Today was day 2 for me and I didn't bag one. Last night I found a general place where roosting trees were and setup a pop up blind around 10pm last night about 500 yards from the roosting area. I got to the blind around 5:40am setup my 1 hen and 1 jake. I began seeing birds around 6:15 am. I saw about 9 hens with 2 toms. I called them in to about 125 yards and they hung up. Tried calling, maybe too much calling. But they never came closer. Then they slowly walked back toward the big group of hens. I don't know why they stopped coming . I thought maybe they saw me in the blind but i doubt it. Then I thought maybe that I didn't have enough hens to keep them interested when they have a group of 9. Also 2 coyotes came about 8:40am and ran them up the hill. I barked like a big dog and the coyotes came running back down the hill and high tailed it far off. So that pretty much ended my morning. I figured game over for today and step out of the blind to see 1 young jake creeping up the back of the blind moving toward the decoys. I had no clue he was there. He never gobbled or anything. I wouldn't have taken him anyway so I wasn't THAT upset. So now I'm back at camp thinking about my game plan. For tomorrow morning... will be going to Sportsmans Warehouse shortly to buy 2-3 more hens for sure. But I am thinking about moving my blind closer to the roosting area, maybe 250 yards from it. And having more hens should definitely bring them in?? Or did the coyotes ruin it for me?? Hoping I can get some ideas from the family here on what I should do to re strategize for the morning.. Move the blind closer? Buy More hens?? Go coyote hunting? Thanks everyone and good luck with all of your hunts Mike
Welcome to Turkey hunting! Those bugger can be fickle to say the least! I would work on concealment, by making you blind look like it's been there for 100 years with brush and branches. Get rid of any sharp lines and new looking things. Some days, I firmly believe, if Turkeys could smell, I'm not sure you could kill one! There has been MORE than one day, I've walked out of the woods with the middle finger of my glove slipped over my gun barrel gesturing back to those buggers. Try not to, to "buy" a bird. My friend, Rod was learning to call Turkeys and upon making a "sour note" he would blurt our "G** DAM IT". I had to remind him that the sour-note was not that bad, it was the "GDI" out-burst was not good in the sense of seeing birds and getting us struck down by lighting! Good luck and keep us posted! MOBU
Although I was frustrated the birds wouldnt come any closer, I walked home saying, "That was fun!". Had one of the best time of my life this morning!!! Well I bought another hen a few hours ago. saw your post just now. I bought 1 more hen for $23. I have only been practicing my calls for a month maybe. I suck at the mouth call. need to keep practicing. But with the box call im half way decent. I learned alot listening to the REAL hens this morning. From what Ive read about blinds and turkeys is they are real dumb to the fact about blinds. I read they see only 2 demensional and only see movement well. Theres really nothing to do with the blind being im hunting in an open field at the base of a small mountain.
Elite, get as close to their roosting area without being busted and set up, that is key on the early morning hunts, I only do maybe two soft tree yelps to let him know I am there and if he gobbles or not I shut up. The more you talk to him the more he wills stay on the roost. When he flies down as soon as he hits the ground I will hit him with some cuts and sometimes that gets him coming in. Not only getting close to the roost is important but even bigger is be in the area where he wants to head to anyway and your success rate will go way up. When I started to turkey hunt I thought is was awesome to hear them gobble away on the roost but usually they are gobbling because they are with hens. If you can set up close to a bird that gobbles maybe once or twice you have a really good chance of calling him in. Scoot
The only advise I can offer is ditch the blind and become more mobile of your property allows it. We have had some great luck sticking the birds out til mid morning. Sometimes the hens get sick of the Toms messing with them and they will ditch the toms. After that they will be gobbling their heads off looking for more hens. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
As mentioned get closer to the roost tree, as close as you can without bumping them off the roost. They are not gonna want to explore 500 yards away from the hens they roosted with. Get within a 100 yards if you can and don't over call to them on the roost. If he cuts you off when you call, just shut up for a while tell he is about to get down and maybe remind him your there and if he cuts you off again don't say anything until he hits the ground, even then you shouldn't have to call maybe more than once or twice.
I am having this exact same problem and it's REALLY frustrating. Had a Tom with a 9 inch bird hung up 80 yards away last night
Much appreciated guys. I'm going back out in the morning and I'll be sure to set up tonight close to the roost tree. Will go easy on the calling as well. Hopefully good news to report soon! Mike
Just be where the hens want to go naturally and the toms will follow. Or your going to have to wait until the morning breakup happens but you will have to be very Mobil.
I'm gonna have to do more scouting to find out where they are going. I have only roasted the birds and will setup in them before morning. I have moved to several different spots setting up on about 3 different groups of toms and I haven't had any luck yet. That's what I'm gonna do today is scout more.
I face my hens away from me so if the toms mount the they are facing away and the jake is facing toward me. I read they like to look at each other in the eyes before they fight. I'm thinking of ditching the jake and just put out hens. I have 4 hens now. What do you guys think???
Just get closer, I personally never use more than 2 decoys and it's always a breeding pair. 1 full strut tom and one submissive hen. If you can get under 100 yds without being seen it will get significantly easier to seal the deal on a tom. Get in close and call very sparingly. Are you using a gun or bow? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
This morning I was setup about 50 yards from 3 roosted toms. There were 3 hens with them as well that I didn't know roosted there. After I setup decoys around 5:30 I called a few times softly and the hens went off!! They all flew down about 20 min later. I called a few more times and they were gobbling their heads off, but did not want to come any closer. They walked pass my decoys about 150 yards out. Gobbling the whole time. The hens followed them about 50 yards behind them. I am starting to get discouraged. My season ends in 20 days. All of the toms I've seen are hen'd up big time! They will not leave those hens!! Where they are all going is not on my property and can't pursue them on the mountain. I am thinking of relocating my blind again (5th time) to where I saw them go up the mountain. Hopefully this is their daily path when they dissappear for the day. I've Tried Afternoon calling to no avail. We have had a heat wave in the last week that had temps up to 92 degrees. Supposed to go back down to 70 ' s next week. I'm not sure what to do from here. Frustrated and get discouraged. In also using a bow making it harder on myself. I just won't be any more satisfied with a gun taken tom for my first one ever.
If all the toms have as many hens as you say the do I would try some mid afternoon hunts. A lot of times hens will ditch the toms late morning and they get really lonely. It's pretty much as close to a sure thing as possible if you can get a Tom to gobble back at you mid afternoon. I think the key thing is to keep trying different strategies until you find one that works.
Move to where they want to go.... Ditch the decoys... Never call while the birds are in the trees. When it's tuff like you are talking about I only use clucks and very soft purrs. Those hens see your decoys and take the toms the other way. I have had toms come back 2-3 hours later to see where the other hens/decoys went and done well but it can be a long wait.
Ok. Definitely will try to get out in the afternoon. The problem I have there is the turkey are moving off my property I have to hunt (almost 400 acres) to other properties where I guess the hens are laying eggs. I'm not sure how to approach for an afternoon hunt. Do I still hunt the roosting trees or apply some other method? Thank you guys for all of the help. Success is inevitable
