Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

WINNER!!!  #54. Greg Massey


Let's reward ourselves for the comic relief we've provided ourselves and others.

In a sentence tell what the biggest foul up you're guilty of when turkey hunting.

Contest ends Friday 10:00 am Central.

I'll go first, I left my gun laying beside the road and realized it 45 minutes and 30 miles later, and thank the Lord it was still there.

You know the rules, but just in case...

Winner will be chosen by corresponding post #

Winner will be selected by a google number generator.

Winner will have a week to reply or they forfeit.

Winner gets their choice of a Select Series Pot n Peg.

I had the worst jake decoy ever in a mesh bag...  While walking a logging road back to the truck, I struck a bird close in front of me.

I dropped that mesh bag (with the decoy lying on its side), and ran to a bend in the road 20 yards in front of me (cutting the distance to the bird in half).

That stupid bird went straight up hill (where I actually could have shot him, and because I could only see his head I did not fire) and dropped down behind me (from whence I had just come).  Apparently he saw that horrific jake decoy in the mesh bag and freaked...   He made some strange sound (I have never heard a turkey make before or since) and flushed.

I had been hunting that bird all season, and he made it through the season without being harvested, or being shot at...

Had a turkey coming in gobbling hard for several hundred yards, he went quiet, I looked over my left shoulder and there he was. Man they run fast!

I call to often when theyre being vocal.

Got in and set up one morning at 000000000 dark 30, fell asleep. Woke up, startled, to a gobble 8 yards away. Bird ran away. :OGturkeyhead:

This one time I thought I had Turkey hunting figured out. Turned out I was wrong

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Pulling the trigger way too early as it was clear that the gobbler was walking a b-line to me. What a dope i was for doing that.  I missed him completely for sure. Thx for the opportunity.

I broke my leg and damaged tendons and ligaments in my ankle when jumping up to run to a flopping turkey.

Biggest foul up. Driving halfway across the country to miss the only long beard I saw in a weeks time.

Not setting down when I should.


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Drove off the main road after a heavy rain and got stuck, fortunately the landowner was nearby and gracious enough to pull me out

Important to pattern your shotgun, if you wanna bring one home. Missed one Bc my shotgun shoots to the right

Was walking down a road, and heard a gobble; he was walking toward me.  I scrambled, trying to find a place to set up. looking like a keystone cop.  Of course, he saw me.  If I just would have sat down, he would have walked right into me.  Worst part was, it was the last day of the season, and we had played cat and mouse for a week.

Forgot my shells back at the truck

Had the perfect set up on two gobbling birds that I had roasted the night before. I slid in and set up in the dark, they played right along. Daylight came birds pitched down in front of me to a few soft clucks.Thier heads crossed up in front of me at 15 steps or so and I squeezed off the shot...to loudest empty chamber hammer strike I ever heard in my life. I had not loaded the H&R Single Shot, I had not even brought shells in my vest.
I had brought my 5 year old daughter with me to see what was sure to be an awesome show and it was. I walked back to the truck and daughter held my hand telling me "It'll be alright Daddy, we'll get em next time. I'll help you remember to load your gun".
She is 25 now and doesn't tag along anymore but she still reminds me to load my gun before every season.

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leaving the house without tp. returning without my skivvies

I once lugged at chair, bag of decoys, and camera to a spot only to forget my gun, thought my hunting partner had grabbed it.

Hunted a new place for 4 or 5 days only to miss on the last day. Thanks for the opportunity

Moved to set up closer to a bird just to hear him gobble right where I left.

I had went with a friend to a place that he had permission to hunt and my intent was to get him a turkey.  We got beat up all morning by a gobbler that would not come off of the top of a mountain. We finally got up there with him and I told my friend to sit right here and I will back up and call. I eased back about 30 yards and called and he cut me off! Instead of coming straight to us he circled around my friend and came right to me.  Unfortunately my gun was leaning up against the back side of the tree my friend was sitting at...  ;D

First time turkey hunting in Florida last day, last hour of hunting. A shot is finally presented and I forget I have my turkey gun not my trap-skeet gun. Safty is on top not on botton by trigger, Turkey see me fumbling to find it. GONE

Deciding in the first place I might have to try this turkey hunting thing out. After that I think I have done just about everything in this post. But really would not have it any other way

I remember when my friend and I first started turkey hunting. We kept bumping into turkeys. One day we were about to walk over a hill in some cutover and we joked to each other "there's probably a whole bunch of turkeys over here" and as soon as we crested the hill, yep a whole flock of turkeys flew away. I think we both learned a good lesson at that moment.


