Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Not alone in the turkey woods!

Both cougars and wolves have recently been spotted in the woods I'll be turkey hunting in this year. And last year I found fresh bear tracks right below the cabin. All this in central Wisconsin, just North of the Dells. I've read accounts of critters, other than turkeys, responding to turkey calling, maybe I'll get some first hand experience this spring. Brings a new level of awareness to me. In past years the only thing that concerned me, while turkey hunting, was the bull out in the pasture. A beef bull, not a dairy bull, few things meaner than a dairy bull! I moose hunt up in very remote Canada where wolves and bear are a constant, just wasn't expecting this in central Wisconsin. Anyone have a close encounter in the turkey woods, other than with a turkey?

Lot of coyote encounters. A few fox and bobcats have responded to my turkey calls over the years also. Crows like to swing by for a visit. I bump wild hogs occasionally while covering ground trying to strike a gobbler or get ahead of one to set up. We also have bear and mountain lions but as far as I know I've not attracted one to my yelping. Usually the squirrels, deer and the occasional elk ignore me unless the deer get downwind. That's an aggravation to have a deer snorting and blowing at you while trying to call a gobbler.

no unusual encounters yet, but the cougars make you think twice. hopefully the decoy will get bit first.

I have called in coons, bobcats, hawks, other hunters, and even a few gobblers. A friend on the same Texas lease thought he had called in a cougar, but it turned out the cat was after two nearby deer that the hunter had not seen. The cat was out of shotgun range and his only sidearm was an auto pistol- also out of range.
From then on, he always carried a big bore revolver with him.

Honestly, my biggest critter worry would be to get bitten by a copperhead or rattlesnake miles from the truck in the steep rough country I hunt. I hunt big blocks of secluded public ground that is steep, rocky timbered country with very spotty or no cell service. Get hit by a big rattlesnake way back in the timber miles from the truck with no cell service and it'd be a bad time.

I've not had any encounters with coyotes, but my brother-in-law and a friend have had bobcats come in.

I'm like MOGC, I hunt remote, steep, rocky, timbered country with cell service only on ridges. Rattlesnakes are my biggest concern.

Yotes, bobcats. Cougar,s are in the area also. Been many sightings of em.

I will kill the fugg outta of yote if giving the chance. And the official policy for cougar is only if you are attacked
I was attacked and that's my story on what happened if it comes to it

Carry some 3 inch 4buck if time allows me to slip in a shell
If not 5 rds of Long beard should do the trick at close range hopefully.

Friggin cattle come to calling and dekes like groids for obama phone roadside giveaways.

I've dropped the firing pin on several coyotes while trying to call to a Tom. I can guarantee you they have had better days.

The worse unexpected experience I ever had was with a huge timber rattler. Early season, I was trying to get up the side of a ridge as quickly as I could. About 3/4 of the way up the mountain I reached an old strip mine high wall ledge. My heart was pounding like it was going to come out of my chest.
I just happened to look down and there he layed beside a big flat rock about three foot from me, all coiled up and covered in mud. It was almost a 5 footer.
If it had of tagged me I would have never made it back to my jeep. That thought never leaves me to this day when I'm in snake country doing anything. I'll take the coyotes any day!

I've had dairy cows come to a grunt tube so fast I thought they were gonna bust their udders. Every single one in the pasture, it looked like a stampede.

Fuggers won't leave either.......

Yes, lots of coyotes and bobcats.

On three different occasions a coyote has come into a turkey call. Twice it happened so fast I never got a shot off. This one came in between the decoys and the blind at first light. I put a load of #5 shot Winchester Supreme into him. He took off in a Ki-Yi dash back into the brush and another coyote came streaking across the opening but never got a shot off.

A neighbor 2 1/2 miles up the road from my cabin sent me this trail cam picture.

Wayne, you, uhhhhhh, might wanna setup against some good-sized trees when calling coyotes.

Yikes!!!

I turkey hunt in pineland and swampland in eastern NC, we have water moccasins, copperheads, rattlesnakes, coyote, feral hogs, feral dogs, and bobcat, and black bear - throw in ticks, chiggers, fire ants, and poison ivy. I've seen or come close to all of them while out turkey hunting. Just gotta stay aware of where you step and what's around you.

You mentioned ticks, tick borne diseases are no joking matter. I spray with permanone and don't have issues. If I were out of tick spray I'd be late getting into the woods because I'd have to wait until a store opened up and I could buy some. Lyme Disease is a bitch...

I wouldn't worry too much about getting attacked by a bobcat while turkey hunting. I've had them show up a couple times here, but they quickly lost interest when I quit calling and they didn't see any turkeys moving around.

Rattler bites are rarely fatal to humans, unless you gave an allergic reaction to the venom(like a bee sting). Yeah, they're painful, and they can have lasting detrimental effects, but very rarely is that effect death, rsecially if it's an adult that us bitten and injected with venom.

Springtime is snake time where I hunt. last year before daylight I eased in on a roosted gobbler before daylight and decided to set up by a big oak. Took out my little pen light and shined it before sitting down. By golly a coiled copperhead not a foot from where I was ready to plop down. It was a perfect spot so I put my boot on it and cut off the head with my knife and kicked it out of the way. It took a several months for the smell of that snake to get off that knife. Turkey came in behind me....never got a shot.

