Ever have this happen?

[Pinwheel8]

Last year I had it happen probably 5 or 6 times, more than any other year. I would strike a bird from 200, 300 yards, sneak into position, start calling, only to have nothing show up. Soft call, aggressive call, don't matter, nothing happens. Leave the set up figuring he either gave me a courtesy gobble or I bumped him. Go back to my original spot, to only have him strike again. :mad: Sneak back in, same ol, same ol, nothing, not a peep for fifteen or more minutes.:confused: Just for kicks go back to original spot and sure enough, he strikes.:p Now I never give up on a bird that gobbles, but by now I am give out, it's getting hot, my diabetes is screaming at me to eat something, so I get him so hot that he is gobbling at every single call I throw at him. So I try something different and I call while walking back, for what feels like the umpteenth time, and sure enough, when I get into what I figure is working distance, he shuts up.

By now if I don't get something to eat besides Skittles I am going to pass out, so I head back to the Jeep. Just for kicks and giggles, and against my better judgement I throw a few cutts his way, and guess what?:eek:

My gosh I love it.

[nwest]

wait him out... the first time. I promise you if he answers he will come see you. Patience is the key to sucess in the Turkey woods.

[notimlmit]

Had that happen before and the only thing I could think of since he heard me in one spot then got closer he was expected me (his hen) to commit all the way but when I moved back he was calling me--sometimes it works to close the distance other times it pays to get quite on him and wait him out--more often than not if I get a bird coming my way I stop and he'll keep on coming whether vocally or quite

[turkeyfan]

Patiences is what we all need when it comes to turkey hunting and I am like you, I want to close the deal. What I have done in the pass with a situation like you discribed was approach him from a different area sometimes this works but if he is on his strut zone I personally believe it is almost impossible to get him to move.

[wildman]

This is where you need a hunting partner to drop back and call. Then the bird will probably come on in. Chances are that this was a good bird that's pretty wise.

[mudhole crossing]

ive seen that happen and ive tried to wait them out. waited 2 1/2 hours on two birds within75 yrds of me-never did show up! they gobbled probably 100 + times. the best thing to do when ur patience has ran out after several hours and the birds are still in the same place, rush em. hunker down and rush them. alot times they get away, but some times u get them. alot of it depends on the terrain ur working in. works even better with a partner. partner stays back calling while u sneak in. main point is, u probably wouldnt get him if u just stayed back.

[thunderchicken09]

With all that gobbling he was doin he probably called in some hens and he was just henned up. Or hes a real old smart turkey and knows its just another hunter.

[Scott7m]

i had that happen.. short story here..... 3 big gobblers flew down into a field and picked up about 6 or 7 hens immediately, anytime i'd call they'd gobble, i could raise up and see them over the hump about 200 yards away, I knew i couldn't approach them from that angle, So i decided to walk a big circle around to come up on the other side. 20 minutes later, i poped up on the other side, only to see they had moved further away, so i got down on a belly crawl for about 10 minutes, when i got to the top of a lil knoll i could see them, 1 ol gobbler kept the other 2 off to the side while he strutted with the hens, when i started to call from where he had just been, he left the hends and came in a dead run. I think he thought he left one of his girls behind, when he popped his head over the hump i blasted him. he was obviously the dominate bird in the group having watched him all morning, i did think that he was smaller than the other 2 by quite a bit, and that was confirmed when i weighed him, he only weighed 19 pounds but had 3 bears, an 11 a 7 and a 5........

I later read that sometimes a dominate bird will have to work so hard to stay the dominate bird that they lose weight. Must have been the case, because he definitely had the bluff on the other 2 even though they were bigger.

[thunderchicken09]

The turkey i killed last year only weighed 19lbs. I dont know if he was dominant or not because i saw him for about 10 seconds then i shot because he came out of a big hollar in some thick stuff.

[vabirddog]

That is a gobbler on a strut zone. Probably has hens w/ him maybe not. He lets you know where he is and you're supposed to come... you do so he doesn;t gobble again. You need to get there before he does on another day. Don't be fooled by his ramblings the next morning he will end up in that spot sometime if he knows you're there.

[Ward]

I've seen hens fly in several times to a hung up gobbler.Sometimes they will come if you stop calling.I've circled around a few and they came to me running from the other way.Some times they just dont come at all.Its all in getting them at the right time when there in the right mood.Try scratching leaves without calling when they hang up.There all differant at times.

[buckfever]

With all that gobbling he was doin he probably called in some hens and he was just henned up. Or hes a real old smart turkey and knows its just another hunter.

Ain't that the truth. . . .LMAO. :D

[Double B]

"This is where you need a hunting partner to drop back and call. Then the bird will probably come on in. Chances are that this was a good bird that's pretty wise." - What Wildman said. This tactic is deadly if you have never tried it, yer missin out. Front guy shut up and get ready!

[maxcam]

I had a bird do that to me for 4 days in a row.......It had me so mad it got pesonal.....On the 5th day I decided that I would sneak in the back door to the clump of trees he was roosting in over a dried up pond at the end of a drain......That evening I heard him scratchin his way back to his tree and when he got with in about 15 steps I calmly said howdy, he raised his head in curiousity....By the time he realized I had sent him an express mailed package of about 21/4 oz of heavy shot it was too late.......He was a dandy ol bird.....Ivory tipped spurs almost 2 inches long and a paint brush for a beard.....

[turk2di]

Don't cha love it. If i strike a bird & close in to call and he still stuck in the same spot 1/2 hr later, im gonna go see why. Usually he's hung up in a strut zone, or tending slow moving hens mating with him, or a ditch, fence or he's reading the paper. Thats where the fun begins & all the plottin & scheming gets going:D!

[snareman]

Patience is the key. I'm not a very good caller but I have killed many turkey by simply making a half*** call and waiting the bird out.

[slickhead slayer]

I agree with the others who said that birds probably with hens or an older bird sitting in his strut zone who knows how the game is supposed to work. The hens are suppose to come to gobbler, which is what makes turkey hunting so fun. Your defying whats supposed to happen. Thats why we love 2 year old birds, they are the ones that do most of the gobbling, that come to the call etc.

You got several choices with a bird like that. If he is henned up, come back late in the morning when those hens have gone to nest. If he is in strut zone, find it and be there mid morning when he gets done tending his hens. Or, if its just an old wise bird, get up and move on to the next one.;)