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Lost the rear fiber optic sights halfway through an out of state hunt and didn't take the front fiber optic off. Last day of the hunt shot over a bird that came in hot off the roost, heart was thumping so hard and adrenaline going I didn't get down on my gun good enough. Rookie mistake that I thought I had learned from as a youth hunter, I guess that's a mistake that comes back every 5-10 years to a lot of turkey hunters.

New location. Worked a bird til 10 am, finally figured out he was a tame bird on the back porch of a neighbors cabin.

Driving and wonder why the road was so bumpy for the trailer I was towing only to find a shredded tire and bent rim.  Insult to injury no spare so called AAA and found trailers are not covered.

In my younger days of turkey hunting, I had not yet realized the change of the sound of a gobble when they flew down from the roost. I heard some birds gobbling early, and eased in to within about 150 yards. They answered my calling a few times. Suddenly their gobbling got more muffled, and I assumed they were going away from me. I jumped up and took off at a trot towards me. About 30 yards in, here come four gobblers over the hill coming to me at a dead run. We all stopped short and looked at one another with our jaw dropped for a few seconds, then they quickly departed to parts unknown. Thankfully they were only jakes.


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Running and gunning i was on a pine hill. I yelped a bird gobbled so close i almost came out of my boots. I dropped down by a tree and he showed himself. I wanted to get him closer and he walked off. I misjudged the yardage he was only at 25 yards. He went down the hill and crossed the road. Knowing where he was heading i went after him. He crossed the road. I unloaded before i crossed also. I set up in a orchard made some soft yelps and he came in like he was on a string. I put the scope on his waddles pulled the trigger and click no shell in the chamber!I managed to get a shell in the chamber for a shot but by that time he was so shook up he turned was heading out of Dodge when i took the shot and hit the tree he was standing by. Talk about egg on my face the old bird won that battle. Never got another chance for him that spring.

Sneaking in I spotted a hen roosted, hit the dirt and stuck my Jake decoy into the ground.

She flew down into a field so I crawled through a ditch and up to the edge, the whole flock went by out of range and three toms saw the Jake decoy and pounded it into the dirt!  I could not see the decoy from my position!


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My stomach rumbled and I started taking care of business before realizing that I had forgotten to re-stock my TP supply. I really liked the sock that I lost that day.

Ripped the fender off my truck backing out to get closer to a distant gobbling turkey.

Landowner told me to hang out near the road where the turkeys walk down - I thought I knew better and camped a meadow between roost and water.  Turns out the turkeys took the road walking right by my truck while I was in the woods...

Getting in a hurry and setting up in places where there was no way I wouldn't get busted.

Called in a big tom on opening day in the Virginia mountains and didn't pull the trigger because I thought it was too far. I later went back to measure the distance because I couldn't stop thinking about it and it was only 25 yards. It happen 3 years ago and still hurts.

Wake up o'dark thirty, crawl out of bed and into the woods, gets light and everything seams a-little fuzzy, I never put on my glasses.

Invited a couple buddies (they're brothers) for a "guys" weekend turkey hunting at my cousins farm. We struck out Saturday, birds were quiet after fly down. That night we had a few beers, maybe to many, played cards, and stayed up tellin old stories. A hard rain had moved in, and was suppose to clear out after sunrise Sunday morning. We devised a plan to take my cousins side by side to cross the creek that morning to get to a spot to setup a blind, where we could watch a long ridge and wait out the rain. We're up early, a little groggy and slow moving. Not sure why, lol. Anyway we get loaded up, cross the creek alright, then we decide instead of setting the blind up, we'd just sit in the side by side until the rain let up enough to get out a move around. We pull up to the end of the ridge to sit and watch. Well low and behold a Tom and a few hens show out on the ridge about 300 yards away. Mind you it's still pouring rain. We watched those hens drag the Tom to within 15 feet of the side by side, and down over the hill.  Next time you can bet I'll set that blind up. Lol


