Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

Hey guys I had the idea for this thread and thought it might be funny.  I wanted to name it Public Land Idiots but felt like that title would not lead to a positive outcome so I went with public land head scratchers.  Things that make you just scratch your head like huh, or really, or just make you shake your head.  I thought it would be a place where we could share some of the more interesting things we see this season involving public land and the people who are using it.  PLEASE don't let this turn into a ranting or bashing type thread.  The intent is not to get all stirred but just share the things you see that you can only laugh about and go on doing what you're doing.  I'm sure some of ya'll have had plenty of interesting encounters out there this year already so lets here some funny stuff.  This might also be a way for new people to read through and learn some of not what to do kind of things.  I love hunting public land by the way.

I'll go first, so April 1st was the opening morning for me here in Alabama at a WMA I hunt at.  I got a late start due to a police chase in my backyard in the middle of the night.  Whole different story, anyway I was running a little behind due to lack of sleep.  I was hoping I would still be able to get to my spot since the 1st was on a Monday this year.  On the way to this WMA is a narrow road that you're pretty much stuck on without the option to pass for a ways.  About half way there I get stuck behind someone driver a little slower than I was hoping for.  Eventually a black truck gets behind me and I can tell their not really happy about the lead cars pace either.  Finally we get into the town and the slow car turns to the right.  I turn left and notice the black truck goes straight.  Happy now that I'm back on the road by myself I breath a sigh of relief then out of nowhere the black truck pulls a nascar moves and comes swerving out from a side street right in front of me and continues to drive like a maniac for the new few miles through a super curvy section.  Thank goodness he turned after a while.   We weren't technically on the public land yet but this guy was in a hurry to get there and was driving like we were both heading to the only spot available in 20K acres.  I don't know how the rest of the black truck guys morning went but somehow when I got to where I wanted to go, no one was there and I was able to kill an opening morning bird.  2nd place for public land opening day shenanigans would go to all the guys blowing their owl hooters way to early and all over the place.  I got to my spot but I definitely felt surrounded with all the hooting going on. 

My 2nd turkey season, getting toward late season, trying to call a henned up gobbler off a private pasture into public woods (yeah right).

I'm sitting there for a while hearing this bird gobble occasionally and then I spot someone coming through the woods. I get up and go over to talk to him. It's a shirtless guy carrying a cheap mossberg shotgun, wearing earplugs. I talked to him a little while and he had been sneaking around trying to kill one of the gobblers on private. He had no idea it was private until I told him. I asked why he was wearing earplugs, to which he replied "in case I have to shoot!" I told him to take them out and I made some loud cutting on my tube call. The bird gobbled back and the guys eyes lit up. He hadn't been hearing that bird the whole time. I was pretty new to hunting myself, but that was the most head scratchingest hunter I've come across in the woods.


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Unfortunately, most people don't know how to hoot.  When I hoot (rarely), I do it one time to learn direction and distance.  Following that, the throat gets a LONG break or the hooter goes into my pocket as throat or hooter no longer serves a legitimate purpose.  I also ensure that my hooting is realistic; I have heard some mighty ugly hooting out there.  Ignorance is bliss, but not in the turkey woods.

Mine would be sitting on public land, and having other hunters I'll who owl hooting to get a bird to gobble. Once they gobble, the hunters don't shut up with owl hooting and then everybody and their brother knows where it is. Seen this many times. Once I pinpoint his location I don't do anything personally to get him to say another peep

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I was going down an old logging trail in an area I don't necessarily plan to hunt, but this was my second time out to the spot. I could see some boot prints that weren't mine so figured someone else was out too. I got a ways down the road and could see where he got some long branches to lay across the trail. They had little branches attached that made them stand up a foot or so off the ground. I am guessing it is his security system to know if someone is there between them and the next time. As I imagine many would either love the branch and kick it to make it move from where he had it.

I just stepped over though so that wasn't very effective for him.

Ran into a guy Turkey hunting with blaze orange vest and hat.

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Pulled into a parking lot to turn around as there was already a vehicle parked there. As I turned, my headlights illuminated 2 decoy hens and a strutter. In the middle of the trail not 30 yards from the fellows vehicle.

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I'm going to tell on myself. Way back in the day I had an old 1977 c10 pickup that was more rust than good metal. I hunted a lot of public ground and often late mornings I would stop by pull offs and throw a hoot or cackle to see if I could raise a bird. One day as I leaned on the truck something fell and made a bang and screeching sound in the bed. And a gobbler gobbled. I decided to try it again so I picked up a big stick and hit the rusty side of the bed so it would vibrate and squeak. Bingo, he gobbled. After that I would never leave a pull off without taking a whack at my truck bed. I am hear to tell you there are a few gobblers who died because they gobbled at the sound. One day I was in the local hangout and a guy was telling everyone about this idiot he seen up on the ridge beating the side of his truck....his words were, "what a dumba##. One of my buddies turns and sees me and blurts out, "Oh that's him there" the guy looks at me ( I was just in my 20s) and said, "young man you ain't doing anything but scaring everyone's turkeys" and my buddy shoots back, "buddy that old chevy's gave more gobblers a ride than you've ever seen" (That statement wasn't true but my friends were just defending me). I just laughed and thanked him for the advice.

I wouldn't even know were to begin I've seen some really stupid people on public land. I think sometimes I'm a magnet for retards or maybe there's just so many the odds are you'll run into one. This will probably be a funny thread and although I don't look forward to it I'm sure I'll have a few stories to add our, season starts Saturday.

My buddy ran into a guy all decked out like he was hunting pheasants. He asked my buddy if he'd flushed any. He said I can hear those turkeys but how do you ever get close enough to flush one for a shot. I've tried all day and haven''t gotten a shot off yet. My buddy swears it's true I just looked at him in doubt.

For the past 35 years I have hunted public land in the northeast. You really get to see and experience some headscratching stuff. Almost daily it happens. I have learned to just roll with it and enjoy the times when everything goes right.

As hard as it is to believe...... if you ever get the opportunity to talk to the knuckleheads you will understand. Most have absolutely no clue what they are doing.

Quote from: tomstopper on April 04, 2019, 03:31:53 PM
Mine would be sitting on public land, and having other hunters I'll who owl hooting to get a bird to gobble. Once they gobble, the hunters don't shut up with owl hooting and then everybody and their brother knows where it is. Seen this many times. Once I pinpoint his location I don't do anything personally to get him to say another peep

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The owl hooting 50 times blows my mind. I also heard a gentleman that sounded like he was trying to beat the lid off of a box call a half hour before daylight opening morning this year.


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Man that "beat the lid off a box call" got me. Thanks for a good laugh!


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Had a co worker who liked to turkey hunting but had never killed one. I took him to some public to scout one evening and we split up til dark. It's probably forty minutes before fly up and I can here him hit the owl call. Then he hits the crow call and then some kind of squeal.Im thinking why is he calling so early. We are in a river bottom and I work my way over to him just in time see him throw another call out. I ask him why he is calling so much and so early. He says early, it looks plenty dark enough to him. I look at him and say Frank take your sun glasses off. He takes them off and says jeez! What time is it?

