What’s your next play?

[Bottomland OG]

I'm going to set the stage for y'all.
It's the last day of season, getting hard to find a gobbler. I end up hearing one before fly down time. I go in get set up on him with in a couple 100 yards, he flies down goes the other way. I stay there just taking in the morning trying to enjoy as much as I can before it's over for another year. Around 9:30 i make a call and he cuts me off quick but he is still 300+ yards. Each time I called he's getting closer, all of a sudden hear turkeys walking up to me right coming up on the ridge with me, it's 5 hen together. By now it's probably 10:00 the gobbler is inside 150yards and coming.

I going to stop here and let you guys finish this.....

[Bottomland OG]

After there have been a few post I will finish the story. I would just like to know if anyone else would have played the way I did.
There is no right or wrong answer.

[Tom007]

If you can see the hens coming at you and you know he is in tow, I will not move, gun up on knee, safety ready to push and no more calling. I'm down to mouth diaphragm only. Play quiet now, if you call, they pin-point your exact location.......let it play out from here.....

[GobbleNut]

If you can see the hens coming at you and you know he is in tow, I will not move, gun up on knee, safety ready to push and no more calling. I'm down to mouth diaphragm only. Play quiet now, if you call, they pin-point your exact location.......let it play out from here.....

Pretty much what I would do, as well.  Hunker down on the gun and try to be as inconspicuous as possible and hope for the best.
Now, seems like I have heard a feller or two say that in that situation they moved just enough to booger those hens off and, as extremely good fortune would have it, the gobbler also didn't get spooked off and kept coming.  That seems like a real long shot to me.  Think I will stick to "plan A" and, again, hope for the best...   

[g8rvet]

Yeah, agree.  Not in the spook the hens group.  I have had too many birds bring the gobbler in to risk the spooking technique. 

Quiet, hope the birds feed on by.  If not shoot their boyfriend while they are there. 

Almost identical (minus the ridge) to bird last year.  The hens were so close I did not even risk a yelp to make him pop out of strut.  They were at 10 yards, he was at 20.  Just shot him as he turned sideways to me.

[g8rvet]

Another idea would be let them all go by and shoot him the next day off the roost! 


APRIL FOOLS!   

[Bottomland OG]

Another idea would be let them all go by and shoot him the next day off the roost! 


APRIL FOOLS!   

...... but it was the last day.
No, really on a serious note might not need to joke about that. You might get the business for saying something like that if the right person reads it.

[Greg Massey]

All i would do is purr to keep the hens with me in hopes he comes into range... If not and it's the last day, what a way to end the season ...

Because just hearing a gobbler on the last day in my area is pretty special anyway...


I see no need for one of the comments on this OP...

[Bottomland OG]

I'm going go on and finish it and this will probably start a new discussion.  There were a couple key points that I wasn't sure if anyone would pick up on. "The last day" and "5 hens came in together at 10 o'clock in the morning". Well I just sit there and let it unfold. He came on in one of the hens half way greeted him I guess that's what she was doing. They all headed on down the ridge right past me and that is how my last day ended last year. Why didn't I shoot ? Maybe I over think sometimes but I was quick to key in on all those hen being together that late in the year. You just don't see that where I hunt. We had a really big rain about a week before. My first thought was all those hen had lost their nests and bunched back up. They knew that gobbler was in the area and they were there for a reason. I've always been told that once a hen loses a clutch she has to be bread again for the next clutch to be fertile. It meant way more to for him to walk and be able to have a chance to breed all those hens again than killing him ever would.

[Happy]

Are the hens coming towards the gobbler or away from him?

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

[Happy]

Well crap. You gave it all away before I read the rest.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

[Bottomland OG]

Well crap. You gave it all away before I read the rest.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

Lol!!! Sorry

[Bottomland OG]

Well crap. You gave it all away before I read the rest.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

Lol!! Sorry about that.

[runngun]

If the hens are coming by me, and heading to the Gobbler I am going Do my best to make the hens go back the way they came from.
I have had hens do this several times, coming to 10 yards from me and turn and bee line it to the Gobbler, taking him away.
Y'all have a good one and May God bless.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[Happy]

Well crap. You gave it all away before I read the rest.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

Lol!! Sorry about that.

All good, but since you ruined my fun, I will throw another one out there. It's a real-life situation that happened to me.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club