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Didn't insure the bird was dead. Many moons ago I'd shot a hen in the fall. Just chucked her into the back seat of the car. Down the road a few miles had that strange feeling I was being watched. Turns out, I was right. She was standing in my daughters booster watching me. Thinking I could handle her easily since she was "mortally wounded" I just reached back and grabbed her by the neck. Let me just tell everyone here and now, pull over to execute this move. She went berserk and had me fighting for my own life for several miles. Things were a little touch and go before I was able to finally take control of the situation. Made for an interesting story in the end.


Figured I'd share one more. Few years ago I worked a couple toms for 3 straight days. And I mean worked them HARD! They'd gobble like no ones business but I was always strapped for time because I had to get to work by 7:30. After 2 days of trying to pull them across the field and one day of setting up on their side of the field, I'd decided I'd had enough. I took the 4th day off to insure I had time to kill one of those birds. Slipped into the woods edge before daylight and got set. Not a peep on the roost. Knowing they should've sounded off by now, I cut loose on a crow call. 3 birds answered. Laid it on them with the sweetest calls I could. One minute they'd be coming towards me then the next minute they'd be going the other way. Just a constant back and forth game. Finally, when I was certain they were headed away, I slipped in closer to catch them at the edge of their strut zone. Couldn't loop around them due to property boundaries. As I approached something became very apparent to me. There was a fence they were unwilling to cross. And rightfully so. I had just learned that I'd spent hours working birds, on the other side of a fence, on a farm, in the gentleman's yard! Didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But one thing became very clear. For the amount of time I'd put into those birds, if one had broken free, I'd have probably killed the heaviest bird of my life. They beat a hefty path along that fence trying to get to the "hen" on my side of the fence.

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Your not the only one that has left your shotgun Sam.  Four of us were hunting in Kansas on some private property.  To get to the property, we had to drive down a public dirt road.  We parked, in a pull off, on the public road and walked into the private property for a morning hunt.  I killed a bird that morning.  When we returned to the truck and relived the hunt, I propped my 835 against a fence post to put my bird and vest in the truck and we drove off leaving the gun right where I had leaned it.  After I realized what had happened, some miles and an hour later, we returned to the pull off and the 835 was still right where I had left, Thank God.  I have become more ANAL about my equipment now!  Especially after a kill.

Some of these stories are HILARIOUS!!!!

Forgot my gun one morning, drove 2 hrs back home and said forget it I will try again tomorrow lol

Mine is kind of comical. On my way to my first Turkey hunt ever in PA in 1984, I made sure that I was ready to harvest my first turkey. I mastered the mouth call, read all the books, sighted in my 1100, and headed out. I got a few miles from home, and remembered that I forgot my Turkey carry strap. Imagine how confident I was, packing a carry strap. Well, you all know the drill. I actually drove back for the strap. Now I was ready. Well, I got humbled that day, in fact that season. I really could have left the gun, strap, shells, and calls home that day. I learned real fast that I had a long way to go before I learned this great sport. I have since enjoyed harvesting turkeys ever since. Sometimes a real humbling experience sets you up for success in the future. Thanks for supporting all of us, this site, and this great sport of turkey hunting. Amen Gooserbat.

Mine would have to be miss judging my yardage and well you know then missing the turkey. A little patience over the years has helped but excitement will get anyone trigger happy. lol Thanks for the opportunity.

I was sitting and calling one morning. Quiet morning, very little action. Then I had to pee, but waited as long as I could. Finally I could wait no longer. I slowly did a 360 to see if any birds were slipping in silent. Not seeing any, I stood up and there was a gobbler standing behind some short brush 30 yards away. He took to the wing and flew out of my life. If I'd have waited another 30 seconds, I would have had him.  ::)

Mine would be not being patient enough in some circumstances. Always give it 5 more minutes when you have set down on a bird and are ready to leave.