Quote from: Ctrize on April 05, 2019, 12:03:10 AM
Had a co worker who liked to turkey hunting but had never killed one. I took him to some public to scout one evening and we split up til dark. It's probably forty minutes before fly up and I can here him hit the owl call. Then he hits the crow call and then some kind of squeal.Im thinking why is he calling so early. We are in a river bottom and I work my way over to him just in time see him throw another call out. I ask him why he is calling so much and so early. He says early, it looks plenty dark enough to him. I look at him and say Frank take your sun glasses off. He takes them off and says jeez! What time is it?

Haha. LMAO

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I'm sure all is well on private ground.

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As far as sticks across the trail, I do that.  In the dark, it lets me know where I need to cut into the woods to a pre-scouted position.

Last year I had a gobbler found on a field edge well before season on a piece of public ground that has very few turkeys on it . I even went several mornings before season opened before daylight to just listen to him gobble since the field was really close to the road . I knew it would be aggravating to hunt this bird being so close to the road but I was going to try it . Opening morning I left home WAY earlier than normal and actually pulled out of driveway and followed a Jeep the entire 16 mile drive to see him park in the spot where I was going to . That was nice ! Anyhow , got to go back a few days later and was set up on the edge of the field well before first light . As it was breaking daylight I saw headlights coming up the road and they drove on by where I was parked so I thought I was OK . Wrong ! A few minutes later , actually in decent daylight by now , I heard poles and brush breaking in the direction of the road and then I looked and saw his flashlight coming . He came to the upper end of field across from me , turned his light off , sat down and started calling . Wow ! I just got up and left and when I got to the truck to leave , guess who was parked up the road - Yep , the same Jeep that had beat me there opening day . Happy ending though , I killed that bird about a week and a half later after about a two hour back and fourth hunt that I finally got him killed on the second time I had him at 30 yards that morning . He is the most rewarding bird I've killed because I'm sure he been tormented to death by other hunters for nearly three weeks .

Quote from: dejake on April 05, 2019, 03:35:16 AM
As far as sticks across the trail, I do that.  In the dark, it lets me know where I need to cut into the woods to a pre-scouted position.

X2


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My brother and I are standing together listening at first light. We hear a gaggle of gobblers going off and make a plan. Suddenly we hear someone storming down the trail, the guys walks up to us and says" there's a 30 pounder in there" and storms right past us. By the time it hit me what just happened,he was running down the trail. That poor gentleman returned to his vehicle and it appeared he must have run over a nail or something. Pay back is a bitch.

I've posted this before, but for this topic, it is worth repeating...

A friend of mine was hunting with his son.  They had walked in and set-up above a roosted gobbler up on a ridge in the dark, getting there very early before daylight.  They had gotten in pretty close, about seventy five yards from the bird and sat down where they were about level with him in the tree.

They had been sitting there for a while and the gobbler had started gobbling some very early.  Pretty soon they saw a guy coming in from their left, right at them.  My friend shined his flashlight at the guy and he knows he saw him, but the guy moves between my friend and the gobbler and sits down (hard to freakin' believe!). 

My friend doesn't want to cause a scene with his son along with him, so he just sits there waiting to see what happens.  Soon it gets light enough for them to see the gobbler in the tree, and the guys starts scooting down the hill on his butt towards the bird.  Roost shooting is illegal here, but the guy just scoots down the hill until he is within range of the bird, and right there in front of my friend, he shoots the gobbler out of the tree.

The guy runs down the hill, grabs the gobbler, and takes off back towards his truck.  Well, my friend follows the guy out, gets his license plate number, and turns him in.  The guy got a big fine and lost his hunting privileges for a few years,...and my buddy got a $500 reward for turning him in. 

Sometimes there is justice after all!   ;D :toothy9:

This is a good laugh.

I was in a hurry one evening getting to where I planned on setting up yo catch the birds going back to roost. When I was heading down the old logging road in a hurry I felt a bad rumbling in my lower intestine. Oh no I got to go! I just kept on going until I could hold it anymore. I stopped next to a tree, threw off the gear, dropped my drawers and started to relieve myself. I turned my head to look up the mountain and their he was another hunter set up about 20yrds from where I was relieving myself. I was so embarrassed and felt soooooo bad for that poor guy. He never said a word. He just got up and left.

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all i hunt is public  oh man the stories lol 

one that realy got me was i had watched these 3 gobblers for 4 weeks and they was well off the road was their every weekend and during the week  so evenings when possiable to just check them out and make sure nothing out of ordinary happened  They always roosted on  posted  private ground like 60 yrds in from line but flew down on to public ground and preceded to work their way thur old over grown strip cut i would stay back off line 60 yrds because of heavy brier patch on line and they would work their way to small clearing ,,, now i had seen this go down at least 15  times before season ,,i did my own little things to see if others have been in area and never noticed any thing  ,,,first day comes iam to the spot good and early get in woods 1 1/2 hrs before daylight time comes they did their thing gobbled like crazy well 15 minutes into good light here comes 2 guys  kid u could see the sack decoys and blind on their back  they walk past me 50 yrds  heading toward the birds i blow a crow call they stop i wave orange They stand their a minute and proceed to walk toward gobbles ,,,  i give them in a low voice that they could hear what the f,,k   ,,,guys stop lol and hollers iam hunting posted ground they keep walking  They bumped the birds because they was gobbling 100 yrd different direction    i just sat their a bit and called sounded as they was comimg my way then i heard the other guys call they was close and because of the briers i could not see   weir they set up ,,,I figured f it got up and headed down thur briers with orange on  these guys sit up right on that line 60 yrds in front of me  walked to about 20 yrds of blind asked if they   see any thing in a loud voice  yea me neither i said LOL  and headed toward the gobbles and bounce them to next county    ,, me i avoid people at all costs i could here 10 birds gobbling if i see someone ill back out and leave ,,, some people have no respect for other turkey hunters when they screw my day i give them the same respect back lol

Most of the replies talk about the early morning antics which I have encountered as well, but the thing that gets on my nerves just as bad is/are the "turbo cluckers" who won't get off a call from daylight until they decide they have had enough for the day. I had set up on a gobbler three mornings in a row and he gobbled his head off on the roost. He would hit the ground and walk directly away from me onto posted private property, no matter how much or how little I would call. On the third morning, someone on the private property decided they would like to try him. From his first gobble until 9:30, the guy must have yelped 1,000 times. The old bird pitched out towards Mr. Turbo, but at 9:30 I saw his white head coming through the woods. He never made a sound and came to within 30 yards when my shot shut down his morning. I guess the other guy had to go change his shorts as he didn't know I was close until I shot.....

Im always amazed when I run into someone, usually the walk out... they always tend to talk in normal loud voices.

SMH everytime....

Im in Southwest Ms and we have alot of guys that come up from South Louisiana. If anyone has ever been down to South Louisiana you would know that many of these guys fish and their choice of footwear are white rubber boots. Anyway I have seen a couple of these guys slipping along a bottom or ridge decked out in camo including facemasks and gloves , with their pants tucked in , yes you guessed it , white rubber boots. I just kind of shake my head. Its funny seeing the white boots flashing through the woods with every step. Stop and cut and yelp and then move again. I dont know , maybe a tom will think its a albino hen.

Quote from: DumpTruckTurkey on April 05, 2019, 08:57:22 AM
Im always amazed when I run into someone, usually the walk out... they always tend to talk in normal loud voices.

SMH everytime....

