Stay or wait?

[dgibson]

I asked this question a while back and got a few different answers...let's try again with the new crowd. I've killed exactly one turkey in my 3-year career, which happened to gobble just as I was getting ready to pick up and relocate after about 1/2 hour or so of calling with no response. The next year I took that to heart and stayed in the same place for quite a bit longer, even if I didn't hear any response. I spent a lot of time on my butt when I could have been moving to more productive areas. So, the next year I went back to shorter sits in seemingly dead locations, and got busted by a tom putting the silent sneak on me from behind. If I had sat still for another 10 minutes he'd have been mine.

So, the question...how do you know when to get up and move? Do you stay in one place for a certain time regardless of activity, or move often when the turkeys aren't responding, or what?

Meathead tells me my ground is hard to hunt for turkeys, so I need all the help I can get before season starts in a few weeks!

 

[Nut]

That is a good question Darren. Me I always do the wrong thing at the wrong time. Move when I should have stayed and stayed when I should have moved.

Any help?

 

[Dick Reece]

3 0f all the gobblers I've killed,which is curently a grand total of 5

,I've killed by first locating them and then calling.If I could tell by the continued gobbling that they weren't getting any closer,I'd circle around and take up a new position even closer,and call again.Sometimes I'd move 3 or 4 times on one bird, but it always seem to work on those that at first won't come in.They must think I'ma lost young hen and just can't stand the thoughts of losing me

.

 

[dgibson]

Nut, I think you're following the same rule book I am...

PC, I have tried that a bit, but after opening day or so the turkeys in my area tend to be a little clammy. I guess they're too smart for us hillbilly hunters.

In honesty, I think one big thing working against me (aside from hunting pressure) is that the area is fairly ate up with turkeys and there's too much competition from the ladies.

In other news, I hear West Virginny's getting a spanking new Cabela's store soon, so I know where YOU'll be spending your weekends!

 

[Wally Dog]

If you can sit, you are always better sitting longer than you think. If you are relatively sure that birds are in the vicinity or will be, a blind is a fabulous method to enable the hunter to be more patient. I've been whacking turkeys for 20 years and the one guarantee I can make is that there are no guarantees. You must rely on your gut and recall the mistakes you've made in the past to give you any edge on a gobbler.
WD
twitch-twitch-twitch, I need a fix!

 

[Ithaca 37]

Some days more turkeys come in silent than gobbling. Some might take a few hours to come in. They know that when they get there if they can't find the hen all they have to do is gobble and she'll show up. Not much you can do about it.

I like to keep moving and then on my way back to the truck a few hours later I call fairly quietly as I get near the places I was calling from earlier. You'd be amazed how many turkeys will gobble and come in real fast when you do that. They had heard my origional calling a few hours ago and slowly headed in that direction. Then, when they got there an hour or two after I had left and couldn't find the hen they thought they were coming in to, they got worried she had left the area and they just blew their big chance at a new romance!

Then they hear me call again on my way back and their heart leaps with joy because now they found her!

They're not going to take a chance on losing her again, so they come in fast and loud!

I usually feel so sorry for them I can hardly stand to ruin their day!

That's some turkey psychology I learned from my hillbilly mentors about 40 years ago. They knew how to think like turkeys!

Most guys are discouraged when they're heading back to the truck and they either don't call at all or they call way too loud because they think there aren't any turkeys close by and they're desperate to hear a gobble, even if it's way far off. When they call real loud and the gobbler is close by, he knows what's going on and scoots out of there. The hunter never even knows he was there and is more convinced than ever there aren't any turkeys around!

To be a successful turkey hunter ya gotta learn to think like a turkey.

Best way to do that is to roost up in a tree for a few nites!

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-04-2003 20:50: Message edited by: Ithaca 37 ]</font>

 

[Heavy Chevy]

Me personaly I wait at least 45 minutes to an hour after a gobblers clams up before i move. If I know he is with hens i wait even longer. No time better for a nap. When his hens go to nest he will come looking for the hen that was calling him earlyer. I remember one hunt I sat from 6am till 10:45 waiting for a bird to come looking for me. The bad thing is when he got in range i was sleeping . When i heard him spitin and hummin i woke up He was standing 10 yards away from me. Damn can them birds run.

 

[dgibson]

I've had a combination of Ithaca's and Heavy's experience happen, too...I started out in the bottom of a gully and heard nothing, so I got up and moved up the ridge. While moving I noticed another hunter moving across the property line from me. When I got to the top I yelped a few times, and a few minutes later I heard something coming up the hill from behind. I had that other hunter on my mind and was sure he had crossed the line and was coming up the hill to talk to me (damn trespasser!

