Confessions of a no killing 4th season turkey hunter. Suggestions welcome.

[Lcmacd 58]

Bad weather last night .... I didn't hit the woods till 530
Not a word until around 10 .... sun started peeking through ....when the gobbling started it didn't stop until the benelli went off ..... hunt everyday you are physically able

[Dazzler]

I am going to offer a piece of advise that helped me get mine, when they are quiet stay where you are and only call maybe every 15 minutes to half hour, I waited half an hour and then all of a sudden they just started to open up. Which subspecies are you hunting?

Eastern. North AL for reference.

I try to keep it to every 15-20. 

So with no gobble response to gauge temperature or even the presence of a bird, I feel like I'm doing the right thing by sitting as long as possible and calling as you said.  Obviously today I should have just stayed out, but is there a time to move around or is that hunter preference? 

[Lcmacd 58]

If you have confidence in your area ... stay put....turkeys hear really well .... if you call every so often most times they will seek you out

[Greg Massey]

Spending time with turkeys and learning from your mistakes is more than any of us can tell you how not to make mistakes or how to hunt these gobblers. 

[Lcmacd 58]

Spending time with turkeys and learning from your mistakes is more than any of us can tell you how not to make mistakes or how to hunt these gobblers.

Every one will agree with this 1
Time in the woods ....

[GobbleNut]

After them again this morning about 30 minutes befor daylight. Heard a couple birds fly down. Not one gobble all morning. Decided to move around 945. As I stepped over a small hill/mound there was a turkey sitting on side of the road. He/she flew off. Couldn't Errol if there was a beard. All I saw was the backside. Light brown with a white layer. Doing some soft calls see if he/she comes back. Any tricks to determine sex from the backside. Seemed awfully large, so I'm leaning towards Tom.

Never a good idea to guess whether a bird is a gobbler or not, especially when they are going away and with no obvious confirmation of sex and legality.  Now, you can make a guess in the situation you describe based on size, general coloration (gobblers will look darker than hens when looking at them side-by-side), and head size and coloration, but "guessing" at a turkey's sex with the intention of pulling the trigger is a bad idea all around.

[howl]

Gotta see the beard plainly. Last several years I'd had to hold off to see a full fan. We have too many of those short beard gobblers that could be jakes.

[Dazzler]

After them again this morning about 30 minutes befor daylight. Heard a couple birds fly down. Not one gobble all morning. Decided to move around 945. As I stepped over a small hill/mound there was a turkey sitting on side of the road. He/she flew off. Couldn't Errol if there was a beard. All I saw was the backside. Light brown with a white layer. Doing some soft calls see if he/she comes back. Any tricks to determine sex from the backside. Seemed awfully large, so I'm leaning towards Tom.

Never a good idea to guess whether a bird is a gobbler or not, especially when they are going away and with no obvious confirmation of sex and legality.  Now, you can make a guess in the situation you describe based on size, general coloration (gobblers will look darker than hens when looking at them side-by-side), and head size and coloration, but "guessing" at a turkey's sex with the intention of pulling the trigger is a bad idea all around.

Already got in trouble once with GW for a buck that came under antler requirements.  I'll have to see a swinging beard before I shoot.

[Dazzler]

Got set up this morning before daylight. Waited for a while before soft calling. Didn't hear any fly down, clucks or gobbles. Over the course of two hours I tried a few different calls to get something going. Around 0745 something pitched out of the tree 30 yards in front of me. Long dark wingspan. Maybe two flaps before it disappeared further into the canopy. No noise other than wings. Not turkey fly down noise.

Would a turkey sit in the tree and listen to me throwing the kitchen sink only to take off later. I can't ID what it was for sure as it flew away and disappeared.

[Lcmacd 58]

That is an absolute possibility.... earlier this year while doing some scouting before season I bumped 1 out of a tree at noon.

[roberthyman14]

Got set up this morning before daylight. Waited for a while before soft calling. Didn't hear any fly down, clucks or gobbles. Over the course of two hours I tried a few different calls to get something going. Around 0745 something pitched out of the tree 30 yards in front of me. Long dark wingspan. Maybe two flaps before it disappeared further into the canopy. No noise other than wings. Not turkey fly down noise.

Would a turkey sit in the tree and listen to me throwing the kitchen sink only to take off later. I can't ID what it was for sure as it flew away and disappeared.

Absolutely. Especially if it saw you getting setup or moving around.  I had 1 stay on roost 1 morning till after 9.  And he had gobbled before daylight.  He saw me getting setup n never said a word. Figured he left without me knowing and got up to move and he flew out the other direction.

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[Dazzler]

That is an absolute possibility.... earlier this year while doing some scouting before season I bumped 1 out of a tree at noon.

I already scan the tree tops before I start calling. This tree was so close that I didn't consider that a bird would have stayed put while I walked around the base to pick a setup much less while I was calling.

[Paulmyr]

I've spooked them off the roost as late as 11am while walking through the woods. Had one time when I was using a creek bed to to get closer to a strutting gobbler that I couldn't pull across a field. It was just after 10am when the reason the strutting gobbler stayed put was revealed. When I came out of the creek bed to set up a bunch of hens spooked off the roost. Never even thought about looking in the trees that late in the morning.

[Dazzler]

We had a cold snap last night, so maybe that kept them quiet and in the tree later than usual? 

[Paulmyr]

Who knows why they do it. This spring I spooked a gobbler and 2 Jake's off the roost a 10:30. The weather was sunny and calm. Perfect for what you expect to be a good gobbling morning but nothing was going. I was sneaking through an area and setting up in random spots to try and stir something up.

I just finished a yelp series when I believe I heard a cluck. I thought it came from the trees but wasn't sure. I clucked back and 2 more clucks in totally different locations than a woodpecker knocking. I wrote the clucks off as the woodpecker. To my dismay, after I set for a while and got up to relocate, after moving about 100 yds the 1st Jake spooked and flew directly over my head. A couple more steps and the other Jake spooked followed by the gobbler a few seconds later.

Why they were still in the trees I have no idea except to say turkeys will be turkeys!