OldGobbler

OG Gear Store
Sum Toy
Dave Smith
Wood Haven
North Mountain Gear
North Mountain Gear
turkeys for tomorrow

What to do with with a bird that's hung up

Started by luked, April 23, 2016, 11:37:50 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

luked

Had a bird this morning I worked for hours and he just wouldn't move. Tried to move in on him. Yea that didn't work either. So what do you guys do when a bird is hung up. There wasn't any ditch fence or anything like that I could see causing him to hang up. He did have a hen with him I'm pretty sure but never could get a good look through the timber

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


SteelerFan

Go eat breakfast...


Try him later, or if you run out of legal time - another day. Like I tell my buddies, if you were at a night club sitting with a pretty gal or two or three, and some other gal across the room wanted you to come over and talk - would you leave?

WildSpur

I do things a bit different.  Granted I hunt the hills so I have anatomy of the land to work with. 

If I called him to a point I will safely back out and completely circle around.  Do it right and you will call 2x just for location and you will be sitting for 5 minutes provided he is henless.  Jme.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk



Cluck more, yelp less

Bowhuntr73


renegade19

Quote from: WildSpur on April 23, 2016, 12:06:38 PM
I do things a bit different.  Granted I hunt the hills so I have anatomy of the land to work with. 

If I called him to a point I will safely back out and completely circle around.  Do it right and you will call 2x just for location and you will be sitting for 5 minutes provided he is henless.  Jme.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Same here.  I might not circle, but I definitely move, reset on him.

KYHeadhunter02

Use a gobble call, get aggressive calling, if that doesn't work circle around and get in front of him if possible. It has happened a lot to me.

buck_hunter21

If you can move on him, I would do that as well. The biggest thing I would do is just shut up. I have had gobblers do the same thing. Gobble and gobble but wouldn't move. I completely stopped calling and a lot of the times they continue to gobble and eventually start working to where they last heard the hen.
Spill Blood


silvestris

Fire him up, then shut up.  When he quits gobbling, get your gun up and start looking for him.
"[T]he changing environment will someday be totally and irrevocably unsuitable for the wild turkey.  Unless mankind precedes the birds in extinction, we probably will not be hunting turkeys for too much longer."  Ken Morgan, "Turkey Hunting, A One Man Game

Marc

Usually I get in the truck and punch the steering wheel...

I will try gobbling and fighting purrs at the point in which I realize I cannot coax him in while working any given bird with a hen...

Best method is to be where they are going, or wait till the hen leaves....  That moment when the hens leave there is a period of time that the birds are extremely vulnerable...  If you are in the woods at that moment, a tom will come in fast and hard....
Did I do that?

Fly fishermen are born honest, but they get over it.

Cleveland48

I usually curse throw my calls around in a temper tantrum! Lol I usually have my best luck by repositioning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Timmer

THIS...

Quote from: silvestris on April 23, 2016, 10:08:35 PM
Fire him up, then shut up.  When he quits gobbling, get your gun up and start looking for him.

Or may this...

Quote from: Cleveland48 on April 23, 2016, 11:34:46 PM
I usually curse throw my calls around in a temper tantrum! Lol
Timmer

All of the tools, some of the skills!

jims

A lot depends upon the situation.  If a tom is within sight of decoys...decoy movement of some kind definitely helps.  Excited calling may fire a tom or the hens he's with up.  Getting a lead hen excited can get them heading your direction just as much as firing up the tom!  Movement from one position...either go away or towards a tom can often help.  Getting a tom fired up and giving him the silent treatment may get him wondering what the heck is going on.  Knowing what to do in a particular situation can definitely pull things in your favor!  Experience and being willing to try new and different things will likely pull things in your favor!  Keep at it and you will succeed!

mikejd

Quote from: WildSpur on April 23, 2016, 12:06:38 PM
I do things a bit different.  Granted I hunt the hills so I have anatomy of the land to work with. 

If I called him to a point I will safely back out and completely circle around.  Do it right and you will call 2x just for location and you will be sitting for 5 minutes provided he is henless.  Jme.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

This was going to be my exact advice. I love doing this.

g8rvet

Had this happen to me this year in a fresh burn.  Woods to thin and flat to even consider repositioning. I tried to talk myself in to trying to make the firebreak and belly crawl from there, but the break was 25 yards closer to him. So I just sat there and took it like a man (whined, cursed, etc).  :(   SO frustrating, but it happens.  I have repositioned successfully, just not an option this day. 
Psalms 118v24: This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Farmboy27

All depends on why I think he won't come. If I think he has hens I'll go look for another bird and come back later in the morning to try him again. I don't risk moving around a lot on a bird with hens because there's a good chance it won't work anyway and I could spook him. If I think he's by himself and just being a turkey, I'll move on him. I'll give each set up enough time to be sure he's not coming and then I'll move again. Last year I set up 6 times till I finally killed one that was hung up. Sometimes it doesn't take a drastic move to make a difference. I just look around and say "ok he doesn't want to come right here, were does he want to go?"  Easier said than done, but find that spot that he likes and you're in business.