This wasn't on public, but one time I was deer hunting and I was about 30-40 yards from a fence line going to this field. I could see a long ways away this guy working the fence line. Well eventually he gets up towards me and sees me (obviously when you are blaze orange). Well I am sitting up in my tree and as he sees me he is like "OH HELLLO FELLOW HUNTER.......HOW ARE YOU TODAY.....HELLO?....ALRIGHT NOT FRIENDLY I SEE, HAVE A NICE DAY." He was sitting there yelling to me for at least 30 seconds as I blankly looked at him. My dad a good 40 yards from me could hear him.

I mean really? How stupid can one be. I was trying to hunt, I am not going to yell...and I am in a tree stand. I am not going to take the time to get out of my tree to come talk to you.

Public land has so many headscratchers because it just gets lazy hunters in droves. Lazy hunters don't take the effort to scout or truly learn to hunt. People who invest time/money to hunt usually don't make such stupid decisions. Too many guys that grab a gun and head out into the woods just to "hunt". It is like they are bored and pretending to hunt will do.

On a public land draw hunt several years ago.  1,000 acres, 6 hunters allowed on it.  There is a road that travels through the gameland.  Usually you'd park your truck on a trail or just off the road where you wanted to go in.  One guy blocked access to about 1/3 of the gameland by setting up right on the road.  had a hen decoy in the middle of the road.  It was a windy day so his decoy was spinning like a helicopter.  I really wanted to barrel through there and run over it but behaved myself.

Quote from: Spitten and drummen on April 05, 2019, 09:05:00 AM
Im in Southwest Ms and we have alot of guys that come up from South Louisiana. If anyone has ever been down to South Louisiana you would know that many of these guys fish and their choice of footwear are white rubber boots. Anyway I have seen a couple of these guys slipping along a bottom or ridge decked out in camo including facemasks and gloves , with their pants tucked in , yes you guessed it , white rubber boots. I just kind of shake my head. Its funny seeing the white boots flashing through the woods with every step. Stop and cut and yelp and then move again. I dont know , maybe a tom will think its a albino hen.

South La is home to the  "Coon A$$ "  one of the dumbest creatures the Lord made.

Mine was just this morning.
Went out for a pre work hunt. I went ahead and posted up at a spot where a gobbler seems to always go between 8 and 9.
I gave myself a hard time limit of 9 to get up and head to work.
He fired up about 8:30 along a fence line within 100yd, but I couldn't get him to budge.
He got quiet about 8:45 and I was ready to wait him out til the last second.
Once 9:00 hit, I had to go.
About as soon as I got up I heard some terrible calling coming from the adjacent trail, toward the road.
When I got to the top of the hill I heard awful crow calling and lots of it.
I looked in the direction and saw 2 bright-as-new blaze orange vests.
Granted, this is on a military base and we have to wear an orange hat when we are moving, but not huge vests.

I know two guys that were hunting a draw area on public across from an open public area.  The only bird they heard that responded was on the wrong side of the big river, about 10:00am.  This bird was right on the other bank of the river.  They were standing on a 25 foot bluff looking down at him.  About that time, a fisherman comes hauling arse down the river.  One of the guys waves at him frantically to see if he will stop and give them a ride to the other side.

He did not see US and motored on down the river, the bird steadily gobbling as the 60HP two cycle boat screamed on by.  Maybe he did see us and just wondered "WTH" and never looked at us.  I told my SIL (the waver) that I was not jumping down a 25 foot bluff into an aluminum boat to kill a turkey anyways!  :funnyturkey:

I usually try to go out during the youth hunt to keep tabs on birds.  I work pipeline, so I don't get many chances to carry a kid.  Last year, I was perched on a big nob and heard a big bunch of jakes with at least one gobbler on an adjacent ridge.  I got in the truck and headed to pin pin them.  When I got over there, there's an old gent sitting in it in full camo.  He informed me that his grandsons were after those birds.  Now these birds were about 300 yards off the road.  Shortly after meeting the grandfather, I hear a crow call.  The toms/jakes tear it up, but they are going away by now.  Then me and the grandpa listen to that grandson blow that crow call about 50 more times.  We have a good laugh together.

After the boys got through blowing the reed outta that crow call, they came back to the road defeated.  The oldest one was prolly 19, the other two toting a gun were prolly 13-15.  I decided to do my good deed, so I got them to follow me.  It was still pretty early, so I pointed them in the direction of a saddle not far off the road.  The morning prior, I had listened to 2 toms burning the woods down on that saddle mid morning...and three other mornings the week before.  Those kids jumped outta the truck like it was a school house brawl and headed out.  I gave my good luck and proceeded to another spot to hear another ridge system.  I no more than got out of my truck and BOOM BOOM BOOM.  Well, I couldn't stand it, I spun around to see if those boys got it done.  Sure as heck, the youngest boy had cracked ones neck, but the older youth missed the second one. 

 Moving slow I was calling every so often when a rustle of leaves and movement caught my attention. A hunter facing away from me had heard the calls and started on a  mouth diaphragm. I will never support gun control of any stripe but I think there should be a waiting period for latex. http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/Smileys/classic/TooFunny.gif  I nicknamed him the motor boater. The poor guy had no roll over or two part to his yelp. Sounded like a boat motor revving. I cutt real hard and he got excited. The rpm's increased and it sounded like he was having a mini melt down. I gave him a couple more calls and started backing out before I laughed out loud. You gotta find the humor or stay ill a lot sometimes on public space.

Quote from: dejake on April 05, 2019, 03:35:16 AM
As far as sticks across the trail, I do that.  In the dark, it lets me know where I need to cut into the woods to a pre-scouted position.

Interesting concept, though that wasn't what this person did because there was still snow on the ground and no sign of him going into the woods there. I guess he could have marked it for another similar reason, but I don't know why.

I've got my share of public land head scratching stories, but the worst ones are the head scratchers from hunting clubs I've been in. All the deer hunting members can't stand the thought of an opening week happening and them not being there. Makes for some fine entertainment.

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We hunt a piece of private land that's right beside a piece a private also but the guy who owns it lets anybody hunt it so it might as well be public. Every year a guy drives up in an old loud ford poppin gravel every 50 yards. He'll brake, hold his arms out and call with a box. Turkeys will actually answer him but he wont turn his truck off or wait long enough to hear them.

That fine gentleman has helped me and my brother bag some fine gobblers over the years.

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Quote from: yelpy on April 05, 2019, 08:04:05 AM
This is a good laugh.

I was in a hurry one evening getting to where I planned on setting up yo catch the birds going back to roost. When I was heading down the old logging road in a hurry I felt a bad rumbling in my lower intestine. Oh no I got to go! I just kept on going until I could hold it anymore. I stopped next to a tree, threw off the gear, dropped my drawers and started to relieve myself. I turned my head to look up the mountain and their he was another hunter set up about 20yrds from where I was relieving myself. I was so embarrassed and felt soooooo bad for that poor guy. He never said a word. He just got up and left.

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Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner!    ;D

 Now I'm wondering about my motor boater... LOL. What if he wasn't calling??? LOL

Quote from: Brad_Colvin on April 05, 2019, 06:25:56 PM
I've got my share of public land head scratching stories, but the worst ones are the head scratchers from hunting clubs I've been in. All the deer hunting members can't stand the thought of an opening week happening and them not being there. Makes for some fine entertainment.

