Advice/thoughts

[g8rvet]

So I was sitting in the woods, thinking, like I tend to do and got to replaying my kills over the years.  What I started thinking about is my lack of calling him off the roost and straight in or striking one and just sitting and having him finish straight in.  A lot of my birds died that way on private because I knew the woods so well, I knew where they headed after flying down.  Those don't count for my thoughts. 

I like turkey hunting, duck hunting over decoys, redfishing, woodwork and surgery (veterinary).   All these, at least in my mind require some after action introspection about "what could I have done differently to have gotten better results?".  So take this weekend.  Found an area with a ton of sign that had not been there two weeks ago.  Went in Saturday AM and he gobbled in a slightly different spot than I expected.  Could not get too close as the field is a two year old chop and while rolling terrain, it is not that hilly.  I got as close as I could and he never answered. Several hens worked past towards him after talking to me.  Struck him again about 10am.  Answered my yelp and I sat up as close as I could (not that close).  I called some and he worked in my direction but never got very close (I waited two hours).  Went back to camp, ate lunch.  Came back early afternoon.  He gobbled about 6:00pm to my quiet call and worked a half moon shape around me (my set up was perfect - I was where he would need to come look for me).  Hen came by me heading to him and that was that as he gave me a couple courtesy goodbye gobbles.  Figured he knew I was there and stayed put.  Had several hens pass me heading to roost and he gobbles 100 yards or less about 45 minutes before fly up. Soft called but no response.  Did not gobble on the limb.

Sunday, I got in early in the chop where I last heard him and he gobbled at first light.  Answered my tree yelp twice - I soft called right before flydown.  He flew down and headed right at me.  He circled to my left, making a potential tough shot, but open enough had he finished.  He got right to the magic 60 yards and gobbled just over the rise, but would not come the last little bit (ground was barren, no leaves to scratch).  I was on the downhill of a slight rise, it was thick in between us, but easy walking to the right or left.  Bird gobbles behind me.  Hen sneaks in behind and starts purring and cutting, sticks near me for a good 20 minutes. I just knew he was coming, but she eventually got bored and went to him.  Second gobbler shut up at about 150 yards. 

Hens occur, but I have called so many in gun range, but the gobbler stays just out, even with hens-especially this year.  Is it just bad luck? Is it some call I am not doing (I scratch when possible and use silence when he is coming).  If it were ducks, I know the landing and finishing calls but is there one I just don't have in my wheelhouse?  I never call when he can see me (ever).  But my setups have been something I worked hard on improving and he is usually in range if I can see him.  Just feeling snakebit this year and like I am missing some error.  If anything, I err on the side of less calling.  Especially when he is coming.

[strum]

 I cant see where you did anything wrong. Sometimes they just do what they want to, not what we want them to.
  Stay on it. one of these mornings he will come visit you and you can introduce him  Mr. Remington. Or whatever you shoot.

[guesswho]

I have carried some form of a stiff plastic bag like a potato chip bag, KFC bag etc. for a long long time, even before leaf scratching became popular.  I just look this way, I actually pay attention to what goes on around me and have learned from that     The stiff crunchy plastic makes a great leaf scratching sound when no leaves are present.   I have also used my voice as a spit and drum for a long time when gobblers are close and hang up out of sight.  With the spit and drum technique be on your A game,  they usually slip in ever so slowly looking.

[g8rvet]

I had cracker wrapper in my pocket from the day before!   

I like the thought of the spit and drum.  Guess I need to practice that now.  Great idea.  Never thought of it. I have frozen in place many times over the years from hearing a spit around a corner of palmettos (or a drum back when I could hear it).  I actually had one drumming over a tiny rise in elevation in the swamp.  Could not see him, but he was drumming and would occasionally gobble.  He had a harem of hens and a couple of jakes we passed on with him. 

[Marc]

Pulling a tom off live hens is a tough task.  I have been frustrated more than satisfied in these situations.

My best luck has been irritating a hen, and having her come to pick a fight, and bring a tom with her.  More often, it seems the hens will take that tom away from the competition though.

I have also had luck doing a fly-down before the other birds are off the limb (heavy on the wings, light on the cackle for me).  Usually does not work, but it has...  Had birds fly from the roost to the tree I was sitting under once...  (Could not bring myself to shoot him out of a tree).  Had birds fly off the roost right to me as well; as exciting as it is to watch geese coming it, it is considerably more to watch a big tom coming in for a landing.

