Crash course in running and gunning?

[bowhunter15]

I ended up going out tonight for a couple hours before dark. Basically just worked woods on high ground about at the point where it begins to drop down to the lowlands. Would set up, give a short calling sequence, wait 10 or 15 minutes, then move down another few hundred yards and try it again. Didn't hear or see a thing. There were lots of crows calling, but none followed by gobbles. No gobbling even right at dusk either.

Talked to one guy in the parking lot who said he has been hearing gobbling in the morning, and actually got within 50 yards of one this morning. He said it appeared to him that most of the action and noise occurs at the top of the drop off. The actual woods are super thick with new vegetation. You almost need to sit the edge of a small clearing or accept the fact that you can only see maybe 30 yards in the woods.

I have to work at 9:45am tommorrow, but figure I will go out and give it a shot for a couple hours before that. At the very least maybe I can hear some gobbling that will give me a better idea of where they're roosting.

[bowhunter15]

Alright, I need to know what I did wrong. Went out this morning. No gobbles for the first 2.5 hours of light. Around 8 o'clock I was walking the edge, about to head back when I thought I heard a faint gobble. I called, and it responded right back. It was probably a couple hundred yards away. In a rush to close the gap, I slid down into a 50 foot ravine, then climbed up the other side (recently logged, so thick I had to walk holding the bow above my head).

Once at the top of that ridge, I looked down to see another deep valley. I could see the lower portion of the other side, but the upper portion was too thick from foliage. I called again, and immediately heard the gobble, from the top of the ridge directly across from me, probably 70-80 yards straight line. I was hoping the bird would come to me, as walking down into that valley would give me a clear shot. Over the next 10 or 15 minutes, every call I gave was met with immediate gobbling. Sometimes he even interrupted me or gobbled on his own. It was clear, though, that he wasn't coming my way.

So, I backed up a bit, looped around to the side, and crossed the valley some 40 yards further to the side. Every once in a while I'd call to make sure I still knew the gobblers location. I slowly creeped up the ridge, knowing the bird was on top. The whole ridge was thick with knee high foliage. After getting to the top, I called again, and the gobble was very close, perhaps 40 or 50 yards by my estimation. I got a good ambush spot behind a thick tree. The next call I did the gobble was further away, going down the side of the ridge. Every call after that over the course of the next 20 minutes was silent, and I had to give up.

What did I do wrong? Call too loud when I was close? Call too much? Change location too much or approach from the wrong angle? Or is this a simple fact of life when turkey hunting? I thought I was going to eat bird soup and have some awesome helmet cam footage of the bow as well.

[BackWoodsHunter]

He probably saw you! When they are that close its hard to call and then move IMO. I'm no expert but a very similar thing happend to me while hunting a few weeks ago. We located a bird and basically walked a circle around it calling and every call we gave it went towards and the next spot we'd call from you could hear he was on his way to where we previously were. We were just about to set up and the guy calling hit the call before we were ready to go and that bird gobbled definitely within 50yards of us. We never saw it but it surely knew out location and probably saw us. I'm told they have really good eye sight....sounds like one helluva hunt though too bad you couldn't have closed the deal. He was probably either with a hen or not into the mood for hill climbing if he stayed on that ridge. Sounds like you did everything right I'd guess he saw you or something he didn't like and spooked. Or if he was with a bunch of hens or something one of them may have seen you....I'm not expert though I just like guessing hopefully someone with more time chasing turkeys can help you out better! Once again incredible hunt it sounds like a blast.

[Mountain Man]

bowhunter15 and Backwoods - IMO in both of your cases you just described in the last two posts you guys did too much calling.

bowhunter15 - he might have seen you, or if he had a hen with him she might have seen you but he didn't, and she led him away with him gobbling after her. I don't think he saw you b/c I don't think he would continue gobbling if he did. If he saw you he would have ran off and not gobbled again that soon. I think he probably followed a hen away from you or sometimes that is just the way turkey hunting is.

Backwoods - I'm just wondering why you guys kept moving and didn't sit longer when he answered - especially when you could tell that he was ending up where you last called from?