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I cant stand the clubs. It's like a darn rat race. Same as the first day of trout fishing around here. It's a joke!!! You could have 3000 acres to hunt and someone always has to be on top of you because they are afraid your going to shoot the only bird or deer on the property and they won't be in on it.

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Quote from: yelpy on April 07, 2019, 09:27:00 AM

Quote from: Brad_Colvin on April 05, 2019, 06:25:56 PM
I've got my share of public land head scratching stories, but the worst ones are the head scratchers from hunting clubs I've been in. All the deer hunting members can't stand the thought of an opening week happening and them not being there. Makes for some fine entertainment.

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I cant stand the clubs. It's like a darn rat race. Same as the first day of trout fishing around here. It's a joke!!! You could have 3000 acres to hunt and someone always has to be on top of you because they are afraid your going to shoot the only bird or deer on the property and they won't be in on it.

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Yup, they remind me of kids jacked up on chocolate and mt.dew.  Come to think about most are about as smart. Nice thing is that they don't have the stamina to hunt an entire season and once they have buggered all the birds up and made them "call shy" they quit.

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Quote from: yelpy on April 07, 2019, 09:27:00 AM

Quote from: Brad_Colvin on April 05, 2019, 06:25:56 PM
I've got my share of public land head scratching stories, but the worst ones are the head scratchers from hunting clubs I've been in. All the deer hunting members can't stand the thought of an opening week happening and them not being there. Makes for some fine entertainment.

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I cant stand the clubs. It's like a darn rat race. Same as the first day of trout fishing around here. It's a joke!!! You could have 3000 acres to hunt and someone always has to be on top of you because they are afraid your going to shoot the only bird or deer on the property and they won't be in on it.

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Lol(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190407/a33f17d05c550666b5d33f75f83453cd.jpg)

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Bwahhaahhaa!!

I get a kick outta telling some hunters something ridiculous when they start questioning me about whether I've seen or heard anything today.  They'll say, "Seen anything this morning?". I'll say,"No, but I  heard a couple gobblers quacking and up in a tree over there where they're building a nest. "  or, "Nope, but there's a raccoon over there laying it's eggs."  Then I walk off while they look at me like they don't know what to think. Then they go home and post about it on the Old Gobbler forum board.  ;D

Quote from: idgobble on April 07, 2019, 04:45:23 PM
I get a kick outta telling some hunters something ridiculous when they start questioning me about whether I've seen or heard anything today.  They'll say, "Seen anything this morning?". I'll say,"No, but I  heard a couple gobblers quacking and up in a tree over there where they're building a nest. "  or, "Nope, but there's a raccoon over there laying it's eggs."  Then I walk off while they look at me like they don't know what to think. Then they go home and post about it on the Old Gobbler forum board.  ;D

That's good stuff.  I'm going to have to add that to my public land dodging the answer routine. 

I've had too many instances hunting public land where I was cruising the back of fields only to have some bozo driving around the same fields bumping gobblers around every turn.  The best one was the Prius though...  I guess they thought they'd be more stealthy with their road hunting in a prius.

A friend and I were hunting a piece of public land one year that had an access road that ran right through the middle of it that was closed to vehicles.  We were walking that road one day when we had 3 gobblers gobble not far from the road.  Unfortunately, our only opportunity was to set up too close to the road for my liking, but what can you do.  Just as they crest the hill about in range, two guys come walking down the road towards their vehicle.  There was no question they heard us working the birds because I could hear one tell the other "I don't care if they're working a bird, I'm not walking around them".  They were 3 jakes we had no plans of shooting anyways or there might have been a slight misunderstanding...

Best story I have isn't turkey related though.  I was archery deer hunting which coincided with squirrel season.  I had just finished a rattling sequence and saw a small buck turn and run away from me.  Didn't take long to figure out why.  A squirrel hunter came tromping through the woods right under my tree.  He's looking down at the ground gripping his .22 tight when I said "Hey, whatcha doing?"  He about came out of his skin scared, looked up at me and said "I heard two bucks down here fighting and came looking for them (mind you, its only archery season for deer).  I answered him "Yeah, that was me.  I just rattled you in and if you were in season, you'd be dead"  I can't understand why he didn't find the humor in it.

About two years ago I scouted out a piece of public for deer rifle season and was planning on hunting it for a few hours opening day before I had to leave for some family functions. I got up extra early and was at the parking lot by 4 am. There was already a vehicle there but I didn't think much of it as be daylight there would be 5 or 6 more. I get out of the truck and start packing in. It's at least a mile and I wanted to be there at least an hour before daylight to let things settle down. After a brisk walk I turn down my trail and get to my spot. As I walk up I can see a bit of orange laying in front of me and as I slowly approach I make out a person stretched out on the rocks lifeless. I slowly move in and it's a hunter just laying there unmoving. I nudged the body with my feet and said "hey buddy". That caused the most explosive display of levitation I have seen in my life. He yelled and arms where flailing as he started to run and then turned calmed down and turned around to face me. Once he calmed down and we got to talk I learned he had driven from somewhere in PA after scouting this place online. He decided to get back to his spot and catch some rest before daylight instead of sleeping in the vehicle. We talked a little bit and I explained the layout of the land and then wished him well and headed back for my vehicle. Didn't even hunt that day but I chuckled the whole way back to the truck.

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Quote from: Happy on April 08, 2019, 01:29:56 PM
About two years ago I scouted out a piece of public for deer rifle season and was planning on hunting it for a few hours opening day before I had to leave for some family functions. I got up extra early and was at the parking lot by 4 am. There was already a vehicle there but I didn't think much of it as be daylight there would be 5 or 6 more. I get out of the truck and start packing in. It's at least a mile and I wanted to be there at least an hour before daylight to let things settle down. After a brisk walk I turn down my trail and get to my spot. As I walk up I can see a bit of orange laying in front of me and as I slowly approach I make out a person stretched out on the rocks lifeless. I slowly move in and it's a hunter just laying there unmoving. I nudged the body with my feet and said "hey buddy". That caused the most explosive display of levitation I have seen in my life. He yelled and arms where flailing as he started to run and then turned calmed down and turned around to face me. Once he calmed down and we got to talk I learned he had driven from somewhere in PA after scouting this place online. He decided to get back to his spot and catch some rest before daylight instead of sleeping in the vehicle. We talked a little bit and I explained the layout of the land and then wished him well and headed back for my vehicle. Didn't even hunt that day but I chuckled the whole way back to the truck.

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That's a tie for your story and the shirtless guy early in the thread.  Both pretty dang funny. 

I arrived in time to see two guy walking down to the dead end of a road on a WMA.  I wanted to hunt it but watched to see which way they went and I was considering trying an offshoot road.  Two young guys came screaming up in the truck, grabbed their guns in a hurry and literally ran past the two older guys who were 50 yards from the parking area, already walking in.
I shook my head and left.

Quote from: Tail Feathers on April 08, 2019, 10:06:14 PM
I arrived in time to see two guy walking down to the dead end of a road on a WMA.  I wanted to hunt it but watched to see which way they went and I was considering trying an offshoot road.  Two young guys came screaming up in the truck, grabbed their guns in a hurry and literally ran past the two older guys who were 50 yards from the parking area, already walking in.
I shook my head and left.

That makes you want to crack somebody in the head. Have to play nice though when everyone is holding guns. If they're already that stupid they may do something else stupid.