Drove 96 miles to my club early one morning, got out to hit the woods and couldn't find my shotgun. It was in my Dad's truck from a trip a couple of days before. I took a nap and drove back home at lunch to get my gun.

Now, it is the first thing that I switch over when we get home from a trip.


I once forgot my buddy on a deer hunting trip. I got up early to make the drive and about halfway down, I got a phone call and as soon as I saw the name, I thought "uh oh, I forgot to go get him".  We still laugh about it

Drove across the old iron bridge, parked and took off up the ridge. After hunting all morning, with no luck, I came back to the bottoms to see that the creek was rising fast and the bottoms were flooding. I hastily waded waist to chest high water all the way back to the truck, then pushed water for about 100 yards on the way out with the bumper and drove 45 minutes home in my underwear. ::)

 My first season of turkeys I was getting object lessons on how not to do it every day. I was walking out one evening off the crest of a ridge and heard wings, a turkey on the other side was flying up to roost. I stood there dumbfounded and then another, then a couple begin flying up. I ducked down and eased farther down the ridge out of sight and walked out. Headed in by moonlight the next morning I wasn't exactly sure where I was and got to where I knew I had to be close, moving slow and scanning the limbs. Dawn begin to break and I spotted a big tree just 10 yards in front of me I wanted and planned to sit and listen. Just as I made the tree a bird gobbled in the limbs above me and took wing. Followed by 30+ birds in a big spring flock all together. One minute into daylight and I was free for the rest of the day.

One day I was turkey hunting. I went home and later on realized that I did not have my shotgun. I drove back up in the hills (public used land) and found my double barreled mossberg. It was laying right there, right where I ran over it. Luckily it was not damaged. In the same holler I lost my glock and had to track it down and found it laying in a spot to where I tried to close the gap on 2 turkeys gobbling right before a storm. Same holler, I got turned around and someone gave me a ride to my home. If you guys never hear from me again I may be dead in that holler, lol.

Went to an area when I was younger that I had been seeing turkeys and sat under a tree to wait for  sunlight. After not hearing anything and being surprised I stood up and a gobbler proceeds to fly out of the tree I was sitting under and flies to the next county.

By letting a Gobbler get to close and then missing him

Forgot toilet paper in the truck. Man I miss that pair of socks.

 I know this is about turkey bu I shot a deer once with my bow. Drug her ( it was a doe day) and all my gear to a log road. Walked up hill 300yrds. Got my truck backed in to load the deer . Knowing full well where the deer was and I back straight over my bow. It didnt fair well.  Dont know about yall but I piss myself off more than anyone else.


Edit :because this is really about turkey hunting but ill leave my broken bow story up.
  My first year turkey hunting I bought one of those Primos Boxcutter box calls. About the 3rd time out.
Daylight comes . I hear a gobble so I hit the call. he answers and I see him almost running (yes down hill) straight to me.
  So i just keep on hammering that box for all it was worth.  yep yall guessed it .
  He locked down and looked toward me like ... Are you an idiot or what?
  Learned  the "put your call down" lesson that day.

My Brother got me started turkey hunting (and I didn't know much). The first time I hunted I set up on the edge of a field. I set a hen and a jake out as decoys. I went back and set down by a big oak tree. I started calling as good as I new how. It was getting around 10:00 a.m. and I was getting tired of not hearing or seeing anything. So I started putting my calls away. I heard a noise and looked in the direction of my decoys two big toms and a hen came running across the field an the first big tom to get to my decoys jumped on my tom decoy. I was so nervous and surprised that I shot the tom decoys head off. Needless to say I didn't get the live bird.

Located a bird during season not ready to hunt.

Got to a new spot I'd never hunted before, like new as in BC Canada first time ever hunting in Canada new. Stepped out the truck to make a locator call with a yelp, instead of a crow call. Instant response within a couple hundred yards. Problem was, I didn't have my camo on, gun was locked in it's case in the back seat, ammo was locked in a box in the truck bed.... ya that worked out well.

:TrainWreck1:

If you're where you can hunt, be ready to hunt.

