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

[Tnandy]

357magnole gave you some good words of advice for sure. Me personally, if i am hunting a field edge, I am going to use at least one decoy, maybe two. If I use a lone hen, i turn her away from the direction that i am expecting the tom to come from. If 2, then i go with a tom with a white head (breeding mood) and a hen a few feet in front of him on the ground in a breeding postion. Deadly combination. On several occasions i have turned the solo hen toward his direction, only to watch him look, gobble and strut about  60-75 yards away and never come any closer. I learned my lesson lol.  The man that mentored me, really helped me not to overcall and to be patient. If a tom honors you by gobbling at you on the roost, he will probably at some point come through your area looking for love later.  I too live near the Ala. line but in TN and our birds are super bad to hook around you when coming in. I work hard on my set up to try to eliminate that. Jason Cruise has some very informative videos that you could watch. I think his stuff is as good as anyone. Good luck and have fun. PM me if we can be any more help

[KYTurkey07]

I've learned the importance of calling wisely. This means calling with intention as turkeys only make sounds when they have a reason. I have about three volumes of calling sequences that I'll rotate through about every 20-30 minutes. I'll start soft, next will be medium, third will be a little louder, then I'll start over. These sequences are not very long. I'll adjust these depending on time of day and if I get responses. I do this from one location in the woods where I know turkey are around and is clear enough to get a good shot if one shows up. I stay there as long as possible and I try not to move at all. After I do all of this, it comes down to luck. Sometimes a hen will take a gobbler away and sometimes they won't.

[Bottomland OG]

Lots of really good knowledge has been given to you. I didn't read every post but I read enough...... no need in repeating but one thing I can throw at you is that you made the comment that a hen drug the Tom away from you. If he is responding to you , Next time that happens if you have the time be patient, sit tight, don't call loud or a lot. He knows exactly where you are at. Keep your eyes peeled. If he doesn't get boogered along the way he will be back at some point before the end of the day more times than not. That's the way I was taught growing up. It's not easy to do but it's productive until you gain confidence in yourself. When it finally happens you will remember it for the rest of your life. Best of luck.

[Tom007]

You're in the game for sure. The more woods experience and encounters, the better you will get. It will happen, no doubt. The only tactic I can give you that changed the game for me is try calling softer and less frequent. I've found that once he answers you, he knows precisely where you are. Curiosity kills many gobblers, make him find you. Stay the course and a nice Tom will ride home with you, no doubt!

[Lcmacd 58]

I always try to keep it simple ... patience and persistent

[High plains drifter]

Dazzler, I am a big believer in brainwaves.  They discern your thoughts, so be careful that you do not think any thoughts that the gobbler may be frightened by.

  lol

[High plains drifter]

It took me 4 years of hunting to get a gobbler. Get out real early,and try to stay out of the open.

[High plains drifter]

I didn't even see a gobbler until my 5th year of turkey hunting when I shot two huge gobblers one in the spring, one in the fall. From then on, I went off. I went after gobblers pretty much the only thing I would shoot. I did shoot a few Jakes and in my first 3 years of hunting, I shot several hens. So I just kept at it and kept learning, and got some tips from some old-timers, and now I'm up to 22 gobblers, in 28 years of hunting.

[Marc]

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.

I could not agree with GobbleNut more.

Heat of the moment with multiple birds coming in, I want that bird facing me or at least a good profile before shooting.

Couple years back I had some birds gobbling in front of me and this bird came in behind me.





Hen in full strutt, and I originally heard her spitting (could not hear drumming that I recall).  Saw the full fan, and assumed it was a Tom.  She was close, and I slowly turned to try and get a shot, and realized she was a hen!

In the excitement of action, our brains will make our eyes see what we want to see sometimes.  If a bird is running from me, before I could identify it, he won that round...

[b wilt]

Thumbs up to those that love to call birds, but in my experience I
called too often,now i let them know quietly where I am while they are on the roost and only give a quiet purr later on once or twice.
   I also called too loud, You might think there is no way they can hear your calling,but they really can.
   Give them a hour or so and they almost always will come after he takes care of the hens with him.
Your time is better spent watching than calling.
Keep at it and you will be rewarded!
   

[Kaleb978]

I think most of what I would say has already been said by better hunters than I. But what I have learned is, don't over call and be patient. When I first started I would think a tom has moved on only to spook him when I got up. Patience is the name of the game for me, don't give up on a tom to early and learn to sit still.