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Quote from: DumpTruckTurkey on April 05, 2019, 08:57:22 AM
Im always amazed when I run into someone, usually the walk out... they always tend to talk in normal loud voices.

SMH everytime....

A couple years ago my daughter an I were setup in a spot later in the morning where I knew an old longbeard had been hanging out, when a dude comes jogging into the woods....literally jogging....and plops down about 30 yards from us.  I whistle at him, and he jumps up and hides behind a big pine tree and starts looking.  I stand up and instruct my daughter to do the same, because the guy was acting so shady, he doesn't see us stand up so I whistle again and he runs over to another big pine, gets behind it and is still looking for us, so I start waving my cap at him.  At that, he slings his gun and walks over to us and starts talking in a louder than normal voice.  This dudes voice was echoing through the woods, while I am practically whispering to him trying to get him to quiet down.  He doesn't quiet down, but we get him to leave, and about the time he gets to his truck (which was only about 150 yards away) we start walking to change spots.  We hadn't walked 20 yards when that gobbler cut loose at us crunching leaves, we immediately plopped down, made a soft call, he responded, and 2 minutes later she shot him at 20 yards.  When he first gobbled he was no more than 100 yards from where that guy was talking to us so loud.  Not only that, but he was with another gobbler and 3 hens, all of which came in not even acting spooky.  Crazy.

The "best" one I've got is from archery elk hunting. Same group of yahoos.

Year one, I'm backpacked in with a buddy (Doug). I was lucky enough to kill a bull on our first morning in, that came to the call in a beautiful clearing. I boned out the bull, hung it in a shaded tree, and took The first load back to the truck. The quarters and carcass of a bull in plain site. I got back to our back country camp that evening, and the next morning went hunting with Doug. Nothing occurred so we went back to my bull to pack the rest of him out. When we rounded the corner I immediately screamed "MORE ELK!" Just after that we noticed they were horses. They strung their picket line for their horses OVER the top of my elk carcass. They then put a tent right below my quarters hanging in the tree. Myself and Doug both stood there giggling when I tried to think rationally like "maybe they came in in the middle of the night and just didn't notice." When I got to my quarters I heard a women cough and she said "helloooo". I said "hi there. I'm just here to grab the rest of my elk that you guys are camped under."

"Oh yea we saw that. Frank and Steve (making up names. Wish I would've remembered.) are out hunting." I said "okay" and went on my way.

The next year I'm again backpacked in with one of my best buddies (Albert). The morning found us hunting below a big hill so steep that it might as well have been a cliff. We were trying to figure out our best way to get back up to the top because we watched a good bull feed into a patch of trees above us, and a half mile to the south of us an hour or so earlier. All of the sudden I hear rocks tumbling. Bang boom crash! Then again. Obviously we're thinking some elk had been spooked. We hurry away from the bottom of the cliff only to see a couple idiots crouched down and kicking giant rocks off the top of the cliff. Two guys and a gal. I whistled and they all stood up for a second. Then all at once back to finding the next big rock they can kick down the hill. I whistled again, and the same thing occurred. On the third time I yelled something to the tune of "hey you dumb moth** ****ers!!" They all ran off the top of the hill like a bunch of little kids, got to the tree line, sat diwn, and looked at me and my buddy through their binoculars. I waved a nice middle finger salute and they all took off.

I don't think they were actually trying to kill us, and didn't know we were there. All I can guess is they were trying to see if there were any elk below them since nothing had answered their bugles all morning. Why you'd backpack in though and then scare elk away still doesn't make much sense.


The next year I went back to that spot and these idiots had left their ENTIRE camp. Both tents, blankets, clothing, shoes, coolers, Tupperware, food...EVERYTHING. I started to spread the word on how I was going to figure out who these people were, and I've never seen them back there since. The forest service explained to me how big of a pain it was to get an abandoned camp out of the backcountry because they have tonlaunch a full investigation and make absolutely sure there was no "foul play".

The bull I killed back there.

https://i.imgur.com/qBwmFtw.jpg

A small snapshot of their mess.
https://i.imgur.com/WNlpwOD.jpg

I don't consider myself a violent person by nature, but I had an incident a few years back at the Land Between the Lakes that sorely tested by constitution.

It was the opening day and at first light I heard several gobblers. I was in big hardwoods and I eased to within 125 yards or so to the nearest gobbler. The woods were open--almost "park like" with big timber and little undergrowth.  I settled in against a huge red oak tree and make a few calls--he gobbled back--bingo--I was in business. My plan was to wait until he flew down and then begin the dance--hopefully resulting in his demise.

The weather had been dry so the leaves were excessively "crunchy". As I waited for things to unfold I very clearly heard footsteps coming from behind which I recognized as human. As the steps got closer I turned around from my seated position against the red oak to see a man sneaking to my position. His path would have him passing about 15 to 20 yards to my left. When he got close I made a motion and he stopped and looked dead at me.  We both had face masks on. I did my best to communicate with him in sign language that I had a gobbler up a head. He must have already known that fact--he was sneaking in to get in position when he got to where I was set up. I assumed he would acknowledge the situation and turn around and sneak back the way he came in. Instead--to my shock and utter amazement--he continued on and set up about 40 yards ahead of me ( between me and the roosted gobbler). My blood pressure went to the roof. I started to walk up and confront him but I know myself too well-- I was afraid of what might unfold. I rationalized that a turkey was not worth jail time--so I just picked up and left. I never heard the gobbler again--dude must have bumped him when he set up ahead of me. That was 10 years ago but I still think about this incident to this day. I felt like he deserved some southern justice--in a strange way I felt some guilt that I did not provide it.               

Quote from: POk3s on April 09, 2019, 10:39:20 AM
The "best" one I've got is from archery elk hunting. Same group of yahoos.

Year one, I'm backpacked in with a buddy (Doug). I was lucky enough to kill a bull on our first morning in, that came to the call in a beautiful clearing. I boned out the bull, hung it in a shaded tree, and took The first load back to the truck. The quarters and carcass of a bull in plain site. I got back to our back country camp that evening, and the next morning went hunting with Doug. Nothing occurred so we went back to my bull to pack the rest of him out. When we rounded the corner I immediately screamed "MORE ELK!" Just after that we noticed they were horses. They strung their picket line for their horses OVER the top of my elk carcass. They then put a tent right below my quarters hanging in the tree. Myself and Doug both stood there giggling when I tried to think rationally like "maybe they came in in the middle of the night and just didn't notice." When I got to my quarters I heard a women cough and she said "helloooo". I said "hi there. I'm just here to grab the rest of my elk that you guys are camped under."

"Oh yea we saw that. Frank and Steve (making up names. Wish I would've remembered.) are out hunting." I said "okay" and went on my way.

The next year I'm again backpacked in with one of my best buddies (Albert). The morning found us hunting below a big hill so steep that it might as well have been a cliff. We were trying to figure out our best way to get back up to the top because we watched a good bull feed into a patch of trees above us, and a half mile to the south of us an hour or so earlier. All of the sudden I hear rocks tumbling. Bang boom crash! Then again. Obviously we're thinking some elk had been spooked. We hurry away from the bottom of the cliff only to see a couple idiots crouched down and kicking giant rocks off the top of the cliff. Two guys and a gal. I whistled and they all stood up for a second. Then all at once back to finding the next big rock they can kick down the hill. I whistled again, and the same thing occurred. On the third time I yelled something to the tune of "hey you dumb moth** ****ers!!" They all ran off the top of the hill like a bunch of little kids, got to the tree line, sat diwn, and looked at me and my buddy through their binoculars. I waved a nice middle finger salute and they all took off.