Like a fool, I got in way too tight on a big Tom. I was close enough to be able to make out his spurs against the early morning sky. He had been facing the other way when I first heard him gobble and I totally misjudged how far away he was from me. As I was easing along, making my way to him, I began to hear the sound of bark scratching above me and I then realized what it was. He was literally directly above me. I was pinned down and afraid to move too much. I got down to the ground, but wasn't in a very comfortable position and I had no intentions of moving too much in fear of bumping him. Like a fool, I tried to scratch the leaves and purr a little to convince him to pitch down right there once it was legal shooting light.
Instead, he stayed roosted for an hour and a half, waiting to see what was below him. Needless to say, by time he pitched down, my legs had fallen asleep due to having to just hunker down in a pinch. When he sailed over my head, I had a hard time turning around to shoot him once he reached the ground. I looked like a newborn calf trying to scramble to get turned around on him. He spooked and took off across the hollow. My Father and I got a good laugh out of it after it was all over. He was one of the biggest Toms that I have ever seen

Early one morning as it was breaking daylight , i made couple yelps on a mouth call , just to make sure it was still okay , as i was looking back and getting my stuff ready for the hunt i turned around and had a gobbler staring me in the face , i guess he's still staring at people and still walking. I don't think i ever saw him again. It really scared me, it was just like seeing BIG Foot for the first time in the wild.  :OGturkeyhead: :drool:

Several years ago my cousin and I were hunting together. We struck a bird and set up in the timber next to a narrow field. We were both calling and the bird was eating it up. He finally shows up on the edge of the field about 30 yards from us. We both kept telling each other to shoot. Finally he said he couldn't even see the bird so shoot him so he doesn't get away. I made a terrible shot and somehow just crippled him enough he couldn't fly. He took off running down the edge of the field and I jumped up to chase him. When he got to the fence at the end of the field he stopped. I tried pulling up from a dead sprint and ripped my right hamstring. I finished him off but I couldn't even bend over to pick him up. I had hard time getting out of the woods and an even harder time driving home. I had to drive with my left foot.

Of all the "what-a-dufus" moments I had over the years, the one that really stands out (and could have been very expensive) happened long ago in the mountains of southern New Mexico. 

I was camped in a shallow, open draw with scattered pine trees of various sizes.  One morning I got up to start my truck to get the heater going and then got out to grab things to get ready to drive to where I was going to hunt.  The truck was on a slight incline, but I thought it would stay put,...so I left it in neutral without the emergency brake on. 

I grabbed some stuff out of my tent and walked back out to get in my truck,...and it was gone!  I looked down the draw and saw my truck rolling down the canyon about 75 yards away.  I took off after it thinking it was going to roll into a big pine tree and really do some damage. 

It suddenly came to a stop and when I got there it had rolled over a small limber pine that had been just enough to stop its momentum without doing any damage to my truck!  I could have been S.O.L. but the turkey gods were looking down upon me that day.

I think I killed a gobbler that morning, too!

Ok I got one, so I go up to a buddys in Rome Ny to hunt his property. Hunt all morning & heard some way out. He gets a call from his wife who says that there is a whole flock out in the field by the road on the way into the property. Great, we high tail it over there & get about 50-60 yards from the field as we couldnt get any closer. We start to call & nothing, this goes on for a while maybe an hr. She calls us back & says she just went out & they are still there. Another hr & not a sound, finally I tell him lets get closer. So we ease in there single file really slow. Ok, there they are we can see something in the grass. A little close, ok they there are like 20 geese out there, boy did we feel dumb. Best part was on the way back to the house we struck a big Tom & killed it quick. Mike

Long time ago I found a gobbler in a patch  of woods along a bayou . Found him by gobbling, the turkey started coming towards the bayou gobbling so I beat feet out of there. Returned a week later on opening day slipped my pirogue on the bank under a large. Oak well before daylight, and was startled and shocked when that tree top exploded with the sound of a very large gobbler busting out

I had one come running in from behind me two years ago.  He literally skidded to a stop behind me 7 steps away at my 5 o'clock.  In stead of waiting and seeing if he would continue on his path past me and to my front, I foolishly tried to slide the gun through some thick cover between us.  I almost got the red on him before I got busted.

 Drove 45 miles to lease only to realize I left my gun at home!!

passing the longbeard I had been working for hours when he poked his head up at 10 yards cause I thought he was a jake.

