Unread postby SEMObowhunter » Wed Mar 02, 2016 6:45 am
Some birds are call shy I guess. But most of the time it just isn't the right time for him. We can't see him but he will answer and not come in, or he waits 60 seconds after you stiop calling before he answers, or he gobbles on his own. Most of the time there are unknown reasons he is doing all of this. I have had turkeys fly down and run the other way gobbling their brains out and we chalk it up to henned up or he's call shy. The secret to killing a turkey is getting where he wants to be and when the time is right. They fly down, shut up and we say he's call shy. Go back in three hours and hit him, he cuts you off and runs you over....call shy??? No, just doesn't have a hen with him. You have to get in the comfort zone of a turkey for things to happen. Sure there are always the Kamikaze two year olds that are a turkey hunters dream, but most old gobblers let the hen come to him. You just have to figure out where he wants to be and beat him there or kill him by shutting up and letting him ease in after the pressure gets too much for him to take. Every turkey is callable, given the right method. I don't think it's the call that kills the turkey, it's the person doing the calling.
I'll give you a story on a call shy bird. This bird roosted on the road every day, within fifty yards of a main forest service road. He was one of two points every year for four springs. Everyone that hunted the area had messed with this turkey, including me. You set up on his point between him and the road and he would fly down and go the other way gobbling every minute continuous. One morning a buddy called and said he was heading to work and asked me if was on a tom, I had two that had quit me and I was just at the truck listening. He said the turkey had done the same crap to him that morning and he had left him gobbling. I knew which point he was on so I came in from across the holler of him and got on the end. He came right out the point to me gobbling. I never said a peep. Finally I could see him strutting and hear him drumming. He came 50 yards of me and got over the side of the point out of sight. I finally made one call and I instantly heard him drumming coming back on top. He stuck just his head over the top of the point and I shot him at 25 yards. He had a 12.5" beard and 1.5" spurs. He had all kinds of old pellets in him and one broken leg that had healed back crooked. I would say he was 5-6 years old. He wasn't call shy, I just had to get to the location where he was comfortable being called at and he came right on in. Point being, I think every bird is capable of being called in, it just takes you being in the right place, on the right day, at the right time. I'm no expert on turkeys, but I find them easier to kill than big bucks.
Last edited by
SEMObowhunter on Wed Mar 02, 2016 8:27 am, edited 1 time in total.