shickoff Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 That longbeard was hot. Now he's not. We've all been there a time or two. What turkey hunting tactics would you use to close the deal on this bird? Turkey Hunting Tactics: What Would You do? | Realtree ® Thanks, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 There's certainly more than one option Steve. In your example he's suddenly gotten lockjaw after gobbling his head off for an hour. In that situation, there's a good chance a hen or hens have come to him so he's busy strutting and drumming for her. No need to make a move if he's just shut up. He may just be on the move to you. One option is to give him the silent treatment and let him or the hens he's with make the next move. I've been there before when they've shut up for good and other times hear them crank back up in 30 to 45 minutes or so. Other times he was just simply on the move to me. If they shut up for an hour or more, I'll back out & try to find another bird & try that one later or another day. On one occasion the gobbler I was on shut down about 30 minutes after flydown. Then I saw a hen fly up into a tree right after he shut down. While glassing her from my hidden spot, I glassed a 2nd hen in the same tree. Figured they were lower on the pecking order than the hen or hens that got to him. The only way out was to bust those hens & probably him so I sat back, relaxed, and didn't make another call till the gobbler sounded off. About 45 minutes later he cranked up gobbling & those 2 hens flew down to him. OK...their turn. Another 30 minutes of silence while he serviced them. Then he cranked up gobbling again so I started dishing out some soft calls to let him know I was still there. 10 minutes later he and his buddy came in, both in full strut...lead strutter...dead. There have been quite a few other times when I've broke out the gobble call to try to make the bird think another upstart gobbler has moved in on his hens. Like any calling it doesn't always work but it sure has from time to time. It works better on older birds higher in the pecking order. Another option is to change over to doing nothing but an occasional cluck & purr and add in some scratching to try to sound like hens that are more interested in feeding than anything else. I've had success with that too. Sometimes I've called in the hens he was with & they dragged him in. That happened with my 2nd bird last year. He had a half dozen hens with him. With turkey hunting...nothing works all the time but with experience you'll discover some tricks that work some of the time. I think the birds teach me some new tricks every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 rhino through out some good stuff. my last bird i had to get between him and the hens once he shut up and commited to their direction. three of us setup on a high point over looking a valley. we fired up two toms together on one side. hens started getting worked up on the other side. wouldn't commit to our location. they finally shut up and went on the move to the group of hens across the valley. toms eventually went out of sight into a swamp at the bottom of the valley. other two hunters headed for the truck. i ran and got to other side of the swamp were it came together with some field edges and a barway. i setup with a hen decoy. not 2 minutes after setting up, i had them spitting and drumming just inside the cover, right behind me! i purred softly a little bit and they came out threw the barway into the field. the first one was at about 3 or 4 yards and started putting before the other one was fully out. it was too late though. hammered him so hard he didn't even flop his wings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shickoff Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Love the hunt stories, guys. That's the best thing about turkey hunting: the tactics, especially if it involves calling. Nothing works all the time and sometimes something we try does. I killed a longbeard once after it (and a bull jake) hung up silently behind me for a long time . . . could hear them moving and almost feel them looking my way. Something made me try something different with these birds. I got up and hustled maybe 70-80 yds. down to the far pasture corner, hidden by the leafed-out woods between us. I caught my breath, called and dang if they didn't come running from right behind where I'd been, gobbling the whole way. Another time birds might have ignored me. That's why it's so satisfying when it works, eh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted January 22, 2012 Report Share Posted January 22, 2012 Shut-mouthed gobblers are hard to deal with unless you know for sure why they've gone silent.........which ain't too often. I have several things I try........... much like Rhino. Sometimes I'll sit and wait. Sometimes I'll get mouth with him. Sometimes I'll move on the bird. Sometimes I'll get up and leave the bird. Sometimes I'll do a mix & match with the mentioned tactics. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. How's that for a direct answer ?? :wacko: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted January 23, 2012 Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 How's that for a direct answer ?? :wacko: Makes sense to me...sometimes tactics just go with which way the wind blows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted January 23, 2012 Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 Makes sense to me...sometimes tactics just go with which way the wind blows. Ya gotta give him what he wants. The only way to figure that out is to start throwing things out there until one of them sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elkoholic Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 If you try "nothing", then for sure nothing will probably happen. Although, doing nothing but sitting still and staying alert may be all you need to do. My only thought is that there may need to be an order to what you try, and depending on conditions I would leave trying to get closer as the last thing to try for if you get spotted on the approach you more than likely just lost your chance for the day. No matter what happens, you still win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loner Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 it depends on time of year.early, season,tom vocal on roost until he hears the hen talking back.he will sit and watch from the tree and gobble until he sees her or thinks she is feeding in opposite direction.when he flies down, and the hen is coming to him, he might shutdown,strut and follow along wherever she goes but silent.he he hears another hen at a distance he will gobble back but stay with the hen he is with.later, in the season the hen leaves to go to the nest and when he is alone he will gobble and come to about any hen he hears fast.tom is not going to leave the hen.she might come to your call and he will follow.if not, you have to get ahead of the birds in direction they are traveling.older tom even more difficult as are more hens and bigger flock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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