Tried to stand up and shoot a gobbler that was over a little knoll and would not raise his head over it. Needless to say , he was gone like a puff of smoke.

I told my buddy where I heard one gobbling.

I took a buddy on his first turkey hunt several years ago. We worked a day and a half and finally got the dominant bird ticked off and headed our way to run off three other Toms that were coming in from the side. My buddy was using my shotgun and I had him crawl up to the far side of the creek while I stayed back and called. I get the boss tom in close enough, he shoots and hits it perfect...and I jump up, cross the creek bottom and run out to the bird hootin and hollerin (I was as excited as I'd ever been for anything I've shot). I turn and look, and I notice that at the shot those other three Toms had come halfway back to us to jump the flopping bird. Had I kept my cool I could have crawled over, grabbed the gun, and filled my tag as well...instead I went home without a bird.

Tried to get to close to a roosted gobbler on a full moon

My biggest mess was driving 4 hours and deciding to put the 12 gauge in the truck for the hunt that day.
Walking about a mile in and went to load the gun.
Problem was grabbing the vest with only 20 gauge shells. 

Forgot toilet paper, left the wood with no socks

Working a bird for many hours without it budging. Inching and inching forward, only to have it fly out of a tree that you just settled up against as part of your inching forward!

Bumping them out of the tree, leaving him at home. That is all I care to admit too!

Two seasons ago, I slipped into one of my favorite spots @ around 9am. Let out 1 series of calls and they gobbled down over the hill, 150 yards. I hurried to get setup, let out a few more yelps and they gobbled just put of sight, maybe 60 yards away. They ended up workin there way through the hardwoods and the leader and biggest of the three longbeards stopped in an opening about 35 yards.I took the shot, and the 3 gobblers proceeded to walk away putting, just as quick as they came in. I couldn't believe I missed!! I immediately thought my sights had gotten knocked off. Turns out I centerpunched a small tree maybe 10 yards away. Still to this day don't know how i didn't notice that tree. I guess you could call it a catch and release hunt. Thanks for the opportunity gooserbat!!!

I brought my gun, but left the shells at home!


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I put a new pistol grip stock on my 20 ga a few yrs ago. I took it hunting the next morning and managed to get on a bird on a quota hunt. Bird came gobbling and strutting to about 25 yds, I pull the trigger and it won't move! Safety is off, action is shut, I pulled so hard on the trigger I thought it was gonna break. Bird walked off gobbling. Turns out, the bolt for new stock was longer than the original and was pressed perfectly against the safety inside the receiver, even though the safety appeared off it wasn't. Learned a valuable lesson though.

Forgot to load the gun & dropped the hammer on a sly longbeard @ 28 yards that I'd been hunting for two seasons.  He didn't immediately scramble off was still kind of in range, so I jacked open the bolt and loaded a disposable lighter that I was stupid enough to carry in my right hand pocket.  The bolt jammed and the gobbler fled.  Last time I ever saw him.  That was around 15 years ago & it still hurts to tell it.

Jim

Several years ago In the middle of the season I had a red dot that would fog up real bad, I said that's it and just took it off and stuck it in my vest. I hunted all day that day and failed to remember i had removed the truglo beads off the gun. So like an idiot I hunted all day with a slick barrel. No sight. Thankfully I didn't have a bird come in.  Could you imagine!

Told my brother in law he was the shooter. Bird came in and I got too excited and shot before he did.

