What am i missing?

[FLTXhunter]

I hunt the same public spot every year (for the last 4 years).  The first 3 years I struck out but each year got closer and learned a ton.  Last year after really putting a lot of effort into learning how to call and also scouting quite a bit, I killed my first bird...a beautiful Tom that came in with 2 others in tow.  One of my best hunting successes ever.  Here is my question though;
I know this area very well and have spent countless hours scouting and getting to know where birds hold, where people don't, etc.  Every year I see several birds and of course last year killed one.  But, I cannot for the life of me figure out where in the hell these birds go once they flydown.  After the initial flydown time and heavy gobble time, they seem to disappear.  The area is thick heavy timber with lots of hills, bluffs and some creekbottoms.  Surrounding the area is cut agriculture fields which is private.  I have glassed the ag. fields dozens and dozens of times and never seen the turkeys out there.  I have seen them strutting in some small open areas in the woods, but not often.  Any thoughts?  Are they not heading to the ag. fields?  Are they simply using the woods and just going silent after the busy morning time?  Any thoughts?

[stinkpickle]

Once you find, they'll fly down to another spot.  That's the frustrating ("challenging") part of fit.

[Dr Juice]

That's common through my experience. It keeps it exciting and then it pays off like in your case. Congrats.

[silvestris]

They generally live quietly after the flydown hubbub.

[Farmboy27]

That's one of the frustrating parts!  When you know the birds are there somewhere but they won't talk and you can't seem to make them talk. It happens to us all so don't feel like it's just you or that you're missing something. Just keep trying to get em figured out and good things will happen!  Best of luck!

[Farmboy27]

And one more thing 

[FLTXhunter]

Thanks Farmboy for the welcome.  Thanks for all of the replies.  I'm definitely not frustrated...infact, I love this piece of public land and one of the reasons I do is because every hunter I ever run into out there thinks there are no birds, or not many birds or "this place is impossible".  but I've put enough boots on the ground time out there to know that there are birds and generally where they are in the morning.  I see birds every season and have screwed up chances more often than not.  But after scouting hard last year and really learning the basics of calling, I had 3 nice toms come to me on a string at 8am opening day!  Talk about a great pay off for the hard work put in.  There are few things I'd rather do than spend a morning in these turkey woods.
The reason I asked the original question is because you always hear so much on TV, in books and in articles, etc about "finding where the birds are going after flydown" and I just haven't seemed to crack that one.  Is it possible they are not using the surrounding cut ag. fields at all and are sticking to the woods and just kind of dispersing after the early morning madness? 

[GobbleNut]

You are obviously pretty new to this obsession.  With more experience you will learn that the great "Turkey Wizard in the Sky" sweeps all turkeys up after flydown and puts them in a safe place where we can't find them.  It is useless to look for them.

[Red Huck]

You are obviously pretty new to this obsession.  With more experience you will learn that the great "Turkey Wizard in the Sky" sweeps all turkeys up after flydown and puts them in a safe place where we can't find them.  It is useless to look for them.

This seems true in my case also. Hunting public ground is tough! Last year opening day I had a couple new spots scouted where I found Gobbler tracks opening day a truck in each spot. Ended up hunting a spot I had not scouted, only morning I didn't hear a gobble. Don't think I got close to a turkey last year. They may gobble a few times and go silent. Never been able to fine where they go after fly down. I been hunting this area of the NF for several years. Struck a few birds in the afternoon, one late morning. But I keep trying.

[Marc]

I believe it is magic...  Or possibly evaporation/materialization...

I am hunting rolling foothills with sparse enough tree growth in areas that I should be able to glass and see a turkey once an a while... Hardly ever...

Only time I see them easily is on properties that I cannot get access to...  On those properties there are plenty of visible birds that react immediately to a call.

What I will say (that may or may not be helpful), is that on those mornings when they are vocal, but not coming in to me, I try to Keep them gobbling periodically and try to pinpoint the location by sound.  Later I might go back and look for foot prints or other turkey sign.  I hunt near a lot of dirt roads, and I look for prints crossing the road (and I look for which way the tracks are going); sometimes I get lucky and find areas where they obviously like to cross. 

It is a heck of a lot easier to kill a turkey if you can set up where he is already going.

[TauntoHawk]

A turkeys ability to just vanish is one of the best most frustrating things about the sport.

Those mornings where their seems to be a bird behind every tree gobbling/Yelping/cutting it up so hard you can't think straight on which to go after and then like a light switch they're all off and you spend the next 5hrs un-able to even find a stinking feather to prove their existence. Saying you need to find their hang outs in a magazine is a lot harder than doing so. Its like saying you need to find the mature bucks bedding area... yeah sure that should be easy

turkeys can loaf around in a pretty small area, if they aren't talking and have no interest in coming to a call its pretty hard in big timber to get one to just walk in front of you. Sorry I don't have great words of wisdom, I'd love to have an answer for you. Just keep looking for tracks, scratchings and droppings and focus there when the woods go quiet is the best I can do for you.

[Txag12]

I have a place that sounds very similar geographically (minus replacing the ag fields with coastal hay fields)...and the birds are the same way. They talk on the roost, maybe one or two gobbles right when they hit the ground, then they usually shut up. They're pretty highly pressured, but most guys don't think they're there because they rarely do much of anything. Best thing I've done is just log any gobble I've heard, any roost site, consistent area with tracks, and start plotting out access/travel routes I believe they would take. I plan this season to sit at the several areas I've narrowed down to during the mid morning early afternoon lul an just see what happens. If anything I'll learn more, and if my best guesses are right, tag a bird at one of them as well. I will say from previous years out there, they move very very little compared to what I expected them to do. Most of my experience in the past is large range rios, but these rios seem a lot more like the easterns I've hunted in the past. Keep updated on your progress as will I in posts, if anything we can all learn from one another. Good luck

[Cullenhunter]

Has alot of similarity's of what I hunt although Where I hunt its some what Larger about 27 acers, But I have to pay close attention to where the Birds are roosted at. When I get out of the truck I let things settled down, and most often I hear them up in there Roosting trees, there are more that 25 birds, sometimes if they have roosted in the Back of the wood lot I have to sneak down along the field edge, with no Light at all, and make a 250 yard walk down a picked corn field, and the walk into the woods about another 35 yards, and I have to be on stealth Mode then, I set up, sometimes I take my DoubleBull Blind, when rain is Comming? I have busted Deer before and think the Jig is Over, as they snort and wheeze, all through the woods. Sometimes if they Pitch to the oppsite field, then I have to call alitttle more, and then its a Longer wait, But its usually filled with Hens and Gobbles, which keep the excitement at a High Level. But I may of lost this Honey Hole after hunting it Now going on 4 years, Iam just about to cry when I think about Sharing or not hunting it at all? I will find out in a few Days, But the other Guy, has never Hunted Turkey, and he just went to the Land owner, one day and asked, and was giving permission? I have know idea who it is other than what the land owner told me. But I do have to hunt this spot like what you were describing about yours, Best of Luck, And I sure hope it works out for you. about my problem I have no other place to Hunt, and If I do have to share, I may just wait and hope he bags a Bird on opening day. Or I can drive 3 hr's South and Hunt