I don't think they were actually trying to kill us, and didn't know we were there. All I can guess is they were trying to see if there were any elk below them since nothing had answered their bugles all morning. Why you'd backpack in though and then scare elk away still doesn't make much sense.


The next year I went back to that spot and these idiots had left their ENTIRE camp. Both tents, blankets, clothing, shoes, coolers, Tupperware, food...EVERYTHING. I started to spread the word on how I was going to figure out who these people were, and I've never seen them back there since. The forest service explained to me how big of a pain it was to get an abandoned camp out of the backcountry because they have tonlaunch a full investigation and make absolutely sure there was no "foul play".

The bull I killed back there.

https://i.imgur.com/qBwmFtw.jpg

A small snapshot of their mess.
https://i.imgur.com/WNlpwOD.jpg

You should see all the South Dakota "elk hunters" that get their first ever elk tags for the Black Hills every year. You should hear all the first time bugle callers everywhere...sounds like a bunch of sick elk up and down every ridge.

Quote from: chcltlabz on April 08, 2019, 12:27:37 PM
I've had too many instances hunting public land where I was cruising the back of fields only to have some bozo driving around the same fields bumping gobblers around every turn.  The best one was the Prius though...  I guess they thought they'd be more stealthy with their road hunting in a prius.

Don't hate on the Prius.

52 mpg and a big game bag.

(https://i.imgur.com/AHXnNaQl.jpg)

Public land, attracts poachers, road hunters, all kinds of low life's. I see poachers from Belgrade,  out in eastern Montana, on public land.Also, Billings has lots of poachers.

Quote from: Trax on April 09, 2019, 09:38:18 PM

Quote from: chcltlabz on April 08, 2019, 12:27:37 PM
I've had too many instances hunting public land where I was cruising the back of fields only to have some bozo driving around the same fields bumping gobblers around every turn.  The best one was the Prius though...  I guess they thought they'd be more stealthy with their road hunting in a prius.

Don't hate on the Prius.

52 mpg and a big game bag.

(https://i.imgur.com/AHXnNaQl.jpg)

Maybe its my own insecurity, but if I ever thought about hunting out of a Prius, I'd kick my own .

Quote from: SD_smith on April 09, 2019, 06:35:04 PM

Quote from: POk3s on April 09, 2019, 10:39:20 AM
The "best" one I've got is from archery elk hunting. Same group of yahoos.

Year one, I'm backpacked in with a buddy (Doug). I was lucky enough to kill a bull on our first morning in, that came to the call in a beautiful clearing. I boned out the bull, hung it in a shaded tree, and took The first load back to the truck. The quarters and carcass of a bull in plain site. I got back to our back country camp that evening, and the next morning went hunting with Doug. Nothing occurred so we went back to my bull to pack the rest of him out. When we rounded the corner I immediately screamed "MORE ELK!" Just after that we noticed they were horses. They strung their picket line for their horses OVER the top of my elk carcass. They then put a tent right below my quarters hanging in the tree. Myself and Doug both stood there giggling when I tried to think rationally like "maybe they came in in the middle of the night and just didn't notice." When I got to my quarters I heard a women cough and she said "helloooo". I said "hi there. I'm just here to grab the rest of my elk that you guys are camped under."

"Oh yea we saw that. Frank and Steve (making up names. Wish I would've remembered.) are out hunting." I said "okay" and went on my way.

The next year I'm again backpacked in with one of my best buddies (Albert). The morning found us hunting below a big hill so steep that it might as well have been a cliff. We were trying to figure out our best way to get back up to the top because we watched a good bull feed into a patch of trees above us, and a half mile to the south of us an hour or so earlier. All of the sudden I hear rocks tumbling. Bang boom crash! Then again. Obviously we're thinking some elk had been spooked. We hurry away from the bottom of the cliff only to see a couple idiots crouched down and kicking giant rocks off the top of the cliff. Two guys and a gal. I whistled and they all stood up for a second. Then all at once back to finding the next big rock they can kick down the hill. I whistled again, and the same thing occurred. On the third time I yelled something to the tune of "hey you dumb moth** ****ers!!" They all ran off the top of the hill like a bunch of little kids, got to the tree line, sat diwn, and looked at me and my buddy through their binoculars. I waved a nice middle finger salute and they all took off.

I don't think they were actually trying to kill us, and didn't know we were there. All I can guess is they were trying to see if there were any elk below them since nothing had answered their bugles all morning. Why you'd backpack in though and then scare elk away still doesn't make much sense.


The next year I went back to that spot and these idiots had left their ENTIRE camp. Both tents, blankets, clothing, shoes, coolers, Tupperware, food...EVERYTHING. I started to spread the word on how I was going to figure out who these people were, and I've never seen them back there since. The forest service explained to me how big of a pain it was to get an abandoned camp out of the backcountry because they have tonlaunch a full investigation and make absolutely sure there was no "foul play".

The bull I killed back there.

https://i.imgur.com/qBwmFtw.jpg

A small snapshot of their mess.
https://i.imgur.com/WNlpwOD.jpg

You should see all the South Dakota "elk hunters" that get their first ever elk tags for the Black Hills every year. You should hear all the first time bugle callers everywhere...sounds like a bunch of sick elk up and down every ridge.

Believe me, I hear plenty every year. There was a group from Iowa (not to discriminate anyone hahaha) who found "my" spot somehow a handful of years ago. 4 of them with all matching Sitka gear, and bugled every 30 seconds. I called one bull in that they were trying to follow and then I heard them go through a canyon and out the other side. About a half hour after they left the canyon a couple bulls started screaming. It was quite the lesson for me to experience take place. Smart dudes.

Some poor turkey had to suffer the indignity of having his one and only car ride in a Prius.  Poor Tom... :TooFunny:

Quote from: Tail Feathers on April 11, 2019, 09:29:09 PM
Some poor turkey had to suffer the indignity of having his one and only car ride in a Prius.  Poor Tom... :TooFunny:

:TooFunny: :TooFunny:

Like taking your dog on his first car ride, and it be to the vet to get neutered.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qgwvg

Heard lots more hooting and crowing this week.  This morning a bird starting gobbling good so someone's response was to start blowing their crow call back at him. Why would you do that?  The bird is giving you plenty of freebies but still you must blow the crow call!


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Quote from: aclawrence on April 12, 2019, 07:08:52 PM
Heard lots more hooting and crowing this week.  This morning a bird starting gobbling good so someone's response was to start blowing their crow call back at him. Why would you do that?  The bird is giving you plenty of freebies but still you must blow the crow call!


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Common sense is lacking in many.

I've got so many and some wouldn't be believable unless you were there. Most are during deer season but here's one during turkey season. It was opening morning and I was waking a FS road about to cut in on ridge top when a small Toyota came up behind me. I moved over and let it by. It pulled over a few yards ahead of me and parked. I cut in the woods but hid to watch which way the guy was gonna go. He got out of his truck and went down toward a creek on the other side of the road. Unbeknownst to me, he has a couple of hounds in a dog box. Once the guy left the truck those dogs opened up and I finally got out of hearing distance of them. Why would a guy bring hounds to the woods on opening morning of turkey season?

