What to do in this situation? Set up Strategy

[Mossberg90MN]

So this isn't the first time this has happened to me, and I let the bird go because I simply couldn't think of what to do. So  I figured I would post here and see if I could get some opinions that I could utilize for the future.

What to do when the gobbler is just under the crest of a ridge and the ridge top is to narrow for a shot?

I was in a bottom and there was gobbler up on a ridge top. I can hear him gobbling on the top and heading towards a field on private. Once he was almost to the private I hit a call to turn him around.

It worked,  but I wasn't in a good spot. So as I'm beginning to climb the ridge top I can hear him heading back and towards me, gobbling on the hill side. As soon as I hit the top the bird is just over the crest of the ridge top and he lets it rip, he's probably 20-30 yards away from me. So I just sit down on the nearest tree. Now this top is pretty narrow and pretty thick. I'm sitting in the only somewhat open area.


Birds gobbling so I say screw it, it's game on. I give him a couple clucks and shut up. As I'm sitting and anticipating his arrival I'm looking around and realizing that, unless his head pops up directly in front of me, theres no way I can make a shot because it's just too close. I would have to move to drastically left or right. It's maybe about 10-12 feet before I hit the crest, and that bird is right over that crest.

I wait 30 min and nothing. The bird eventually made it to private.

So I'm not 100% sure what to do in this situation.

I wasn't sure if I should drop back down the ridge and try to get him to crest the top and try and take a peek over the other end. I felt that was a really unlikely chance.

I thought about dropping back and circling and trying to get on the crest of the hill 50 yards to the right of him. But I was afraid he may have circled himself and would have potentially bumped into him. Or he would have seen me trying to get into a better spot.

To add to it, the sun would have directly been hitting me, making it even worse trying to aim if he crested or move to reposition.

Now I know I'm not the only one that's been in this position. Anyone thoughts on what would maybe have been a better decision to make?

Thanks

-Included a photo for reference. The white gobbler is where he was when I struck him. The hiker point is where I was when I first called to him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mspaci]

move back in the hills if yo can so you have more room to work with, make him come look for you. As soon as he crests you got him. Mike

[ChesterCopperpot]

Hard to say what I'd have done in the moment as far as original set up (Crest the top? Don't crest the top? Turn him then go wide and get set up where he was originally wanting to go? Would've been largely dependent on how familiar I was with the woods), but I know for a fact what I would have done with him that close and it too thick and/or too tight to sit down and shoot. I'd have stayed standing. Given the chance, I'll always set up sitting with my back to a tree but sometimes that's not possible or just isn't the best option. In that case, I'll stand behind a tree, gun up and ready (usually rested on a limb if at all possible). Old timer I hunt with kills a lot of turkeys standing up. Kills most of them standing up nowadays as his legs give him fits and he can't sit for long. It most certainly can be done and be done well. Now that might not have been an option in that I don't know what the trees looked like and maybe there was nothing that would've worked and you'd have been inevitably skylined. But my thought process is that in the situation you described it would've opened up your field of view and assuming it was that thick knee/thigh-high dog hobble type brush that's bad to be on a ridge it would've gotten you above that.

That said, you'll get a hundred different answers as far as set up, and every answer might have worked but might not have. Honestly I don't think you did anything "wrong." Sometimes they just beat us. Most times. And most times they beat us with terrain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TRG3]

As the years go by and you've dealt with lots of gobblers, you can count the many times when you  thought the tom would do one thing and he did something else. A lot of turkey hunting success is dealing with the lemon the gobbler gives you and then you making lemonade out of it. For a lot of us, that's the challenge, frustration, and final joy of turkey hunting. Remember...the gobbler has to win every time but you only have to win once.