As Guesswho points out you can drum at them...  Which I have done and killed birds (last season, last day of the season)...  Usually birds out of sight and in range, or just out of range...  Not sure if it helped, but it did not hurt.  Private land you can gobble at them, and I have had that go both ways...  I usually gobble, followed by some excited hen yelps/cutts. 

Close and with hens, and leaving, I have also tried fighting purrs....  Never had it work (that I can remember), but sure have got them riled up.

I have had drumming birds leaving, and made a quick/decisive move while calling, and that movement with calling seems to work...  Got caught with my pants down a few times, and probably bumped as many as I have killed, but the allusion of a moving hen does seem to work...   And I generally do not go right at them (usually parallel if I can).  Vest off, and gun and mouth call only (for me).

Reason I have such a list of mediocre strategies, is cause I have tried everything on close but henned up birds...  I do not usually beat myself up over birds with hens...   Now those lone satellite birds, or bachelor pairs of toms that hang up on me...  I contemplate long and hard...  I know those are killable birds, and I know there is something I could have done (or not done) differently to have a different outcome.

[ChesterCopperpot]

I surely wouldn't beat myself up over it or overthink it. Bird did what he's evolved to do. We're inevitably trying to get them to break from their nature, and most times that's a futile endeavor. Couple things, and the first is that I wouldn't discount what you said in the beginning, what made you so successful on private: knowing the land and where they typically travel. That's just as important on public, maybe even more so. All I've ever had to hunt is public and the places I kill birds often, that's the difference. There's a spot I kill a bird almost every year and that's absolutely why. I killed one there last week within 25yds of where I'd killed one the year before and within 100yds of where I'd killed two the year before that. Preseason scouting, walking and knowing the land are often the two most important aspects of success on public land. As far as calling strategies, that idea of the moving hen if possible is big. A lot of hang ups seem to happen when the calling has been pegged to one spot. It's unnatural. Moving, even slightly, creates the illusion of that live hen. Now my favorite thing to do and what's killed me a lot of birds is what I call pissing match calling, and it's just running two calls at once. For me that's usually a pot and a yelper or most often a  pot and a diaphragm, but I'll yelp on one while clucking on the other, purr on one while yelping on the other, sound like two hens feeding together, get excited and cut the other off, interrupt the call the way a dominant bird will a subordinate, do whatever I can to create the illusion of two birds. A lot of times that idea of the second bird breaks them when nothing else will.


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[eggshell]

Your not missing anything. I have seen your post for years and I know your a seasoned hunter. I have been at this game for 50+ years and I have concluded you hunt until you fnd a bird in the right mood and situation. Some years that seems way too easy and some way too difficult, you just keep going. I never been more ignored than this year. I have hunted two states for 8 days now and I have only had one set up where birds actually worked like I expected and that was a jake flock with one small strutter. Many others have just ignored me. It is my many  years that assures me that things will change.

[Lcmacd 58]

Everyone has hit on the same scenario.... keep after it, your not going anything wrong....

[g8rvet]

I am not discouraged at all.  Hunted hard all year and had good success, just over the years the ones that stick in my mind are those hangups.  Of course, without those, I would have been done the first week this year, so no regrets. Just looking for ideas and tweaks.  When I quit learning in this game, I will probably get bored with it.

[ChesterCopperpot]

When I quit learning in this game, I will probably get bored with it.

The fact NONE of us will ever find a sufficient answer to stop gobblers from hanging up, which is in my belief their most natural tendency, absolutely insures that none of us will ever quit learning or get bored


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[Marc]

When I quit learning in this game, I will probably get bored with it.

Last season, I got permission on about 160 acres...  Bunch of birds, and they pretty much funneled through the same area.  I knew where they were roosting, and knew where they were going.

I was taking my daughter for her first turkey hunt for what I sure was a slam dunk...  Not so much.  Lots of action, but she did not kill a bird till the 5th trip out (they did not cooperate at all)...  Oddly the day she killed one, was the first day no birds were roosting on the property...

I keep learning that I know less than I think, and not to make any assumptions.

[Lcmacd 58]

I keep learning that I know less than I think, and not to make any assumptions.
[/quote]

Amen .....

[g8rvet]

I like to say you can't predict what a bird is gonna do when he does not know himself. 

I killed one this year because I knew he was there, he gobbled enough to let me know he was there and he eventually worked his way around to me after I called in his hens.  That has been my strength over the years, sticking with them when I know they are around.

Calling them off the roost to their demise?  Not so much.  I think my success rate at 10-noon is triple those between 7-9.