What are the chances.....

[justdace]

I am taking my daughter turkey hunting in the A.M.. I scouted the area we will be hunting There is one long beard and 11 hens... no jakes just the 1 gobbler...with 11 hens. I think it may be difficult to lure him in....what do you all think.I'm thinking a jake decoy may set him off. by the way this is her first time turkey hunting... she took a small buck her first time deer hunting...it would be cool if she can connect tomorrw.


Dace

[Grant]

Heres a situation I like to have an area scouted well. He can be had, just may take time. You have several options, one, is hunt longer up into the day and hope the hens leave him; another option is to try to call him in, or the hens...may have more luck trying to lure the hens to you, in turn bring the gobbler in; third, know where his main strut zone are and get there before he does; fourth, catch them heading in a direction you can get in front of them.

Any # of things works on hened up birds, can make for some tough hunting, but thats the name of the game. Good luck in the morning!!

http://www.hunt101.com/img/097735.jpg

[HappyHunter]

I KNOW I AM A LITTLE LATE WITH THIS POST. BUT, IF ALL ELSE FAILS YOU MAY TRY SCATTERING THE FLOCK. I WOULD ONLY DO THIS IF I WAS FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT I COULD SEPERATE THE GOBBLER FROM THE HENS. MOVE IN THE DIRECTION THAT HE RUNS/FLIES AND SET AND BEGIN CALLING IN 20 OR 30 MINUTES. HE WILL BE ANXIOUS TO GET BACK WITH HIS HENS. THIS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A LAST DITCH EFFORT AS YOU MAY RUN HIM OUT OF THERE COMPLETELY.

HOPEFULLY THIS WON'T BE NECESSARY BECAUSE YOU TAGGED HIM THIS MORNING[;)]

[justdace]

No such luck .....another hunter got between us but they didn't get anything either. Then came the wind............well maybe tomorrow. Sounds like good advice Grant I think I can do that... I've watch them for a week or two ...they are always in the same area at least sometime during the day.After the other hunters left we just sat there quietly for a hour or two ...thinking they might just wander out. I wonder if they have started nesting yet they all seem to stay right together.......... also seems to me there should be at least 1 or 2 jakes also.

[Grant]

Justdace, as far as the nesting goes, I have seen birds when nests in regular season, I would assum some could be allready, but I have never seem them this early.

And about your jakes, some farms I hunt I won't see but 2 or 3 all season, and other see 5 to 10 about every time I'm out.

http://www.hunt101.com/img/097735.jpg

[2hunt]

I found a nest once on April 9th that had 8 eggs in it. George Wright alwways claimed that our normal opening of turkeys season should be when most hens are incubating, thus lowering mistaken identity, and gobblers are more vulnerable. I think most of the hens you see running around messing everyone up are usually jennies that haven't matured enough to start nesting.

[Feedman]

When nesting starts is a good question. A friend of mine and I discussed this the other day. Say you saw your first bunch on poults on May 10. It takes 28 days for a turkey egg to hatch. Hen would have had to of started nesting around the 12th of April. If she laid 14 to 16 eggs she would have started laying around March, 28th or 29 th assuming she lays one egg everyday. I may be off by a day or so in either direction.

They start laying sooner than you might think.

It ain't braggin, if you can back it up.