What would you have done?

[Belo83]

I've been turkey hunting about 5 years now with a few birds under my belt. I do not feel like I'm a good caller but I can get it done. Most of my birds were taken by scouting and patterning roost.

I'm in Mississippi now where I moved from upstate NY. I'm hunting public land and this is what happened yesterday.

I'm the only hunter around. I walk in just before sunrise and hear a tom gobbling near where I had 2 jakes the previous weekend. I move over and setup decoys nearby. I call every 10 to 15 minutes for a few hours using either quakerboy box or tramp stamp slate. Around 8:30 I hear the tom and what sounds like a jake gobbling in the next field over. There is a decent hedgerow and small passable creek (however the edges are steep) between the 2 fields. It's about a 5 min creep through some thick woods to get there.

He's answering (I think anyhow, there's also a crow acting a fool) and sounds like he's getting closer. Then he stops. I stayed put not knowing if he was on his way because the jakes last week came in to the decoys silent. Needless to say I never hear from him again until I get up around 30 min after last gobble to see if I can find him.

Should I have been more aggressive in calling? Less aggressive once he was answering (wondering if he got wise)? Should I have gotten up and gone after him?

Appreciate the advice.

[eggshell]

I doubt you done anything terribly wrong, some days they just don't want to play. silence can be a delema as they often go silent when they're coming in. You didn't push him so you didn't spook him. It's very  hard to say what else you could have done without seeing the situation. Every set up has it's own charcater so all we can do is speculate. Please understand I'm not demeaning you by the following statement. I find hunters without a lot of experience tend to be over cautious in their approach and set ups. You can usually push in a little tighter if you have cover and the closer you get the more apt you are to see tom. Close range calling is subtle and short low  kee purrs or clucks. There is a soft call I use close I call a whine cherp, it's a musical low key call that sounds like your whining the word huuummmmp, try it close range and see if it'll break ole Tom. if that doesn't  move him, give him one of the hardest course hollow sounding Thump clucks you can muster.

[gobblerman87]

Sounds like a hunt I had not to long ago never kno if it's somethkng you did or not sometimes it's just the way it is

[Bill Cooksey]

eggshell said it well. Can't be certain without being there, but if I think there's any way at all to either get closer or to a better spot, I'm moving. Sometimes that means just moving over one tree, and other times it's a mile walk in a circle around the bird.

A week or so ago on a property I hadn't hunted in twelve years a turkey gobbled about 150 yards behind me while I was standing up glassing a big field. I moved back about ten yards and sat down against a tree and hit the call. He cut me off and a moment later he gobbled on his own less than a hundred yards away. About then I realized I'd screwed up and remembered there was a pretty big ditch that would probably stop him forty yards from me.

There was a small ridge and thick woods between us, and I made a quick 25 yard move. He gobbled at the leaves when I started the move, but never made a sound after I sat down. I waited a minute and scratched leaves...nothing. Called soft...nothing. Waited...nothing. I decided I'd bumped him as he was coming fast and must've topped the ridge before I got set, but I'd give it ten minutes. Soon I heard drumming and in walked three gobblers. I dropped one and waited for the others to finally wander off before picking him up and walking to the truck.

That move was a big risk in regards to possibly bumping the bird, but I'd rather bump one by pushing than watch/listen to one strut around just out of range.

[Belo83]

Good advice guys, I'm a pretty experienced deer hunter and turkey's are really a different hunt... and I love that.

Seems they don't like to cross creeks and there's not a ton of harm to get up and move a little. Last sunday was a wash out but this Friday I plan to setup in that field.