[aclawrence]

I had this happen this season. I crossed a fairly steep bottom and climbed up a steep hillside. I got up to where the lines started and the slope wasn't so bad. The pines had been burnt recently. I crawled about 10 yds into the pines and had a a clear view to the crest of the hill in front of me.  I had waited to he was in the ground to make this move. As soon as I sat against the tree I could hear him drumming and he was close!  I thought he just have been 30-35yds which was just over the crest. He worked from left to right and I assumed I would get a shot anytime. It was so close I can't remember if I even called or not. At one point one of his hens walked over and passed me on my right side. At this point I knew it was a guarantee lol. He was still up there drumming back and forth right over the crest. It was too close and open for me to move.  After 5-10 minutes the hen that passed by walked back to the left and disappeared. Eventually the gobbler and his 3 hens worked on down the ridge to the right and finally where I could see them but they were about 75 yds at this point.  I just knew I'd be toting this gobbler to the truck. I feel like I did about everything I could with the circumstances. I snuck back in the next day and came in from the opposite side. I watched him again with his hens but never could get close enough.  You see a lot of videos where people will call them up to the crest and shoot them when they periscope. This bird had hens and anytime I called it seems like they would create distance from me. I kept trying to just get in their path and wait them out but of course they did something a little different everyday.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TRG3]

aclawrene...It's always easier in hindsight to know what might have worked in your situation rather than in the heat of the moment when the mind is racing trying to check off your options; however, if you could have made a couple of clucks or light tree-type yelp and then just waited, it might have gotten his curiosity up enough so that he might have peeked over the crest of the ridge giving you a chance for a shot. Having said this, then again the gobbler might have stood his ground and expected the hen to come over the ridge, eventually leaving when she didn't appear. With turkeys, you make your best effort and then see what happens. As you know, there are no guarantees when it comes to calling turkeys. If it were always easy, we'd probably soon loose interest and take up golf.

[aclawrence]

aclawrene...It's always easier in hindsight to know what might have worked in your situation rather than in the heat of the moment when the mind is racing trying to check off your options; however, if you could have made a couple of clucks or light tree-type yelp and then just waited, it might have gotten his curiosity up enough so that he might have peeked over the crest of the ridge giving you a chance for a shot. Having said this, then again the gobbler might have stood his ground and expected the hen to come over the ridge, eventually leaving when she didn't appear. With turkeys, you make your best effort and then see what happens. As you know, there are no guarantees when it comes to calling turkeys. If it were always easy, we'd probably soon loose interest and take up golf.

I honestly can't remember for sure, I may have made a few soft calls but when the hen came by I think went quiet at that point so I wouldn't get busted. I actually called this gobbler in the day before when I first found him. I heard him gobble around 11:30 and went to where I thought he might be. I set up and called and he was right down in the bottom I mentioned earlier. I screwed this set up up and set too far back in the open burnt pines. He came right up out of the bottom and strutted around the edge but never came close enough. He could see all around where I was sitting. I was so frustrated with myself. This is where I started the next morning and he was roosted across the bottom on the next hilltop. The only time he ever came to my calls was that first time when it was late in the morning. The next two days he hit the ground with his girlfriends and they were not interested in checking me out. Maybe he'll be around next year!  Overall I'm happy, I got watch the same gobbler strut and drum up close three days in a row on public land. That was better than my whole season of 2020 on public.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mossberg90MN]

I had this happen this season. I crossed a fairly steep bottom and climbed up a steep hillside. I got up to where the lines started and the slope wasn't so bad. The pines had been burnt recently. I crawled about 10 yds into the pines and had a a clear view to the crest of the hill in front of me.  I had waited to he was in the ground to make this move. As soon as I sat against the tree I could hear him drumming and he was close!  I thought he just have been 30-35yds which was just over the crest. He worked from left to right and I assumed I would get a shot anytime. It was so close I can't remember if I even called or not. At one point one of his hens walked over and passed me on my right side. At this point I knew it was a guarantee lol. He was still up there drumming back and forth right over the crest. It was too close and open for me to move.  After 5-10 minutes the hen that passed by walked back to the left and disappeared. Eventually the gobbler and his 3 hens worked on down the ridge to the right and finally where I could see them but they were about 75 yds at this point.  I just knew I'd be toting this gobbler to the truck. I feel like I did about everything I could with the circumstances. I snuck back in the next day and came in from the opposite side. I watched him again with his hens but never could get close enough.  You see a lot of videos where people will call them up to the crest and shoot them when they periscope. This bird had hens and anytime I called it seems like they would create distance from me. I kept trying to just get in their path and wait them out but of course they did something a little different everyday.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From what I noticed that's a classic case of what happens when a hen is involved. Just like if some gal was somewhere with her boyfriend or husband and some gals trying to holler at him. She's gonna say it's time to go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[boatpaddle]

Turkeys being turkeys...

Sent from my SM-A516U using Tapatalk

[GobbleNut]

Turkeys being turkeys...

