Funny Things You Have Seen On Turkey Hunting Days.

[quavers59]

     I have a number of them. I remember  one morning around 1 hour before Sunrise and,I was late to walk in- still in the parking lot. Up rolls a Truck and 3 Guys Jump on out. One of them starts practicing on a Box. Scratch,Squeak, Bark,Long Notes,Short Notes-- ARRGGGHHHH, I have to get away  from these 3 Guys. Problem is they are all in good shape.  They are going to walk that 1 mile + in we have all read about.
    No Fields today- to the Swamp,I went.   Let's hear about your Funny sights while afield

[GobbleNut]

I have told this story before here, but it has been a while so some may not have seen it...

This incident has gotten me some level of notoriety amongst my hunting partners.  It is a tale that gets told a few times each spring to all who will listen as a reminder of my superior abilities in pursuit of the wily gobbler.

As it were, two friends and I ventured over to Texas several years ago to a farm we had access to hunt.  There were LOTS of turkeys on this property and they all roosted in the same specific group of trees next to a big open pasture.  The evening before our hunt, we watched roughly 75 hens, and somewhere in the neighborhood of FIFTY mature toms, as well as a passel of jakes, filter into the roost from different directions across this pasture. (Did I mention there were LOTS of turkeys on the place?!)

Being the self-proclaimed leader of our little entourage, I told the other two,.."Here's the plan.  We are gonna sneak in there an hour before daylight very quietly and set up between the roost and the pasture in the dark.  We gotta be totally quiet...not make a sound.  I'll lead the way with you two right behind me.  WE GOTTA BE COMPLETELY QUIET!  You can't snap branches or let your guns rattle around OR ANYTHING!  NO NOISE...NOTHIN'!"

So, the next morning I am leading our little group in single file along the brush line at the edge of the pasture, demonstrating to my two companions how to sneak stealthily and quietly into the set-up, and occasionally glancing back to make sure they were dutifully following my lead.  As we neared the chosen set-up location...about fifty yards from the nearest turkeys...we had not raised a putt from a single bird.  I was pretty confident I had succeeded in demonstrating my unsurpassed abilities of stealth in approaching roosted turkeys. 

Unfortunately, in the dark I did not notice the barbed-wire strand stretched about ankle-high a few yards from our set-up.  As I stepped forward in one of the last few steps to our set, the strand caught my foot and I ingloriously proceeded to fall flat on my face with a resounding thud and a loud groan as all the air in my lungs exploded outward...in general, my descent to the ground sounding somewhat like a 747 landing. 

Immediately, the woods behind us erupted in turkeys gobbling, putting, and every other sound of instant alarm turkeys have been known to make.  My buddies could not control the laughter they tried to stifle as their fearless leader lay wallowing in a heap on the ground. 

....As I said before, that little story gets brought up a lot around these parts when someone starts extolling my skills and virtues as a turkey hunter!   I always tell them I was just demonstrating a unique and unorthodox method of verifying roost locations.

[Kylongspur88]

I called 3 birds in for a buddy but he forgot to load his gun. It was his first time turkey hunting and here he is with 3 gobblers standing 20 yards in front of him and when he pulled the trigger it went click... I very slowly handed him a shell but the birds started to booger out. He managed to load the shell and kill one of them while they were trotting off. It was a fun hunt

[Turkeyman]

Years ago I was guiding my son's brother-in-law for his first turkey hunt. I was expelling all kinds of information regarding what and what not to do. Heard a bird gobbling, got close enough and had him setup in front of a good tree; I set up several yards behind him.  Bird hit the ground and came in on a string.  He didn't shoot. Bird goes away. I asked him why he didn't shoot, he said you told me to face the bird with my left shoulder...I couldn't shoot because I'm left-handed.

[tal]

 I swore I would never miss a turkey like the stories I had heard, until the morning I missed one. He sailed off down a hollow and knowing I had missed him I decided to take a look just in case, it was on the way out anyway. I looked a few minutes and topping the next ridge I bumped the bird again! I followed his flight and moved off to one side and started calling. After awhile I was aggravated, kicking myself in the butt, and decided to just leave. Walking out I bumped that bird (coming to the call) for a third time to rub salt in the wounds. I joked later I should have followed him again. He was too tired to fly and I might have killed him.

[callmakerman]

My favorite is when I was working a bird back behind and to my left on private  property. This bird would gobble pretty good but never seemed to be in any hurray to come up to the field I was hunting. After going back and forth for a while I finally had a good view of what was happening. Back in a wooded opening the gobbler and a deer were chasing each other around having a good old time. When they tired of the game the gobbler came out to the field and quietly walked away from me never answering a call again.

[Yoder409]

Probably 30-35 years ago.......

Was hunting a property I had hunted many times.  But mid-morning I crossed over on to the "Back 80" as the owner called it.  I had never hunted that side before.  Beautiful, big timber.

I had walked and called a ways when I heard a faint gobble.   Called again and he hit back.  So, I carefully began to close the distance, not knowing the terrain at all.  As the answers to my calling became louder, I realized I could see a field on my left.  I sat down and figured I could probably call the bird into the open timber from the field.  But, he'd gobble his head off yet not move my way.

Finally, I'd had enough and began to belly crawl to the field edge to see just how many hens he had out there.  And there he was, indeed !!!   At least 30 pounds !!!  White as the driven snow.  And sitting on top of an Amishman's outhouse.

