Birds angling towards you but out of range, what would you do differently?

[Timmer]

Hi all,

My hunt is behind me and unfortunately I struck out.  I hunt in an area that has fairly heavy hunting pressure but a fair amount of birds.  The biggest challenge I have most years is pulling the toms away from the hens or getting them to come with a hen or multiple hens in tow.  I am in hill country so I have the advantage of being able to work my way around using structure to hide me while I'm on the move.  This year was a bit unique in that in one afternoon I struck up 2 separate toms that seemed to be alone.  My experience with these 2 was almost exact.   I was sneak hunting and heard gobbling.  I quickly assessed locations and the lay of the land and carefully moved while listening for gobbles, getting as close as I thought I could get without being spotted.  I then set up against a tree back in the woods a bit.  One of the times I put out a lone hen decoy, the other time I didn't put out anything.  In both instances I let out a hen yelp and the tom responded immediately to my call and headed my way.  Both had that "coming on a string" type speed that seemed like it was going to be quick and successful.  In both instances they came towards me but at an angle to my location.  They moved fast with no strutting.  I generally don't call much if I know they are coming.  With both when I realized they weren't coming directly towards me I let out soft clucks and purrs which caused them to gobble and stop briefly, but they didn't strut and immediately went back to moving fast and angling across in front of me but out of range.   Both times the hunt was over quickly.  I did try to do assembly calls to pull them back but they kept going off into the horizon.  What would you do differently?

[PNWturkey]

How far out of range?

What is the forest like where you are setting up?  Open, brushy, meadows nearby, etc?

[Timmer]

How far out of range?

What is the forest like where you are setting up?  Open, brushy, meadows nearby, etc?

I'm hunting a farm in bluff country.  The farm is hilltop fields with the outside field edges heading downhill to thick woods on steep hillsides.  The shape of the fields is determined by the fingers of the bluffs and separated by wooded and rocky ravines.  The overall lay of the tillable farmland would be most easily be described as star shaped.  In one instance the bird did go across from the top field corner to the next top field top corner and I was further down into the field finger.  That bird was about 80 yards away.   In the other instance it came off a corner and ran a bit more parallel to me, right about 50-60 yards.  I contemplated pulling the trigger on that one but decided it was a tad too far. 

[Sixes]

Sounds like they were interested and coming to you. No idea why they kept going but I would think they were circling around you to try to get above the source of the calling.

[Paulmyr]

Sounds to me like they are skirting the wood edge waiting for you to come out. My experience in heavily hunted areas like you speak of it's hard to pull them into the woods. If your seeing them skirt around you chances are they can see to where your at. When they don't see a hen they move on. Maybe try setting up deeper in the woods where he can't see where your at. Tough to do with hilltop fields. The points tend to have a little more woods before the drop offs get too steep and the drainages that run  out of the fields tend to have good wooded flatter areas to set up in before the sides get steep. Also maybe try setting up in thicker areas where he needs to get close to see into the woods where your set up.

That's the best I can come up without using decoys. Decoys aren't my thing so somebody else will have chime in on that matter.

[PNWturkey]

I'm hunting a farm in bluff country.  The farm is hilltop fields with the outside field edges heading downhill to thick woods on steep hillsides.  The shape of the fields is determined by the fingers of the bluffs and separated by wooded and rocky ravines.  The overall lay of the tillable farmland would be most easily be described as star shaped.  In one instance the bird did go across from the top field corner to the next top field top corner and I was further down into the field finger.  That bird was about 80 yards away.   In the other instance it came off a corner and ran a bit more parallel to me, right about 50-60 yards.  I contemplated pulling the trigger on that one but decided it was a tad too far.

Sounds like some areas I have previously hunted in parts of Iowa.

Like others mentioned, I would suggest forgetting about the fields and instead set up further down in the timber where you can't even see the field.  Find a little finger ridge or saddle or something similar in some relatively open timber.  Call to him from just below the rise in the ridge, so that as soon as he crests the finger ridge/saddle, he is in range.

My ideal setup is that as soon as I can see the bird (and he can see me), he is in range and I'm just about to pull the trigger.  Otherwise IME they are prone to hanging up if they can't see a hen where they heard one calling...

[owlhoot]

I call too much, maybe you do too?
I hunted a new farm this year some. Mostly crops and the birds there pulled the same thing. A friend there did have a hen decoy and had the same thing happen. Just figured if the hens didn't go right to them they got nervous ? And left. Some times they came from a good distance away crossed gravel roads even and pulled that. Stayed 80 yards or so out. No other pressure for a ways. Once or twice they went toward other gobbles.
They had someplace to be and were swinging by just to see if they could grab an extra hen or two on the way I guess.
One time two hens were going east and the tom went west within 50 yards of each other. Of course the hens were within 30 of me.

[Cutt]

You stated you heard them gobble and before calling, you were able to sneak to a good location to call from. Keeping that in mind, if the terrain will allow you, don't call at your predetermined spot, call before getting to that spot if possible?

If you are able to call from 60-80 yards out and get to your spot undetected it might pull him right to you without calling from your new spot?  I hunt Public and know feeling too, as birds always take the route to their advantage to see the calling location from a distance. Sometimes you all most have to read the land from where he gobbles and make your move closer to his guesstimated travel route and be quiet and see what happens. It's risky at times and depends on the terrain and foliage to do it. Hopefully he ends up in range without calling again, other than your kill cluck, if not and he is still out of range, no harm done. Now you can try calling from this spot, which will only add realism as the bird moved some, since the last call.