Searching for some advice

[jmasgalas]

I am relatively new to turkey hunting. I have been hunting for 6 years. I have killed a gobbler all but the first year and the last two years. For the past 2 years I have ran into the same issue.

I set up withing 60 or 70 yards of the bird. I hear them gobble on the roost. As it gets closer to daybreak I put out some soft yelps. They usually answer. I then stop calling. They usually keep gobbling on the roost. Once off the roost I will yelp. they will gobble once or twice on the ground then stop. I never do see them. This has happened on to different properties I hunt. Over and over again the last 2 seasons.

What am I doing wrong? One thing I did notice is all 3 birds I have killed I did not call to on the roost. So could my calling be getting them hung or spooked?

[KYFrid]

Do they all seem to go the same way or head the same direction? If so I would get to the direction they seem to be going to and set up. They are a lot easier to work with if your calling them to where they wanna go in the first place.

[Mike Honcho]

I would not call to them on the roost and give that a try....as you said the ones you killed you didn't call to on roost...and as the other response noted are they going the same way each time they fly down...maybe adjust your set up position...60-70 yds is pretty close although I've done it and closer if I knew area real well...maybe back off a bit. 

[FL-Boss]

don't call when they are on the roost. Set up 1 or 2 hens between you and gobbler... he will pitch down right to it..

[Spitten and drummen]

maybe henned up or heading to a strut zone. stay with them and they will make a mistake. if heading to a strut zone , find it , get there before daylight , call softly and scratch in leaves. pull him right to you and bust his beak.

[perrytrails]

If he's gobbling going away, before circling to try and cut him off try this, it's worked many times for me.

When he's leaving, get as close to his roost tree as possible and as quick as you can get there. Hit him hard a few times cutting and yelping. He might think he left too quick and a girl showed up.

It doesn't always turn them around, but it's worked enough times for me to repeat it.

Worse case, circle and setup again. As said, if your where he's headed your odds go way up.

[sixbird]

You're probably not doing anything wrong. Gobblers usually fly down to hens they've roosted near the night before. When the hens fly down, the gobblers go to them. Pretty hard to call them off of hens that they can see...I have a place that has turkeys that roost fairly close to some houses. They go to a strut zone in a neighbors' yard. There's no way to get between them and the strut zone. I generally try to make a commotion and fire the gobbler up. Every so often, he'll come down into the ravine where I am and I'll get him but, for the most part, he'll go away gobbling. If you can get in front of them, like previous posters have said, you can get them.
You could be the turkey whisper and not get those gobblers to turn around when they have hens fresh off the roost with them...Keep at it, even if you can't head them off. They might just make a mistake one day...
Another strategy you might try is to just stay there, and after the hens leave the gobbler, he may remember that hen who was calling to him in the morning and come back to check if she's still there...Works sometimes...

[mikejd]

This same thing has been happening were I hunt for the last 10 yrs. They gobble on the rooste even answer your calls then hit the ground head the other way and never gobble again. The advice of sitting tite with no calling could be your best advice. although I do like perrytrails tactic. I will definetly give that a try.

By the way welcome to OG.

[Bowguy]

maybe henned up or heading to a strut zone. stay with them and they will make a mistake. if heading to a strut zone , find it , get there before daylight , call softly and scratch in leaves. pull him right to you and bust his beak.

this is my guess too. The birds on the ground were prob looking for company. Just a matter of being in the right frame of mind to be called up.

[TRG3]

I've got a similar situation and there's already some really good options expressed here that I'll try eventually. Tomorrow will be day #4 of the Illinois six-day third season. Since the gobblers are flying down and then gobbling going away, I'm assuming that the hens are taking them away from me because I'm trying to sound like another hen, thus competition for the gobbler's attention. Tomorrow, I'm going to set up my decoys in the enclosed five-acre picked soybean field which is within 150 yards of where they have been roosting. I don't plan to make any hen yelps but instead make a couple of gobbles hopefully causing at least one of the four to come take a look at the stranger in their midst, see my decoys (jake positioned over a hen in the breeding position), and come on in because of the dominance factor. If this doesn't work, then I'll hobble (broken right ankle in a boot) to whichever field they select for that day and try to work in close enough to set up a jake for their viewing.