Got to the woods late one morning like 730. I was about 1/4 mile from a gas line parked on the side of a gravel road. 2 birds were blowing it up. I went a couple hundred yards , stopped to cut on a diaphragm to try and get a gobble to guage my setup. They gobbled so I walked further to where I could see the sunlight from the gasline in the distance. I set up , made one sequence on my slate. And here one of them came. He stepped from the gas line into the tree line of the woods I was in. He strutted for about 1 minute and began his death march. I had a decoy setup which was originally in front of me, but when I initially set up the sun was in my eyes so I moved offset of the decoy into the shadows about 7 or 8 yards further. When he got to about the 40 yard mark, I could have shot him, but it was so obvious he was coming into the decoy that I figured why shoot him, let him do his thing. This happened to be a stud bird , had many pictures of him. Well he came and when he got about 10 yards from my decoy which made him probably 30 yards from me, he followed the natural lay of the land. The other side of my decoy was a slight decend of a hill side. All I could see was the tip of his fan at this point. He stutted within 5 yards of my decoy for 30 minutes, and there was nothing I could about it. I clucked at him a few times and when he would stick his head up there was always one little sapling in the way and had his head not been read you wouldn't have known it because only about 1/5 of his head was sticking up. Had I shot , most of my shot would have been in the dirt, this was also in the lead days...no tss. Anyway......I probaby could have simply timed it right and stood up and fired...but I was semi amateur at the time. I never killed that bird. I managed to call him into my setup once a season in the same area the next 2 years until he got ancient and became an absolute recleuse. He haunts me to this day. Im not as conservative with letting them make it to my decoy setup now days...

Grabbing a turkey by the tail feathers as he was still flopping - ended up with a handful of feathers

Fell asleep, woke up to 3 right in front of me.

Messed with a hung up bird for a couple of hours. Decided to move and he was 35 yds to my left when I stood up.

Paddled across river in creek boat and waited for bird to give himself away at first light.  When he gobbled, I reached for my mouth call to begin easing in the woods.  Mouth calls still in truck......
Paddled back across to get them, did not kill bird, he went other way

Shot a damn fine strutter in WV in 2013 and he decided to roll down the mountain. Well, during recovery of said bird, I slipped and fell and broke both bones in my right leg & completely dislocated my ankle... Thank god my dad was with me, we were 2 miles from the truck. Thanks Walkersville VFD for the backboard ride out. AND we got a warning from the game warden for parking in the rifle range parking lot.... apparently that's a no no. Lots of lessons learned that day. Oh, and my wife was 5 months pregnant.

WOW ! JL_Longbeard that's  a tough one to follow!   After deer dogs were turned loose in the block of woods we were hunting, my son and I had to settle with plan B. Being late to our secondary spot I made the rookie mistake of hitting a hen yelp before having a good "hide".  You guessed it...two shooters answered and I boogered them while adjusting my sitting arrangement inside of 15 yds. First chance at a double for my son and me on opening day.....putt...putt...putt...

I was in KS a couple years ago and on the last day of the hunt I was trying to fill my final tag and I had 3 gobblers come in fast and from a direction I wasn't expecting.  The birds came down a small path that was fenced on either side.  I was in the block of woods and they were very close.  The first 2 birds came by so fast that they were past the position for me to shoot either of them without contortions. I clucked to make the 3rd one stop and when he did, I promptly shot the closest fence post that somehow I didn't see. I'm still not sure how I did it and will remember those three sailing away forever.

About my 2nd year of hunting turkeys I was hunting our late season. I was sitting on the edge of a 10 acre cornfield surrounded by timber. I called in a nice Tom and shot him at about 25 yards. As he laid there flopping I stood up and started walking towards him. When I was about 5 yards from my tree & gun(left the gun leaning against the tree), the bird stood up and took off running to the timber. I got to my gun and was able to get off one Hail Mary shot before he got to the timber. I search for about hour and never did find that bird. 

Moving to reset on a gobbling bird and my phone slipped out of my pocket, spent the next hour looking through the understory until I found it.

Ok I see all the post about forgetting toilet paper...hey that's why God made leaves. Just don't use the poison ones.

Also, don't ever think, "I'll take a quick dump before I set up on this gobbler", then prop your gun up against a tree and walk off 30 yards to poop. I assure you he will come your way right in the middle of your job, and that he'll wait dead still at 20 yards  until you've crawled all the way back to your gun with your pants pulled half way up and a dirty butt  before he putts and runs away.

As a kid hunting with my dad we had a tom coming in hot and fast. My dad was worried I'd chamber a shell on his pump shotgun too loud so he grabbed it from me, chambered it as slow/quiet as possible, and handed it back. The tom came in, I pulled the trigger and... nothing. I did this again and again (with my dad whispering "Shoot! "Why aren't you shooting?!" "Hurry" the entire time). The tom walked off without a shot. Turns out dad didn't close the action all the way and it costed me my first turkey. Thanks dad!