Angus has nailed 3 coyotes during turkey hunting.

I've got this one and a couple more:

I

See: Nobody Hunts My Property W/O Permission

Rattlesnake bites are extremely life threatening to humans. Obviously not all bites create the same effect but I have yet to see one where the patient wasn't in cardiogenic shock of very close to it. Without supportive therapy and crofab(anti-venom) you could very easily die. Copperheads and water moccasin are typically not without anaphylaxis

Mennonites are my worst problem....lol. The idiots don't turkey hunt like you're supposed to, and they will really fugg you up.

In the critter department, I've killed several coyotes that came in to a yelp. Have called up a bobcat, but not very close. Have had friends call them right into their lap. I've turkey hunted for 30 years, and have never seen a poisonous snake, and I have hunted in country where they are. Hope I never see one.

Rattlesnakes are bad where I hunt. I got struck one opening day mid morning about halfmile from the truck. I literally just picked up a deer shed...took one step and was hit. Could have been my hand. Thank goodness for snake boots. The year before I set a decoy out two foot from a rattlesnake I never saw until I was crouched down beside him.

I popped a coyote last year at 40 with some #6. Dropped him in his tracks. We also get some up close and personal encounters with some big hogs. Nothing like 4-500 pounders walking 20 yards in front of you and all you have are turkey loads. Had one about 200 lbs last year running across the powerline straight towards us and saw as at the last minute before he jump in with us. A turkey load to the ribcage is where its at on a hog, it knocks the breath out of them and they can't get up, just walk over and finish them off.

Did some mowing yesterday and bumped 3 longbeards, hoping for a good season.

I killed a hog while turkey hunting. It was feeding on acorns about ten yards away and when it turned its head broadside I put the bead of the Benelli at the base of piggys ear and sent two ounces of Hevi13 6's on the way. Dead pig...

I’ve called in coyotes, black bears and bobcats while calling spring gobblers. Been a long time since I e called in a human hunter, and I haven’t called in a Sasquatch yet.

Steve

I've had coyotes come in right on top of me, and also a guy who had come stumbling through the woods on public land. Tried to get his attention with everything but a shout, at least until his loaded gun was pointed at my decoy, and in my general vicinity. He never saw/heard me, and was scared to death when I decided to get up and tell him what I thought about the whole situation.

I was turkey hunting with my 10 year old son one time when we see a guy across on another ridge walking the neighboring property fence line hunting also. I struck my call once and he stopped. I struck it again and here he came.
He crossed over our fence and started slipping down the ridge on us. I took it as a great opportunity to demonstrate to my son just how dangerous hunting, and turkey hunting specifically, can be.
I called the guy all the way down a mule faced ridge and into the bottom before I gave up the gig. I done the old "shave and a haircut" sequence on my box call and he knew he'd been duped at that point. He turned around and started climbing back out.
He never did know where we were even at. But he knew Good and well that he wasn't supposed to be where he was at either!
My son still talks about that and thinks about it often when ever he's hunting.
If the tresspasser had slipped in behind us we could of had a much different experience.

I killed a big male yote, at 12 feet! he was comeing right at me, and a young guy I new, asked to try turkey hunting on our place, my tag was filled so I told him a spot to sit. No decoy, he had a big Bob cat jump right on top of him! he got 3 long cuts to his arn and some camo ripped up! hes never went turkey hunting again, far as I know!

The woods I hunt are covered up with black bears but I have never had one come to a turkey call, however I have called in several coyotes and a few bobcats over 30+ years of turkey hunting......Hb

Coyotes come to the turkey call so regularly that I often used it to hunt coyotes. Bobcats are the worst, they are sneaky and before you know one is around he's in the blind with you. Fortunately, they will smell you when they get that close. I've had them spook me often, but haven't been chewed on yet.

I put out a decoy before daylight in an open spot I thought the birds would make their way to after fly down and moved to a spot at the bottom of a big oak tree. Before I plopped down I took out my pen light to check for a possible snake since I had seen a couple the day before. Sure enough there was a copperhead almost exactly where I wanted to set up. I remembered an old Clint Eastwood movie, "Two Mules for Sister Sara" where he stepped on a rattlers head and severed it from the rest of its body with his knife. I thought if Clint can do it I can do it. So, took out my knife and stepped on the copperhead and cut off its head and kicked it out of the way. Birds went another direction that morning and the knife is on the back porch because it has a real funcky smell even after washing it. Wonder if Clint's knife smelled too?

After having a copperhead kill a vole not three feet from my big butt one year, I'm pretty carefull about where I place my feet (and azz) in the Spring woods.

The vole crawled out of the timber slashings I was sitting against while calling and just sat there. I looked back at him a couple minutes later, and he was stiff. Then I saw the snake that killed him behind him. Broke my heart to do it, but a $3 Heavy Shot Turkey load did the trick on him. Now I carry a .22 revolver with a couple shot loads first up in "rotation".

We have 'yotes, both cats, and bears around, but I've yet to see one in the woods I hunt.

Man! Maybe that's why I only hunt up North, I HATE snakes! LOL!

I'll take snakes, yotes or bears instead of the ahole who bumbled into the woods this morning(opening day) at 5:30 am on a full moon clear morning and busted all the birds I've scouted for off the roost

That sucks! Sorry to hear it!