The frustration is killin me!

[Tommy Strutsalot]

My advice is get some soap and wash the stink off !!!

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If ya ask me, this is correct.  I've needed a turkey bad a bunch of times.  You "need" a turkey right now and the natural world seems to repel that - wash it off, do a hard reset, whatever you wanna call it - just go back to why you're doing this in the first place. 

Also, maybe back up off that ridge crest a little.

[mountainhunter1]

A few years ago, I had a couple gobblers that would roost close to each other, almost in the same spot every morning.  They would ignore my calls on the roost as well.  Whichever side I'd setup, they would go the other way.  They had a rhythm to their gobbles though, and when I would call, it would break the rythm....so I knew they had to be hearing it.  After a couple mornings of my normal routine, I decided to give one super quiet tree yelp within 5 minutes of fly down and was committed to not calling again no matter what happened.  Just like the other mornings, they did not respond, but again it broke their rhythm of gobbles, so I knew they heard it.  The closest one flew down in my direction and strutted right over to me without ever gobbling.....end of story.

I find the more wary and difficult the birds are acting, the more I want to call more to get them to respond.  After lots of years of trying to different things, I've found the less I call the better in most circumstances.  People say that all the time and it almost sounds cliche....but the past several seasons it's been key for me.  I also have found in those circumstances I want to run off to find other birds that are more cooperative, but if I just stay patient and move around less I have also been more productive.

Then there are the birds and situations that no matter what you do, it's just not going to work.  And if it worked every time, it wouldn't be any fun.....might of been the case in your situation.    That experience you just went through will make your next bird all the sweeter....hang in there and good luck.  Perseverance kills more turkeys that about any other factor!

Wise words that all of would be wise to soak up - excellent post toneloc.

[mountainhunter1]

To me...  Birds on the roost are the most frustrating...

I could be wrong, but when a bird is gobbling at other hens, and not honoring my call, I feel like he probably sees me or heard me.  If he turns to face away from me, I really feel like he knows I am there.

I figure if can see him, and call to him, he most likely sees me.

Maybe he saw a light coming in or heard something on the setup?

Personally, I like to set up reasonably close, but have had horrible luck if I can see birds on the limb.  Personally, I do not like to be in any visual line of sight of birds on the limb.

If there are hens calling, I will always call to the hens, and not the toms...

And...  I would rather be set up a bit too far, rather than a bit too close...  (I could be in the minority though)

Excellent post Marc. And along with that, Gooserbat is right. If a turkey is within 35 yards on the other side of the crest of the ridge, give him maybe one or two very soft clucks or purrs and then shut up and scratch in the leaves.

[Mossberg90MN]

More than likely your hunting some pressured birds and they are wise and nervous from not seeing what they want to see...  I would change the calls your using if you haven't already and take something entirely different that they haven't heard before... I would for SURE use a gobble slate call and make gobbler and Jake yelps, that might just seal the deal for you in them closing that last few yards.. Roger Parks makes one of the best calls for making gobbler and Jake yelps .. He did a seminar at Unicoi this year and it's on YouTube about making these gobbler / Jake yelps ...

I'll check that out! I will normally just do Jake yelps with my mouth call but, don't try using it with these birds. I'll check out that YouTube video!


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[Mossberg90MN]

Thanks for all the replies fellas. The turkeys pretty much played me. To put it simple... they were playing chess and I was playing checkers.

Checkers works at the start of the season before the birds have been pressured and you got 2 year olds running around. With about 2 weeks left of Iowas season, you got to step it up to Chess.

I've decided to head back to Iowa next chance I get and go out with a bang. Gonna give it my all and I'm going to play a different game, I'm going to play THERE game.

I just needed to mentally work through the frustration, but I'm ready to play there game now.

Wish me luck fellas! Going into stealth mode.


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