What would you do?

[wisconsinteacher]

This weekend during the learn to hunt, I was moving down a ridge that is a peninsula out into a cut corn field.  As I was working down it, I spotted 3 toms and 7-8 hens in the field just off the edge of the peninsula.  I back tracked and used the ridge to work to the point of the peninsula to get a head of the flock.  When I got there, the birds were still 70 yards away just over the hill so I yelped once and all H$LL broke loose and the hens and toms went crazy.  I started mocking a hen in hopes she would come over the hill.  I also gobbled to make the toms think there was competition.  After a few minutes of this, the flock starts to fade away and eventually goes into the woods 100 yards away and goes silent.  I looped around on them and they worked into a clear cut where we bumped them due to the thick cover.

What would you have done different to get a crack at one of the toms? 

[Bill Cooksey]

I would probably never gobble again. If anything, it should be a last desperate attempt after trying everything else you can think of.

[sakoluvr]

Well, hindsight is always makes you want to kick yourself.  I would have done 1 of 2 things.  I would have stayed put in a set-up position and called lightly since you knew thir position.  A cluck or purr or soft yelp and then shut the heck up and wait.  NO GOBBLE.

The other possibility was to see which direction they were headed and then circle in front and do the same calling.  NO GOBBLE.

Less is always more..............

[Cutt]

I agree, I wouldn't have gobbled, you gave them too much without waiting it out. You stated you yelped and all hell broke loose, so why give them anymore until you see what happens with that? I don't think mocking the hen was a bad idea, but definitely would have waited it out after that, with no gobble.

[TrackeySauresRex]

When I do use a gobble,it's only used as a last resort. And I'll give it a half broken up jake gobble. Also sitting tight for a while helps. They like to sneak a peek. 

[GobbleNut]

Hindsight is always 20/20, as they say.  Anybody that has hunted these birds for any length of time knows that, no matter what you do, there is always the chance that it is not going to work out the way you think or hope it will.  It sounds like you might have been a little too aggressive with those birds, but the fact is that they may have responded the same way regardless of how you called to them.

I have learned over the years that if a group of birds is coming toward me, the only sure way of not screwing it up is to not call to them at all.  If they are coming to you, let them come.  Of course, we all want to call to them to feel like we had something to do with them coming to us, but when you do that, you always risk that they will respond negatively to that calling. 

Hey, it happens to all of us.  The best you can do is try to take whatever lesson might be learned from it,...and move on. 

[wisconsinteacher]

The reason I gobbled was because there was a 4th tom coming from a different direction to join the flock.  I had a fan up in hopes they would see it and come to fight.  I figured that with the fan a gobble would make them mad and come in for the fight. 

Hindsight is 20/20.  I think if it would have been me alone without a kid who couldn't sit still, I would have waited longer.  I was trying to make something happen quick because he was moving all over the place.

[wvmntnhick]

Personally, I don't think you did anything wrong. As stated above, we never know how a bird will react. I've had birds respond and run in on a gobbler I was working just because he was gobbling. They will respond to that gobble at times. No need to kick yourself for the decision you made. Just back up, punt and try again when the ball is back in your favor.

[Swather]

I would have put my HECS suit on and then belly crawled toward them behind the funky chicken, cackling, cutting, and putt-purring all the way, with an occasional squeal from the Squealing Hen, challenging all takers to a fight.  And then limited out.

[Farmboy27]

I personally won't have gobbled but then again I don't even carry a gobble call. And like others have said, it's impossible to say if there is anything you could have done different that would have produced. And I know what you're saying about if you were by yourself. For some reason I always do better by myself. I think I just try to hard when I'm trying to get one in for a new hunter. I start to second guess myself.

[Gobble!]

If I got in front of where they were going and thought they were going to stroll by at shooting range I wouldn't have made a sound. If I thought they were going to be out of range I would have called. Wouldn't of gobbled until they were leaving, as a last resort.

[SteelerFan]

Personally, I don't think you did anything wrong. As stated above, we never know how a bird will react. I've had birds respond and run in on a gobbler I was working just because he was gobbling. They will respond to that gobble at times. No need to kick yourself for the decision you made. Just back up, punt and try again when the ball is back in your favor.

^^^This

The birds went the other way, so... you're an IDIOT!

If you told the EXACT same story (different end), and showed a picture of a dead gobbler because he came in looking - you'd be the man!!

I think you nailed it though... probably forced the situation a little too much because of wanting to make it happen. Hopefully your young gun had a good time seeing and hearing the birds.

[spaightlabs]

Is the ice off the lakes up there yet?

[Marc]

I agree with GobbleNut...  If a bird (or birds) are coming towards me, I stay silent.  If they change direction or look like they might go wide, I would start off with some purrs or clucks...  And go crazy from there.

As far as calling aggressively, you can always get more aggressive, but once you have become aggressive, you cannot go back.

[M Sharpe]

Hindsight is always 20/20, as they say.  Anybody that has hunted these birds for any length of time knows that, no matter what you do, there is always the chance that it is not going to work out the way you think or hope it will.  It sounds like you might have been a little too aggressive with those birds, but the fact is that they may have responded the same way regardless of how you called to them.

I have learned over the years that if a group of birds is coming toward me, the only sure way of not screwing it up is to not call to them at all.  If they are coming to you, let them come.  Of course, we all want to call to them to feel like we had something to do with them coming to us, but when you do that, you always risk that they will respond negatively to that calling. 

Hey, it happens to all of us.  The best you can do is try to take whatever lesson might be learned from it,...and move on.

There is no cut and dried response from these birds. Ben Lee's style of hunting worked for him and Herb McClure's style works for him. Ben Lee was a wide open, flat out cover some ground with aggressive calling style man. Mr. Herb is a sit back and call sparingly to them. They hunted together....ONCE! I would imagine that most of us are somewhere in between.