just sat up there, preening and fluffing their duff for about an hour. Looked like a bunch of high school kids lined up in front of the bathroom mirror.....it happens.....
Fox or something spooked them...
Cat or coyote would be my guess. It likely aborted it stalk once the bird flushed and wasn't visible to you.
Yote most likely.
must have been something we couldn't see. last year we killed a yote in that same spot, he came right to the decoys
I have seen birds fly back up for no reason at all. I even had a bird fly in one year to see where my calling was coming from. He landed in the tree right over my head and looked down at me.