Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting LOL, I hate smart turkeys

Especially when they are smarter than me. Which ain't all that hard.

Yesterday I hunted on the slope of a very long ravine that is lined with big, cragily hardwoods fairly certain that's where some toms would be roosted. On the other side of that ravine and through about 50+ yards of woods is a private field. I made a few light calls and got a single gobble from my 5 o'clock. I quickly moved around to the other side of the tree and waited. I was rewarded about 10 minutes later when I saw the tom cross the trail I used to enter the area. Instead of coming towards me, he went from my 12 o'clock to my 3 o'clock and disappeared. I only got glimpses of him through the trees and understory. Never had a decent shot.

I decided yesterday that this morning I would head toward the area I got that gobble yesterday. There's yet another, smaller, and shorter ravine there similarly lined with big, cragily hardwoods. The sky was starting to get light and I got a thunderous gobble (compared to yesterday) from a tree somewhere in that other ravine. I figured he must be roughly 100 yards. Kinda of hard to tell since the foliage here is full and judging distances gets kinda tricky. So I moved on as much as I dared and then planted myself at the base of a a pine along the foot trail I was following and pulled out a Quaker Boy push pin call. I can get some really decent, subtle tree calls out that inexpensive call. He gobbled again, and again. Then he went silent. A little while elapsed then I gave two very subtle calls, and he gobbled again. He was still in a tree in that ravine and hadn't flown down yet. A couple more gobbles and 3 or 4 more light tree calls over about 1/2 an hour or so and then I heard him "fly down." I went totally silent. So did he. He never gobbled again. If he came my way, there was no way to slip past me without being seen since I was facing a point, unless he followed the slopes below my line of sight. I held my shotgun pointed in the direction of his last gobble and the fly down noise until my arms and hands started burning. Never heard another sound, at least for awhile. By now the sunlight was hitting the the trees. Then... way off in his direction I heard a gobble. God damnit, he flew down and went down and up that ravine and is heading away from me. Shyt.

I slowly stood up, picked up my bag, and as quietly as a I could started in that direction. I got maybe 25 yards, and hearing nothing, kind of just started looking up. About 30 feet away, and about 30 feet up in an small oak, there sat that tom looking down at me. And he had a nice beard - I could see that much. He hadn't flown down at all. Well, he sort of did. He flew down from a tall tree in that ravine and into a smaller tree nearer where I had called to him. In that split second of seeing him and him flying away, probably to another part of the county, I gave thought to shooting him. But I knew his feet had not touched the ground that morning, so he got a pass. He never putted or made any other vocalization. He took off and I never heard him stop flapping as the sound faded away. All I could think at that point was "Good show, Old Man. Until we meet again."

A bird like that doesn't get a beard like that on public land by being dumb. If I had to loose, I'm glad it was to him. He skunked me two days in a row.

Here's the place I tend to hunt most. It's not all in the picture. It's quite a hike in. It's a single 791 acre tract, part of a 10,000 acre state forest. In the fall and winter, those pine thickets hold a lot of birds The areas of yesterday's and today's hunts are marked.



Here's a picture of the ravine, taken shortly after he flew away, where his first gobbles of the morning originated. There's lots so big oaks, hickories, beech and tulip trees with big horizontal limbs along the sides and down in that ravine.



Never heard another gobble except a couple very far away on private land.

I just took a seat on the side of that ravine and after awhile made a few calls to see if anything would come in. Later, I headed to a trail cross-roads where I saw toms scratching and dusting a week before season started. I know they use that area and there's evidence they still do. But nothing came. By then it was getting hot so I hung it up and came home.

I have next Thursday and Friday off. I may go back to that ravine. Hopefully, he's not scared off for good and hopefully a week will help. We have just over a week left in the season and hunting has already died off considerably. Not a lot of people spring hunt the deep woods back there late in the season so hopefully he'll have a stress free week. I know the folks that own that field don't hunt, and won't let anyone hunt their land, so he's got a good chance to survive.

Anways, it was a great 2 days.

Hope you get him. So far I've not had any luck. I'm losing sleep though.

I'm not loosing any sleep. I've only been out 4 half days so far this season. I've seen birds 3 of those days. I'll hunt two more days and then call it a season. My wife and I have a bucket list vacation in July and I've saved a month of my 2023 paid time off for that. That's cutting into my days off I can take for hunting this year. I do a lot more hunting in the fall so I've not had a lot of time off this spring. But its all good. Any chance to get out is better than working, and I learn something mew every time I go.

Great attitude! You’ll get one, you have certainly paid your dues.

It's still maddening. I keep thinking about what I should have done differently - but that's the process of learning. Learning is the consequence of failure. Ideally, anyways.

I had given thought to taking a hen decoy and placing it on the trail. Had I done that, he might have seen that and come down. Instead, he stayed in that tree searching for what was making those calls. But I didn't want to be bulky for that long hike in. Next week I'll do that.