[BackWoodsHunter]

I was with my buddies hunting various pieces of forest crop land they had permission to hunt so I was just following directions. We started out in a 5yr old or so clear cut so it was much to thick to shoot. He wasn't ending up exactly where we were calling from but you could tell he kept changing direction heading that way. The guy calling had the "spot" picked out in his head where the kill would happen I guess so he wanted to set up there for whatever reason. That turkey for sure saw us. Earlier that morning we had a tom come in to us and I choked/hesitated and it got bored and wandered off and kept gobbling as it was walking away. So i'd guess with B15 the tom got bored or was maybe led away by a hen then?

If the birds are calling back to your calls are you really calling too much?

[cornfedkiller]

If the birds are calling back to your calls are you really calling too much?

Not necessarily always, but in nature, hens go to toms..toms generally do not go to the hens. If you call to them and they gobble back immediately, or better yet interrupt your yelps, that means he is interested. My strategy at that point is usually to play "hard to get". Get them excited, then leave them hanging. In those instances, I only call back to them about every 10 or so mins, just to see if he is getting closer or not.

Turkeys have an amazing sense of being able to tell exactly where the call is coming from. Not sure how, but they can pretty much pinpoint the exact tree you are sitting by. I like to get them excited, then shut the calling off pretty much. If he's that interested, he'll come looking for ya. If he isnt going to come, you probably arent gonna convince him to come by more calling..

Thats just my opinion anyways, and hopefully some more people can chime in, since Im no expert by any means..

[bowhunter15]

Yesterday was slow. Windy and rainy, no gobbling at all.

Today was at least an eventful day. My early morning setup produced nothing. The only daybreak gobbling I heard was well off in the distance, barely audible. Moved around a bit, eventually changed parking spots. This time I winded up in a low marshy area next to the lake. Lots of big deer tracks, but I new the turkeys would likely be higher up. Walked the side of the ridge when I heard some clucking. Looked up and saw a couple hens not 40 yards away just over the lip of the ridge. I stalked up and got to the point where I could have taken a 25 yard shot if it were a bearded bird. Success Walked back down the ridge, when I jumped up another hen not 3 yards away!! Guess who wasn't paying attention lol. She had been sitting on a dozen eggs which was how I got so close.

Got back down in marsh to head to another remote ridge. My plan was to climb to the top and start a calling sequence (about 9:00). About 5 steps up the ridge I flushed a turkey about 30 yards away. This one I suspect was a tom just by his size. Very curious, though, it almost seemed as if he was up in a tree when he flew off. Maybe not, who knows. Walked about halfway up the middle of the ridge finger and sat down to do some half-hearted calling, after that tom had just been flushed. To my suprise almost immediately I could see three turkeys walking up the ridge from the valley, about 30 or 40 yards further along the ridge. One I could tell was a jake with about a 3 inch beard. I drew back but there was too much foliage for a shot. I tried to take a few steps up higher on the ridge and intercept them when they got to the top. My stool fell over when I stood up (it was sitting on the incline). Either that, or they might have seen me, not sure which, but I never saw them again. Tried a few other setups with no luck till about noon.

Given the circumstances, I think a 7 bird sighting day is a big success, despite the fact that I never shot an arrow. I realized that its possible to find birds even without them coming into a call by being in the right place at the right time.

One other cool thing...There's a hiking trail that skirts the Minnesota river. At one point, the river is flooded to where it is about 6 inches deep over a certain spot on the trail. There were carp and buffalo (about 5lb avg) swimming right across the trail!!! To make a good storytelling line, I walked up and stood in the midst of them. They were so close, I tapped on of them in the back with the cam of my bow!!!

Fun day despite the tag soup. But now I have plenty of spots (both turkey and deer) for next season, as well as a preference point so that I can hopefully draw for an earlier season next year.

[cornfedkiller]

Sounds like a good day! Sometimes thats all you can ask for, especially turkey hunting!

And like you mentioned, now you have a bunch of spots for next year!