QuoteWhy would a guy bring hounds to the woods on opening morning of turkey season?

I'm not sure where your at, but in our area guys run hounds on foxes. He may not have been a turkey hunter he may have been going after a dog. They have radio tracking collars on most of them. I have had many hunts messed up by these guys. Then they get pissed at turkey hunters for parking in good listening spots. In some states they have spring bear hunts with dogs too, I think. One of the biggest messes I ever got into was over a dang fox hound. I had permission to hunt several hundred acres of great turkey woods, but the owner belonged to a fox hunters club. Well a trespassing turkey hunter shot one of the prize hounds.  You guessed it. I got the blame, because I was on the property that day. My life was threatened, I was assaulted and I am kicked off the property to this day. Since, they found out it wasn't me, but the land owner closed 1,000 acres to all turkey hunting. Some arsehole messed it up for all of us.

Could have been a coon hunter also.

Quote from: yelpy on April 05, 2019, 08:04:05 AM
This is a good laugh.

I was in a hurry one evening getting to where I planned on setting up yo catch the birds going back to roost. When I was heading down the old logging road in a hurry I felt a bad rumbling in my lower intestine. Oh no I got to go! I just kept on going until I could hold it anymore. I stopped next to a tree, threw off the gear, dropped my drawers and started to relieve myself. I turned my head to look up the mountain and their he was another hunter set up about 20yrds from where I was relieving myself. I was so embarrassed and felt soooooo bad for that poor guy. He never said a word. He just got up and left.

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Had the same thing happen to me on national forest during the fall turkey season.  I got to where I wanted to hunt and nature called so I went over to the nearest tree to me and dropped the deuce.  After I finished and got back to the tree I was going to sit at I noticed something moving in a tree about 75-100 yards away.  I kept looking and was like what heck is that, well the more I looked I finally realized it was a bow hunter in a tree stand that had the unfortunate experience of watching me poop in the woods.  I was on the side of the tree facing him so he saw it all.  Definitely not the "whitetail" he was expecting to see that morning.  I acknowledged his presence and packed up and hiked further back in the woods, laughing the whole way. 

Another time a buddy and me were late season fall turkey hunting when we ran into a guy muzzleloader deer hunting.  He said did y'all hear that deer snort over there?  I said no but we stood there with him a moment and listened and never heard anything moving.  He said well I'm going over there to find it, we said good luck and hiked on up the logging road.  After a few minutes we stopped to take a break and a light bulb went off in my head and I said Mark you know what that deer really was that he heard?  Mark said no, I said it was you when you blew your nose coming up the road before we ran into him.  My buddy had stopped right before we ran into that guy and blew his nose a couple of times.  I guess the guy heard it and thought a deer had snorted, we laughed and laughed.  We joke to this day wondering if that fella is still looking for that deer.


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Quote from: aclawrence on April 12, 2019, 07:08:52 PM
Heard lots more hooting and crowing this week.  This morning a bird starting gobbling good so someone's response was to start blowing their crow call back at him. Why would you do that?  The bird is giving you plenty of freebies but still you must blow the crow call!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We had a guy on a club I was in that we nick named Hooty Who.  He would show up at day light and proceed to HOOOTY WHO, HOOTY WHO, with multiple birds answering him, some of whom were gobbling before he got out of his truck.  99% of the time, he would then just leave.  Not sure if was very hard of hearing or what.  If he did proceed to the bird he would hoot the whole way to him.  That place was loaded with birds and I am not sure he ever killed one. 

For some reason most of the people on the public land I hunt try to sneak up on a gobbling turkey while blowing a crow call or owl hooting. The Gobbler already is located I never get an answer when I ask them why they do it. It never works the  crow squawking from the ground always gets the Gobblers attention he sees them and it over lol

Quote from: eggshell on April 13, 2019, 08:52:01 AM

QuoteWhy would a guy bring hounds to the woods on opening morning of turkey season?

I'm not sure where your at, but in our area guys run hounds on foxes. He may not have been a turkey hunter he may have been going after a dog. They have radio tracking collars on most of them. I have had many hunts messed up by these guys. Then they get pissed at turkey hunters for parking in good listening spots. In some states they have spring bear hunts with dogs too, I think. One of the biggest messes I ever got into was over a dang fox hound. I had permission to hunt several hundred acres of great turkey woods, but the owner belonged to a fox hunters club. Well a trespassing turkey hunter shot one of the prize hounds.  You guessed it. I got the blame, because I was on the property that day. My life was threatened, I was assaulted and I am kicked off the property to this day. Since, they found out it wasn't me, but the land owner closed 1,000 acres to all turkey hunting. Some arsehole messed it up for all of us.
[/quo

That last sentence is true on so many occasions/places

Where do I even start...
I have had 2 different incidents in 2 different states this year of people driving around on ATVs hitting box calls. One of the guys at least turned the ignition off...
I have heard more owl hooting than carter has pills..

So yesterday evening some great woodsman in a F250 started on crow and owl call at 6:00. They kept hammering till nearly dark. I was impressed with their stamina.
This morning a truck pulled into the same spot below and it was clearly a Diesel engine. The engine never shut off and there was a relentless run on an owl call followed by intense horn honking (all with the engine running) and pulled away without eliciting a single gobble. Bless their heart.

This isn't a public land story but a hunt club story. I had already killed a few birds and wanted to take the kids out and just have a fun morning hunt. I didn't expect to kill anything so I didn't get real serious. We headed into the woods and the kids had a blast. Playing in creeks, catching lizards ect. I didn't care and would occasionally let out a call but since we were making slightly less noise than a tank division in a bamboo thicket nothing gobbled. Eventually the kids tuckered out and we headed back to the truck. As the wife and I were loading the kids up I grabbed my boys box call that was as laying on the seat and let a few yelps out. I couldn't believe the gobble that range out across the field in a small patch of woods of maybe 20 acres. The wife looked at me and asked can you kill him? "Probably" was my answer. She told me to go without her and the kids and go get him. They would just sit on the tailgate and listen I got another quick gobble out of him to verify his exact location and started planning my route. The only way into that patch undetected meant circling around using the roll of the hill for cover. I start slowly walking around, staying low and make it about 100 yards when my phone starts buzzing. I look at it and it's the wife. I answer in a whisper and she just says look to your left. I do and here comes a fellow. Rifle at the ready on a dead run straight for the bird. Its 300 yards across the field and he only pauses once to take a quick look at me and then charges forward. He runs straight to the Crest of the hill and throws his rifle to his shoulder and is using the scope to scan. I just stood there and stared as the fellow charged over the hill and dissapeared towards the woods. I just walked to the truck put my stuff away and then drove over to the patch of woods. Handing my boy the box call I told him. "See if you can make him gobble again." My boy worked that call like mad. It was a heck of a racket for about ten straight minutes. Once he was done we just left. That's just one of many runs in I have had on that club. 

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The first time I ever hunted public land a buddy and me set up and let out a few series of calls, next thing you know we catch movement ahead and realized it was somebody crawling on their hands and knees towards us, I whistled and the guy stood up and sprinted the other way.