I thought of bringing my shooting stick. I'll likely do that next week. I might have sat there longer had I something to rest my gun on. Instead, all that lactic acid that built up was a motivator in moving too soon.

I won't be taking any box calls with me. My bag had the same calls in at as opening day. I think a slate or two and that little push pin call is all I'll take. That little push pin call is what held his interest for so long. In southeast Virginia, our season already starts when the majority of mating is over. Some people say I scout too early, but I've learned that in my region, the birds start gobbling in earnest in late February and it hits its peak in mid March. By the the time the season starts in April, it's well on the down turn. By May, the males are all alone. Males still gobble occasionally, but the hens are silent. In fact, I haven't "heard" a hen all season, though I did have one come in on the first day I hunted I think. It seems subtle works better now than loud.

And with all that foliage, whatever is making a sound is probably closer than what I think it is.

Also, I need to get out more. Plain and simple.

Good observations. Looks like you gained some good knowledge on how to hunt that area again in the future. I know Them ol Toms teach me something every time I have an encounter with one. But them close encounters are still exciting, even if it doesn't end with a kill.

Older, smarter, birds can be tough. Several years ago, I worked a bird for over 3 hours but, finally busted him at 9:15 AM. Mostly just sat there and kept my eyes and ears open.

you will get him, good luck

Pay attention to where he prefers to go on his own for a couple of days.

Get in that path, set up and do not call. When he comes walking by pile him up.

That's my thought for Thursday. Hunt him like a deer. Because he's not coming into calls this late in the season. He shows interest, but he's not coming to them. I plan on staking out that point for hours on Thursday. I'll have Friday too. I'm taking my turkey lounger, a pop-up blind, two hen decoys and a slate and a push pin call. I have some hen wings too and wilk probably pack those along.

Here's how it all broke out last Friday. The purple star is where I plan to set up this Thursday and the purple arrows are where I plane to put a hen decoy. That area where the stars are is showing a lot of use use. Lots of stratching, lots of turkley poop and some wing feathers.

Here's my campaign plan, LOL

Great adventure with a smart bird!

This is why I love late season hunts.....Toms have fewer hens to play with and need to take advantage of that situation. I was hunting a river bottom last Monday (5-1) decided to call it quits about 11:00 so on my drive out I had to pass this pasture and there was 3 hens about 300 yards in the pasture. I stopped my truck and grabbed my gun and eased into the field beside this pasture and sat down and watched the hens awhile. They kept looking behind a barb wire fence and finally a huge Tom came into view a few minutes....then all hens left and never saw him again....so after about an hour I left. This is a place that has had no pressure and I had mowed this field back in March but had not hunted it, so when I saw this big Tom I said tomorrow might be my day. Next morning I was there early and had a good view of that pasture at 135 yards from where I was sitting on the field edge among some small pines. Got about 9:00 and 3 hens appeared in the pasture and was working over cow pies....doing what turkeys do. They messed around there about an 30 minutes and left. Well, I had only purred and clucked a few times all morning and usually that is all I do when season is getting late. Right at 10:00, that big tom eases into that pasture and soon as I saw him I gave him a soft purr and cluck.....he blew up but never gobbled. I was set up 135 yards from that pasture so he had a ways to go to get to me. He would stick his head up every few minutes, and each time I would purr and cluck to him. This went on for one hour and finally he went under that fence and was headed my way. The weeds in the field is getting tall now and he would disappear in them on his way to me, but each time that head came up....I would give him a purr and cluck. Had ranged the trees down the wood line and there was a big pine at 55 yards....knew when he got there I might be in the game. Well, he keeps coming thru the weeds, always sticking up his head looking for me every few minutes. This went on till 11:35 and he got to 55 yard mark and I started getting my gun up, remember I could hardly work my mouth call because mouth was dry, and I was a little nervous now. Well, all of a sudden he turned to his side and turned around a little....still looking but he was wondering why he could not see that hen by now. I knew it was time....at 11:38 I let it fly and game over finally. Later ranged it....58 yards. Not what I like to do, but I knew from my patterns it would reach him to 60 yards, and I knew this was the big one..20.13lb..1-1/2", 11-1/2 beard. What a hunt

Great story.

Glocks, I try not to hunt the smart ones, just the volunteers.....Good luck

Dont call to them while they are in the tree....unless its a locator, but I'm not big fan of those either

And when he did respond to you the first time, that should have been it on your part, he knew where you were...he knew the tree you were sitting against.

Patience kills turkeys.

YEP

I have never had a locator call work here, ever. There's enough crows cawing and owls hooting anyways that calls do nothing.

Locator calls have been more miss than hit around where I hunt as well. A goose did fly over one way honking and got a gobbler fired up, first time I ever saw that.
I was able to call him in and kill him thanks to the goose locating him for me (as guess you could say that I owe an assist to the goose...lol )

I never call till they are on the ground, that is the classic move by gobblers hearing calls on the roost. set on the limb, gobble and watch have had them set on a limb till 9:00 waiting for the hen to show.