Quote from: Nathan_Wiles on March 10, 2020, 08:08:40 AM
Had the perfect set up on two gobbling birds that I had roasted the night before. I slid in and set up in the dark, they played right along. Daylight came birds pitched down in front of me to a few soft clucks.Thier heads crossed up in front of me at 15 steps or so and I squeezed off the shot...to loudest empty chamber hammer strike I ever heard in my life. I had not loaded the H&R Single Shot, I had not even brought shells in my vest.
I had brought my 5 year old daughter with me to see what was sure to be an awesome show and it was. I walked back to the truck and daughter held my hand telling me "It'll be alright Daddy, we'll get em next time. I'll help you remember to load your gun".
She is 25 now and doesn't tag along anymore but she still reminds me to load my gun before every season.

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Now that's some funny stuff and sweet at the same time...
Love it!


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I'm a dummy...nuff said about that. Too many stories to tell. Most don't involve turkeys though.

Missed A LOT of turkeys before putting a scope on my gun.

left my gun at home

Left cell phone on ring - loud. Had 3 different birds working, 2 on final approach. They showed up and started towards dekes. Then phone rang. Checkmate. I knew the caller - answered with "Bill, God as my witness I hate your guts."   

I forgot my glasses one time...also put the stalk on some vultures thinking they were turkeys another time

Leaving a hot gobbler with fear of being late for work.  Yeah not too smart????

Took a friend turkey hunting and as we were getting out of the truck, in the dark, I asked if he wanted to leave his phone in the truck.
He said, no, he'd just turn it off.
I figured, o.k., that should work...
Well, later in the morning, I called in three gobblers. Called 'em right up in front of us. They were standing right in our faces, maybe 20 yds. Nothing between us but air.
My buddy was in the process of slowly raising his gun when his phone went off!
To make matters worse, the alarm was a fire truck horn!
I'm there cutting and cackling trying to cover the sound or at least being a distraction from the fire horn..
Well, they left before he could get the gun shouldered.
Turns out, I was able to get them to come back. Guess they hadn't heard a fire horn before.
My friend was about to snap a cap on the lead one and off goes his phone again with some other equally unnatural sound and off they ran.
I could have stomped that phone right there in front of him. I'm sure the thought crossed his mind too.
It took us a while to laugh about that one


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Quote from: Gooserbat on March 10, 2020, 01:20:47 AM
WINNER!!!  #54. Greg Massey


Let's reward ourselves for the comic relief we've provided ourselves and others.

In a sentence tell what the biggest foul up you're guilty of when turkey hunting.

Contest ends Friday 10:00 am Central.

I'll go first, I left my gun laying beside the road and realized it 45 minutes and 30 miles later, and thank the Lord it was still there.

You know the rules, but just in case...

Winner will be chosen by corresponding post #

Winner will be selected by a google number generator.

Winner will have a week to reply or they forfeit.

Winner gets their choice of a Select Series Pot n Peg.

Thanks , i'm a happy turkey hunter .. again thank you ..

Congrats Greg. Great story, I am still shaking... :turkey2:

Congrats Greg!!

Congratulations Greg

Congrats Greg and thanks Gooserbat. Loved reading all the encounters/stories

This is one of my favorite threads of all time.  Good to know that I am not alone in the "dummy" category!   Thanks again Sam!

Just wanted to let everyone know , Sam is sending me ONE OF A KIND Select Series Crystal over copper with engraved soundboard this is awesome of him and much appreciated. Also he put his personal signature on the call. Sam again THANK YOU .. BUNCH ... :thanks:

Quote from: Greg Massey on March 14, 2020, 11:00:47 AM
Just wanted to let everyone know , Sam is sending me ONE OF A KIND Select Series Crystal over copper with engraved soundboard this is awesome of him and much appreciated. Also he put his personal signature on the call. Sam again THANK YOU .. BUNCH ... :thanks:

That's way cool, congrats to you! And thank you Sam for the opportunity!

 Congrats Greg and thanks for the chance GB.