THE TOUGHEST GOBBLER TO HUNT...

[quavers59]

Just my opinion- but I think that the toughest gobbler to hunt is the one who slinks up to a heavy field edge and moves no more. This happened to me on one of my very first Spring hunts in 1990. I was set-up in a small clearing and moved to call again and saw just a small patch of white move ever so slowly and then disappear. That was the gobblers head and I never saw his body at the heavy field edge. I have seen that just a few other times since 1990. I am convinced that this is an OLD GOBBLER and that many hunters- even some veterans never see that white head peeking through some heavy foliage at the field edge. Indeed- this is a learned skill much like an old squirrel walking on a power line and over heavy traffic. I have had much better luck with the 2- year olds on field hunts. Hope everyone enjoyed the Winter Turkey Talk.

[beakbuster10]

The hardest bird I've ever hunted stayed in a fresh clear cut last year. He would roost either in a few of the beech trees left in the cutover or any of the various Creek bottoms running through the cutover. The cut over is huge close to 700 acres. He never rooster in the same spot two days in a row and it was impossible to set up on him before he hit the ground because he could see you coming for literally a mile.


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[guesswho]

I've seen them field hop down here. They get to where they can see the field, gobble, strut, look and repeat several times before moving on to the next field. Sometimes doing this from as far away as 100 yards or so. Then some gobblers will walk into the field and do this and hang around for hours. Me and a friend watched one walk to 20 yards from a field and sit down for over an hour. Once a couple hens showed up he got up and went to the field and join them. I have not noticed any correlation of age and these actions.

[Spring Creek Calls]

Any gobbler with a hen.

[wvmntnhick]

the hardest bird to hunt is a dead one.

The second hardest bird is the farmers bird that's stuck in a pin. Hunted a bird a couple years ago for 3 days. He'd gobble his head off but wouldn't budge. On day three I made a decision to move in as close as I could only to find I'd been wasting my time chasing a tame bird inside a pin. Talk about feeling like an idiot. Didn't even know there was a house there. Heck, I'd hunted that farm a fair amount the year before and never heard a peep. The pin looked new though so it may have been a new addition. He wore a path out along that fence trying to get out though.

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

the hardest bird to hunt is a dead one.

The second hardest bird is the farmers bird that's stuck in a pin. Hunted a bird a couple years ago for 3 days. He'd gobble his head off but wouldn't budge. On day three I made a decision to move in as close as I could only to find I'd been wasting my time chasing a tame bird inside a pin. Talk about feeling like an idiot. Didn't even know there was a house there. Heck, I'd hunted that farm a fair amount the year before and never heard a peep. The pin looked new though so it may have been a new addition. He wore a path out along that fence trying to get out though.

The exact same thing happened to me several years back.  Same story almost exactly except in North GA. A white domestic gobbler.  I felt pretty dumb.  Made me want to kill that dang turkey even more.

[MK M GOBL]

I have had some old birds play that game, because of the farms I hunt I see this fairly often but have also learned to give them a few weeks and hit them late season, we have 6 weeks we can hunt and have tagged an number of those old birds in those last seasons. Once them gobblers lose their ladies I can start talking what they want to hear.

Here's one of those old birds, and killed him at 15 yards in a tall hay field where the only thing I could see were fan tips in the field coming in.

MK M GOBL

[Yoder409]

The neighbor lady lives in the middle of about 100 acres of wood and small, isolated fields.  Her ground is posted and she feeds about 50 lbs. of corn a day out by her garage................

Birds that roost 500 yards away fly down................gobble their heads off.............then take off on a bee-line straight to the corn pile............... because that where the hens go, too.

Last year was the worst.  Day after day I was within 80-100 yards of them on roost.  Could NOT stop a single one from leaving for the corn pile.  With the property lines being where they are, there's really no way to get between them and their destination.

So, I guess I'd say the hardest one to kill is one that has 30 hens and a 50 pound corn pile.   Yep,

[renegade19]

the hardest bird to hunt is a dead one.

The second hardest bird is the farmers bird that's stuck in a pin. Hunted a bird a couple years ago for 3 days. He'd gobble his head off but wouldn't budge. On day three I made a decision to move in as close as I could only to find I'd been wasting my time chasing a tame bird inside a pin. Talk about feeling like an idiot. Didn't even know there was a house there. Heck, I'd hunted that farm a fair amount the year before and never heard a peep. The pin looked new though so it may have been a new addition. He wore a path out along that fence trying to get out though.

This is classic!  Great story.

[hs strut]

Well a bird with hens can be tough but I'd say trying to get one to break that imaginary wall they sometimes hit is the hardest for me.

[silvestris]

Just my opinion- but I think that the toughest gobbler to hunt is the one who slinks up to a heavy field edge and moves no more. This happened to me on one of my very first Spring hunts in 1990. I was set-up in a small clearing and moved to call again and saw just a small patch of white move ever so slowly and then disappear. That was the gobblers head and I never saw his body at the heavy field edge. I have seen that just a few other times since 1990. I am convinced that this is an OLD GOBBLER and that many hunters- even some veterans never see that white head peeking through some heavy foliage at the field edge. Indeed- this is a learned skill much like an old squirrel walking on a power line and over heavy traffic. I have had much better luck with the 2- year olds on field hunts. Hope everyone enjoyed the Winter Turkey Talk.

I don't understand why hunters seem to insist on hunting on the edge of a field, but I think it may have to do with their insistence on the use of decoys.  I have had success sitting 40-50 yards off of the field and by telling him what he wants to hear he will frequently come looking.

[VA_Birdhunter]

One that is henned up and happy!   However that can also be the means to his demise.....get speakin to that boss hen which leads to a full blown argument with her coming to lay the smack down and poor little love sick gobbler comes dragging along to his death!   It doesn't always work but I've done it a lot with great success! 

God bless

[CT Spur Collector]

Yep, any Tom with girlfriends.

[turkeyfoot]

henned up is not the worse for me as they can often be patterned  the toughest to me is that ne that will rarely gobble all year you'll hear him on roost few times he'll fly down and give you an occasional gobble through the morning but never commit either your coming to him or he eventually completely shuts up you catch glimpses of him he doesn't have hens and no interest in moving toward your best variety of calls. I've seen these birds on occasion over years they usually stay woods I always figured them to be old birds that have come in and been shot at

[mgm1955]

Any gobbler with a hen.