Public birds hot to not

[Southernson13]

Got within 100yd of a public bird yesterday that gobbled every other breath for about 15 min. Gave some very soft tree helps at sunrise and he immediately shut up. Waited an hour and never came in. Wondering what I did wrong. Only thing I thought I could have done different was just scratch leaves. I have never heard a turkey this hot. I have never had a hit turkey turn cold so quick.

[turkeymanjim]

You did nothing wrong. Had that happen numerous times. That's the nature of the beast.

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[RutnNStrutn]

You did nothing wrong. Had that happen numerous times. That's the nature of the beast.

[30_06]

I'm in the same boat. Had two gobbling like crazy this morning. They hit the ground, gobbled like crazy, started strutting and drumming.....in the opposite direction. Couldn't turn them around for anything.....not for lack of trying though.

Esse quam videri

[Southerngobbler]

That' s how they all act where I hunt. They get messed with every day of the season. Whoever shows up first and a few others that slip in the side call to these birds every day. Sometimes they see people sneak in and just sit up in the roost tree and watch the hunter try out all his calls. Their still killable-you just have to catch them on the right day. Better yet get farther off the beaten path and find one that only gets messed with some of the time.

[spaightlabs]

Probably shoulda waited an hour and 5 minutes. 

If you didn't for sure hear him heading off in another direction there's a reasonable chance he was watching you when you walked out...

[Marc]

Waited an hour and never came in. Wondering what I did wrong.

That is the fascination of turkey hunting...  Sometimes we make obvious mistakes (not waiting long enough, over-calling, moving at the wrong time, etc.).  I am often aware of the mistakes I made.

However, there are birds such as you are describing, in which we do not necessarily do anything wrong, but I wonder what I could have done different to generate success?  Could someone else have killed him doing something different?

It has been my experience that when a bird is really vocal on the limb without hunters calling, that he probably has hens close to him, or is used to having hens close to him.  Could be those hens hit the ground, and took him the other way?  Could be someone else was hunting him?  Could be a coyote got under the tree (which I have seen before).  Could be several other hunters have called to him on the limb before and he knows this game?

I took a friend out this weekend for his second bird ever...  Late morning we heard some birds gobble (sounded like 3 birds), and it sounded like they were game.  We moved in on them a bit (no chance they saw or heard us), and did some subtle calling...  Heard them gobble again, and they had split up (to a single and a double)?  30 minutes later, we heard the single, and he had drifted away.

We moved down on them (I lightly clucked and purred as we walked about 100 yards down the hill), and the single gobbled to our left, and the double to our right.  Not expecting that we sat where we were (not the most advantageous of spots to sit).

We heard the trio come together and fight below us...  The double obviously had been scared off and they were some distance away...  After the fight, we bumped the single (could hear him putting off), and the double came back in nervous and quiet 10 minutes later.

I would absolutely have loved to see an aerial video of what happened...  Why did they initially spit up and wander off (I do not think hens were involved)?  Our first setup was good, why did they not eventually wander back?  Why did they stop gobbling?  How did they respond to what we were doing?

All too often, I am left scratching my head as to why hot birds coming in do not appear eventually?  Often when I am successful, it is a bird I think is not all that interested, and I wonder what it was I did "right?"

[idratherb]

Try the funky chicken next time

[Spitten and drummen]

Simply turkeys being turkeys. They do what they feel like at the moment. No ryme or reason. He may do that to you 5 hunts in a row and then that 6th day fly down and walk straight to you.