). It never occurred to me that it might be a turkey.

So, when the noise sounded close I leaned out around the tree and looked back...the gobbler stuck his neck up in the air like I had smacked him. He had apparently heard me call the first time, then again up the hill and thought I was a sexy lady moving away from him. We stared at each other for what seemed to be 30 minutes, then he let out a "bock bock!" warning and took off like a bat out of hell. Chalk that one up to dumbassity, too.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-07-2003 08:47: Message edited by: dgibson ]</font>

 

[Dick Reece]

Hey dgibson,

The first thing I ever learned about hunting these paranoid birds IN THE MOUNTAINS was to ALWAYS call them from an uphill position.You said you started out in a gully. That might be ok if you've roosted a few the night before,or you hunt the area all the time and know where they'll fly down to feed.But if that's not the case, locate yourself on top and call the turkey uphill.You gotta remember,they always fly DOWN off the roost,and work there way back uphill feeding.

I hope I'm not insulting you here,but I thought you indicated you were new to hunting the Ol Tom's,so I thought I'd share.No offense intended.

 

[dgibson]

PC, you'll know it when I get offended.

I am a turkey greenie, so advise away!

I had always followed the hilltop rule pretty closely, but I wasn't having much luck that day so I thought I'd try something new. Actually what I was doing was moving from one hilltop to the next, and just paused for a few minutes in the bottom. While I was there I figured I'd throw out some yelps to see what happened. Heck, that turkey may have followed me all the way from the first hilltop, down, and back up.

 

[Dick Reece]

It's possible he did follow you, and I'm not a veteran at all,I've only killed five as I said,if kills are a measure of prowess

, then I'm a novice too.

I know I've had better luck calling uphill.I can only think of one bird that I called downhill,and I got excited and shot at him while he was still out there some, and I missed him.He didn't come that far, and I was a good ways uphill.

Also,I've never been able to call one across a creek.

I've got a friend I've hunted with for a long time whose in his 60's and retired now, who kills his gobblers on his own or adjoining neighbors property.He has killed a few on a creek bottom, but only because he roosted them and/or knew they'd be flying down there come morning.

 

[Ithaca 37]

It doesn't make any difference to a turkey if he goes uphill or downhill. Gobblers going to real hens will go downhill just as fast as they'll go uphill.

The difference is to the hunter. You can see them coming uphill a lot better than they can spot you. Whomever is uphill has the advantage. If they are coming downhill they can spot you a lot easier than you can see them. Especially if you move your head more than about a quarter of an inch!

How far above your eyes is the top of your hat? That's how much better they can see you from uphill. Usually the hunter is craning his neck and trying to see the turkey above him and the turkey picks up the movement. It's always easier to see them coming from below or , at least, on the same level you're on. Much easier!

I bet for every turkey you see coming downhill to you about three more spot you first and scat before you know they are around.

 

[Dick Reece]

I kinda have to disagree Ithaca, It's been my limited observation and that of my mentors that most of the time turkeys fly down and then proceed to feed back uphill.Even if they feed along a ridge,they gradually work there way uphill.

Guess that's what makes America so great,so many varied opinions.

 

[Tom]

I was always taught with turkeys, its better to wait than to leave. They take a long time sometimes. If you scout and crow call or owl call, you can eventually find a roost and set up near that and hear them gobbling toward you or away from you. If there's hens in the roost near them it might take and hour or two before they would get to your calling and decoys and shotgun. I like what Ithaca said about uphill downhill too, good stuff there.

 

[Ithaca 37]

PC, I useta believe that stuff about turkeys flying downhill and walking uphill, but don't anymore. I asked Lovett Williams about all of that stuff a few years ago and he said he didn't believe it either. I think turkeys fly wherever they feel like going, although it IS easier to sail off a roost downhill. I've seen lots of turkeys fly downhill, or curve around the hill and then walk downhill. It all depends on where the food is and what they feel like doing. I've seen turkeys fly out of a tree straight into the hill and land. I doubt they fly uphill much when they launch out a tree--- just because it's too much work most of the time.

Here's some info on Lovett:

http://www.booktrail.com/Wingshoot_Turkey/afterhunt.asp

The main thing I've learned in 35 years of turkey hunting is not to count on being able to predict what turkeys will do!

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-08-2003 19:02: Message edited by: Ithaca 37 ]</font>

 

[Dick Reece]

hey,thanks for the great book link!

Well,I guess we both agree that being uphill from a gobbler is a lot better than being downhill,so I'll keep calling from uphill,sonce that's where my luck seems to lay!