Happened to me this mourning in Missouri. Get to my 1st spot already a car parked there. Plenty of room but let the guy have to himself. Plan b is to hunt a Ridgeline that's only accesble by about a mile walk over a ridge. Granted it ne Missouri so not to daunting of a task. Chose this location because it was the farthest away from any access point. Never been there before but thought would be a good start. Hunt along ridge but nothing going. Around 8 I hear faint gobble on the ridge I crossed over to get to this spot. Back I go to the crossover ridge. Set there for a bit to find out gobble s we're coming from valley between cross over ridge and parking lot. Valley has open feilds so sneak down to valley only to find bird moved to woods between valley and road. Sneak and belly crawl along Creek bed in open field to get access to woods unseen. Get to woods field and set up about 500yds from where I got out of the truck at 4:45am. It's about 9:30. Sit for a while listening. Nothing. Set out a string of yelps a listen. Nothing. Wait about 10 mins and set out some more yelps. A Tom fires off about 150yds away. Call again nothing. Wait a few mins call again. Nothing. Wait about 10 mins call again he fires off. Hit him with some soft cuts and fires off again. Take call out of mouth and put on knee to resist calling again. Wait 15 mins or so call again. He fires off directly in front of me about 70yds. He's coming wait for what seemed like an eternity but realistically about 10 mins. Scratch some leaves and he fires off moving to the left circling me. Than I hear it. He drumming. He's close but I can't see him. I pinpoint the drumming and he's on the same spot. I can see about 60yds in that direction but still can't see him. Drumming continues for about 10 mins than stops. Wait,wait,wait,nothing. Scratch some more leaves and he fires off further to the left. I wait expecting to see his head above the short brush that's just starting to green up.15 mins pass. Nothing. I call. nothing. I don't want play with this guy's forever because we are so close to the road. I get up to sneak about 80yds to the finger ridge where he 1st fired up with the hopes that might bring him into gun range when I hear it. The god awfullest owl hoot from the spot of the last gobble. At least I think that's what it was. I sneak over and set up on his ridge. Call nothing. Call again and Tom that I heard while calling to previousTom fires off about 250yds away. I than hear yelping and cutting from behind and it doesn't stop. Than the kazoo crow call and more cutting and the kazoo again non stop as he continues along just up the Ridgeline from me towards the last gobble. He hits the kazoo again and I yell up the hill at him "why don't you stick that crow call up your butt" but not in such kind words. It was about 11:30 now and I was steamed. After all that walking,sneaking,and crawling. I finally get 2 Tom's to go and this clown storms in ruins it. Went back to truck and came home to MN steaming the whole way. Oh gotta love public land. Show some good Hunter etiquett by leaving my 1st spot to the guy that beat us there only to get rewarded with the clown and his kazoo.

Well that sucks!  I was about 40yds away from a fired up Gobbler one morning about a week ago.  He was just on the backside of some thick brush and I couldn't see him. After a few minutes I hear a hen cutting behind me. The bird gobbles. Then the hen continued to let out the exact same cutting sequence several more times in a row. At this point I knew someone was sneaking in on me. The Gobbler never gobbled again. I hear the walking and turn around and wave at two guys. They saw me and turned and left but it was too late. My hunt was done. When I left I saw where they had parked. About 75 yds down the road from my truck on a real narrow strip of public. I guess since they didn't park right at the gate by my truck they thought it was ok.  I mean really my truck was sitting there on a small public spot. Did they expect me to not be working the bird. 


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Quote from: eggshell on April 04, 2019, 04:56:29 PM
I'm going to tell on myself. Way back in the day I had an old 1977 c10 pickup that was more rust than good metal. I hunted a lot of public ground and often late mornings I would stop by pull offs and throw a hoot or cackle to see if I could raise a bird. One day as I leaned on the truck something fell and made a bang and screeching sound in the bed. And a gobbler gobbled. I decided to try it again so I picked up a big stick and hit the rusty side of the bed so it would vibrate and squeak. Bingo, he gobbled. After that I would never leave a pull off without taking a whack at my truck bed. I am hear to tell you there are a few gobblers who died because they gobbled at the sound. One day I was in the local hangout and a guy was telling everyone about this idiot he seen up on the ridge beating the side of his truck....his words were, "what a dumba##. One of my buddies turns and sees me and blurts out, "Oh that's him there" the guy looks at me ( I was just in my 20s) and said, "young man you ain't doing anything but scaring everyone's turkeys" and my buddy shoots back, "buddy that old chevy's gave more gobblers a ride than you've ever seen" (That statement wasn't true but my friends were just defending me). I just laughed and thanked him for the advice.

Not a head scratcher, just a similar use of a truck for a shock gobbler like above .  I used to pull over along the side of the road in this particular spot in the evenings, to see if any birds were roosted at the top of this steep hill we hunt.  I'd turn the truck off, roll down the window and lay of the horn.  Birds would gobble.  I'd start the truck and drive away and hunt them the next morning.  Still hunt the hill, but hardly ever roost birds in the evening anymore and never in this spot or with the horn. It was just the perfect spot to do it and not have to climb the hill. 


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as far as turkey hunting goes the only incident I had with an idiot was with myself being the idiot lol. Let me explain the story.

So my first year turkey hunting (7 years ago), I was so pumped I could barely sleep. The day before, I had a gobbler roosted just 100 yards off of a corn field in the woods so I knew id likely have a chance at him. I got into that field an hour before light and setup. Finally the sun starts rising and sure enough I hear the gobble but it was slightly further up the field than where I was positioned (This field is like 500 yards long and has hills in it so you cannot see one end from the other). Any ways I keep hearing the occasional gobble ~150 yards away. I can hear him but again, I cant see him due to a slight rise in the field that is about 50 yards in front of me. He is definitely in the field now judging by where he first gobbled in the woods and where he is now gobbling, but again I just cant see him because of a slight hill in the field. Well suddenly about 30 min after the gobbler got to the field I hear another hunter doing a hen call at the opposite end of the field...it was a terrible sounding hen call might I ad. so basically think of it this way, you have the one hunter on the one end 400-500 yards away, the gobbler in the middle and then me on the other end. A calling battle ensues. Now i'm getting pissed because I am supposedly the only one who should be hunting this field so I say screw it, i'm going to see if I can army crawl up over the small hill in front of me and maybe ill get a wack at that gobbler...maybe just maybe he is closer to me than the other hunter and will be right over the hill so I can shoot him. I was not worried about my safety for two reasons...it is a long field so I figured I was far enough away from the other hunter and secondly I was excited/angry that this hunter was there...(I know not smart and I should have just stayed put). Anyways, I proceed to army crawl through the mud. Finally sometime later I make it to the bottom of that slight rise of the hill completely in the wide open but again I cant see the gobbler and he cant see me. Well wouldn't you know it, now I hear that hunter doing a hen call just on the other side of the hill so now im furious and thinking he is either trying to mess up my hunt on purpose OR he does not realize im here so im also afraid he might shoot me so I yell out "Hey hey someone is here"....as soon as I do...a freakin hen crosses over the top of the hill with the gobbler in tow...I lock eyes with her and she looks right at me and then they both run off! There was NO OTHER HUNTER. So what I thought sounded like a terrible hen call from another hunter was a REAL hen and my calling actually called her in with the gobbler. To say I felt like an idiot, especially missing a chance on a great bird is an understatement.

Hahahahaha! That is great!