Yep.  Anybody that tells you that "this or that" would have worked in your situation is kidding themselves.  Anyone that has hunted gobblers very long has been in a similar situation way too many times.  In every case, there are many different strategies that we can use.  We choose the ones we think are best and see how they play out.  Sometimes you choose the right one,...and look like a turkey hunting guru. 

Unfortunately, too often,....and even in those situations where you think you have done everything right,...a gobbler will save himself by just doing something,...either randomly or perhaps intentionally,...that keeps him from being killed.  We all end up beating ourselves up over what we might have done differently and second-guessing ourselves, but in the end, it is all just a normal part of the game that happens to every turkey hunter pretty regularly.

Admittedly, when you have a gobbler THAT close, and he ends up getting away, it stings a bit more than usual!   

[eggshell]

I think chestercopperpot had a good suggestion in standing up instead of sitting. My main strategy in similar situations is make my best guess on what to do and if It's the wrong one, go find another gobbler and don't beat yourself up. You played the game and the other team won, it's all about the game and now you get to play a little longer. every gobbler has his day and the best strategy is go find the one who's day is suicidal. I used to obsess over failed set ups and got over it a long time ago, I love hunting more than killing and it just means more hunting.

[Dtrkyman]

Killed several standing behind a large tree in steep terrain!  One property I used to hunt they always stayed over the crest and would not expose themselves, always thought I should see them any second and never did, starting standing and killing them ignorant birds.

[GobbleNut]

Killed several standing behind a large tree in steep terrain!  One property I used to hunt they always stayed over the crest and would not expose themselves, always thought I should see them any second and never did, starting standing and killing them ignorant birds.

Most excellent point.  We have all heard the "sit with your back against a large tree" mantra spewed for so many years by the "experts" that something as obvious as standing (or laying prone in some situations) is somehow filtered out of our thought process in setting up on a bird.  I threw that mantra out the window many years ago, but not before a good number of gobblers escaped their demise simply because that "sit against a big tree" rule had me sitting when I should have been standing. 

Now, before anybody responds with the "sitting against a big tree is for safety reasons" comeback, let me ask you this:  What makes you look more like a turkey?,...sitting in a ball about the size, shape, and height of a turkey against a tree,...or standing straight up by that tree trunk?  ....The answer should be pretty obvious....      

[eggshell]

Killed several standing behind a large tree in steep terrain!  One property I used to hunt they always stayed over the crest and would not expose themselves, always thought I should see them any second and never did, starting standing and killing them ignorant birds.

Most excellent point.  We have all heard the "sit with your back against a large tree" mantra spewed for so many years by the "experts" that something as obvious as standing (or laying prone in some situations) is somehow filtered out of our thought process in setting up on a bird.  I threw that mantra out the window many years ago, but not before a good number of gobblers escaped their demise simply because that "sit against a big tree" rule had me sitting when I should have been standing. 

Now, before anybody responds with the "sitting against a big tree is for safety reasons" comeback, let me ask you this:  What makes you look more like a turkey?,...sitting in a ball about the size, shape, and height of a turkey against a tree,...or standing straight up by that tree trunk?  ....The answer should be pretty obvious....      

Bingo! I seen this very scenario play out two years ago in Ky. I was hunting with my main hunting buddy and we struck a bird and he was not far and in open woods. As we approached a set up we realized we could not get out of the low brush without getting busted. I did not intend to shoot as I killed a bird the day before and my friend had not killed his first. I told him to stand up by a large pine so he could see. I then backed off and dug into a tree top and brush. I looked over and saw him sitting down and my first thought was, NOOOO! Well here comes the gobbler and he marches right by my buddy and proceeds into my lap and I am forced with a decision, shoot or let him go....yeah I shot him. The first thing I asked my buddy is, "why didn't you shoot him? He replied, I couldn't see him well enough to shoot, I guess I should have stayed standing like you said. He admitted it was just too foreign to the way he'd been taught and he thought I was nuts to suggest it. He thinks different now

[Dtrkyman]

I was basically self taught turkey hunter so I never stuck to the "rules"

Between standing and shooting off hand I have taken many birds I wouldn't have!

Luckily I am a bit ambidextrous so shooting off hand was easy for me, but it's not hard for most, grab a box or two or targets loads and soot em all off handed!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk