What should I have done

[mountaineer long beard]

My wife and I were out yesterday morning. Long story short is we had a bird hung up on an old fence next to an abandoned county road. He was pretty fired up and gored at everything I threw at him but he wouldn't budge. I poured it on pretty thick to no avail.

He was just out of sight so my first instinct was to back up a little ways and call but for some reason I decided not to do that. I instead just stopped calling altogether. I figured he'd lose interest and I could move up to where he was and try calling him back but I never heard from him again.

So what would you have done in this situation?



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[ChesterCopperpot]

Did you know the fence was there beforehand? Was he on public on the other side of the fence? Could you access the other side of the fence?


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[Greg Massey]

It's just a gobbler being a gobbler, it wasn't his day to die ... sounds like you called and you stop calling and use the old silent trick to get him to move in your direction.  More than likely he just wasn't seeing the hen he wanted to see in all of this calling and answering back ... I'm assuming you were scratching in the leaves etc while you were doing all of these hen sounds etc...

[mountaineer long beard]

Did you know the fence was there beforehand? Was he on public on the other side of the fence? Could you access the other side of the fence?


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Fence has been there all my life. Private on the other side that I don't have permission to go on. Property line and fence line don't exactly coincide so I could shoot him if he came up fairly close to the fence. Fence is barbed wire that is down in a few places there.

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[mountaineer long beard]

It's just a gobbler being a gobbler, it wasn't his day to die ... sounds like you called and you stop calling and use the old silent trick to get him to move in your direction.  More than likely he just wasn't seeing the hen he wanted to see in all of this calling and answering back ... I'm assuming you were scratching in the leaves etc while you were doing all of these hen sounds etc...

Yeah I was scratching around but it had rained the night before so it wasn't real loud

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[ChesterCopperpot]

Fence has been there all my life. Private on the other side that I don't have permission to go on. Property line and fence line don't exactly coincide so I could shoot him if he came up fairly close to the fence. Fence is barbed wire that is down in a few places there.

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Getting to where you could shoot to the fence and/or getting to a position where you know he can come through a place where it's down would be helpful and maybe you did that. Don't sound to me like you did anything wrong. Sometimes if they get fired up it's best to keep them that way and they'll work right in. Other times they just stand there and gobble their heads off and wouldn't have come till you shut up and played the silent treatment like you did. Like Greg said, just gobblers being gobblers.


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[Turkeybutt]

Just Turkeys being turkeys.
He seen something he didn't like but sounds to me like he didn't see something he was expecting.... a hen!
Today was his day, tomorrow move closer to the fence line and it could be your day.
Turkeys move on turkey time.  It is very different than turkey hunter time. I have seen them take 30 - 50 minutes to cover 40 yards and I have seen them cover 100 yards in no time at all.   
He has to be perfect every day, you only need to do everything right one day.  Each hunt, ask yourself what you could have done different.  When you think you have a turkey, or turkeys in general, figured out - you are wrong. 
Keep us posted

[Sixes]

I'd of never brought my wife

[Gooserbat]

I'd crawled up top of a hill and shot him with a 22-250.

No seriously it's part of the game and you made a move that is just as apt to work as not.

[silvestris]

My guess is that you waited much too long to go silent.

[mountaineer long beard]

My guess is that you waited much too long to go silent.

I didn't time it so I dont know for sure how long I waited but probably 20  minutes or so.

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[Zobo]

How long did you wait in your calling spot after HE went silent? A lot of hunters move too soon. Sometimes gobblers will go silent and then sneak in on you silent. My advice is to wait him out a bit, then a bit longer, eyes peeled.

[mountaineer long beard]

How long did you wait in your calling spot after HE went silent? A lot of hunters move too soon. Sometimes gobblers will go silent and then sneak in on you silent. My advice is to wait him out a bit, then a bit longer, eyes peeled.

Waited about 30 minutes then slowly made my way toward him. Didn't see him or hear him putt but I know that doesn't mean a whole lot.

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[Kylongspur88]

He made some moves. You made some moves. Hindsight is 20/20 and gobblers just do what they do. He's still upright so get back after him and enjoy the game and time with your wife

[Zobo]

How long did you wait in your calling spot after HE went silent? A lot of hunters move too soon. Sometimes gobblers will go silent and then sneak in on you silent. My advice is to wait him out a bit, then a bit longer, eyes peeled.

Waited about 30 minutes then slowly made my way toward him. Didn't see him or hear him putt but I know that doesn't mean a whole lot.

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There is chance you bumped him when you moved, but just as good a chance you didn't. The others are right about turkey behavior, you most likely didn't do anything wrong at all. Like the old expression goes:  That's why they call it turkey hunting and not turkey shooting.