[Chief Razor]

I dont consider this a strange thing but its a story nonetheless. I was a young feller in the mid 1980's and had never been turkey hunting, this trip would be my first. I recall getting picked up from school and headed to northern Michigan for the long weekend.

Now the previous christmas I had received the newest, latest, and greatest video game system. I would have been the envy of all the others at school. However I had my heart set on a browning youth compound bow set from the Cabelas magazine. The game console was returned to the store without being touched so I could get the bow that I had been obsessed over.

Back to the turkey hunt. My father was a novice turkey hunter, that is to say that he had tried it a few times and had been successful his first outing, but not bagged a bird since. The property belonged to a friend of his and was set up specifically for deer gun hunting. There were shooting shacks set up all over the property and several folks would stay at the cabin and draw for a blind to turkey hunt out of during the week. I dont recall hearing a bird why were out in the field and ultimately I recall most of my time being spent whittling small sticks with the my first pocket knife that I had received the first night of the hunt.

I remember the 2d decoys that were carefully placed in the dark and the box call that dad would use periodically to entice a turkey. Im certain there was not a sign of a bird anywhere.

Dad had brought a target and my pride and joy so that I could shoot arrows near the cabin mid day when we would come in for lunch. I recall on the third day I asked that we shoot the bow in the evening rather then hunt. I recall the target at the bottom of a large Oak in front of the cabin. We walked out to what I would assume to be 20 yards or less and I carefully took aim and let one fly into the bail. I can recall the moment plain as day. As the arrow cracked into the backstop a tom gobbled from one of the limbs above. I could still feel the rumble in my chest as I turned to see my father run for the front door of the cabin and his shotgun. The gobbler pitched off the limb and sailed away never to be seen again.

[Dougas]

I set my decoys out in the field of a property I hunt when I first started hunting there. I go to my tree and settle in. I was just about to start calling when a herd of cattle came running up and proceeded destroy my decoys. I tried to run them off, but they ran me off. They let me have my decoys as soon as the had stomped the life out of them and ground them into the ground.

Another time I was belly crawling to a flock of hens and a nice tom. I was trying to make it to a black berry bush to set up an ambush. Two horses came running towards me and started stomping and rearing at me. I had to bury myself in the blackberry bush as the lay siege on me for about 20 minutes. They wanted me dead!

[Dougas]

The first time I went turkey hunting, a buddy of mine with turkey hunting experience took me and did the calling. We called in a huge bobcat. No turkeys, but seeing that cat working towards us was quite a thrill.

[YoungGobbler]

I set my decoys out in the field of a property I hunt when I first started hunting there. I go to my tree and settle in. I was just about to start calling when a herd of cattle came running up and proceeded destroy my decoys. I tried to run them off, but they ran me off. They let me have my decoys as soon as the had stomped the life out of them and ground them into the ground.

Another time I was belly crawling to a flock of hens and a nice tom. I was trying to make it to a black berry bush to set up an ambush. Two horses came running towards me and started stomping and rearing at me. I had to bury myself in the blackberry bush as the lay siege on me for about 20 minutes. They wanted me dead!

Damn! You gotta stop going into cattles and horses field! 

[jhoward11]

Hunting on 2000 acres of private land, the owners had 2 donkeys that roamed the land, Supposedly to help with coyotes. Sitting in the blind and have only heard distant gobbles. Look to my right and her come jack and jenny right down the middle of the small field. Oh Brother! Really! I just let them come through, which seemed like it took an hour. After going by me about 60 yards, they stopped, looked back toward me and let out an AHHHEEEE. I'll be darned if a tom didn't open up 20 yards behind the blind and I ended up shooting him. My only dilemma is "How do I fit a jackass in my vest as a call?" My wife said there's already one in there! LOL

[Tail Feathers]

I was hunting public in TN and called in a cow elk.  The next day I called up a big old bobcat and he got scared off by a bear.  I was mildly alarmed to have the bobcat staring me down at 25 yards but that big old black bear at about 50 yards got the heart going.

[Yoder409]

Hunting on 2000 acres of private land, the owners had 2 donkeys that roamed the land, Supposedly to help with coyotes. Sitting in the blind and have only heard distant gobbles. Look to my right and her come jack and jenny right down the middle of the small field. Oh Brother! Really! I just let them come through, which seemed like it took an hour. After going by me about 60 yards, they stopped, looked back toward me and let out an AHHHEEEE. I'll be darned if a tom didn't open up 20 yards behind the blind and I ended up shooting him. My only dilemma is "How do I fit a jackass in my vest as a call?" My wife said there's already one in there! LOL

Farmer almost a mile from our property has a jack.  You can just about set your watch by him.  Right about gobble time each morning.......... YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW-HEE HAW-HEE HAW-HEE HAW !!!! "

[Zobo]

    I too have mentioned this before but I was shocked by it so it stays fresh in my mind.
     
     Walking through the spring woods once I heard the sound of a turkey rustling in the leaves so I quickly dropped and leaned up against a tree. After soft calling for a while with no luck, I go to get up and to my surprise, noticed a baby deer motionless, laying dead right in back of me.
      Saddened, I walked off. I soon realized I'd forgotten my hat, so I turned around, went back and noticed the baby deer was gone.
      I'm sure the rustling sound I heard was not a turkey after all, but instead the (playing dead) fawn's mother.