Whats the best lesson you've learned from a tough bird that helped you later on?

[FullChoke]

Several years ago I was hunting a popular WMA in MS on the last week of the season. At that point in the season, the birds had been subjected to every product from the catalogs of Primos, Woodhaven, H.S. Strut and Hooks Game Calls. One morning I found myself in the middle of 4 gobblers on the roost who all flew down, united and left the area without responding to any of my best hen yelps, purrs, clucks and horny whines. I easily followed them down through the woods, tracking them from the gobbles from the Boss bird. Eventually I got to an area where I thought I might be spotted, so I sat down and called again. It was met with deafening silence. I got to thinking that this bachelor group had showed no interest in hen sounds so I yelped again to set the stage, waited about 5 seconds and did a loud spit-drum with my mouth as a strutting gobbler does. About 10 seconds later He gobbled again. I waited about 15 seconds and did another yelp sequence followed immediately by the spit-drum. This was followed immediately by the gobble. Maybe I had his attention. Directly I quietly yelped and spit-drum right behind it. The Gobbler cut me off and was considerably closer. He came up to about 40 yards, standing behind some vegetation going into a 1/2 strut then stretching up to try to locate the pair. I can't tell you exactly how big he was because I never saw the end of his beard, but he was easily the biggest bird I have ever encountered while hunting. As I never had a clean shot on this King, I let him walk off.

Bottom line is that I will set up this narrative scene again if I find this set of events unfold on me. Don't be afraid to imitate a gobbler when the time is right.

FC

[Davyalabama]

That would take a book to tell you about all the stuff I have learned from my kills.  It would take an entire Time Life Series of books on the things I have learned from the mistakes I've made in 56+ years of chasing these rascals.

1)  It doesn't matter how good I am that day, it's whether the Lord sees fit for me to have that bird.
2)  You can't kill him asleep in the bed or sitting on the couch. 

[KYTurkey07]

The importance of being in the gobbler's bubble. You have to be in a spot he would want to be.

[Zobo]

Killing a turkey is not important.

[ALSpurhunter]

Soft calling goes a long way. It took me a long time to realize how far a turkey could hear my calling even when I was calling as soft as I could. You can always get loud but I think it's always better to start off soft.

[76chevy]

shut up and go where the birds want to be. First bird was one i chased for a few weeks.  He gobbled once off the roost and then went silent then flew down with hens. 

I found his strut zone and waited him out till he got there.  Tough old public land bird, last week of season.

the biggest weighed in at check station that season.  No decoys light hen yelping that's it...this old bird had heard it all.

[WLT III]

I make it a point to not hunt like most others that hunt my turf, especially these days. I spend a lot of time in strategic spots, just listening, letting things unfold on there own. I've learned never to become in too much of a hurry to kill a gobbler. I wont sit down to one, unless I am in what I have determined, is a kill spot. Fortunate to be able to hunt all season. Many times, I will back out and just listen to where he goes, rather than pushing a bad setup and bumping him. This helps put me in a better position to kill em, the next day.