Fall birds... scatter and call back


Adjam5

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In hunting fall birds...scatter them and call them back in.

Who has actually done that?

I have always had that tactic in mind, but never applied it.

Every fall bird I've shot(5), have always been by stalking or by walking up on them accidentally.

I have always thought they are scittish to begin with, and spooking them will only make them harder to kill at that point in time.

Just wondering who has done that scatter and call back with success.

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Strut10 nailed it...it's worked for me a few times and when I was younger and went along with my dad while he hunted it worked quite a bit. The trick is, get a REAL good break.

We were sneaking along a field early one morning and happened to see a flock of maybe 15 birds feeding in another field. We snuck together to that field and then snuck in as close as we could before we got busted...immediately when they threw their heads up into the air we rushed 'em and they scattered really well. Now is the fun part, we moved over the hillside towards where several had went, quickly sat up and started doing some 'boss hen' calls. Within a few moments we could hear something coming in the leaves and a hen was on her way in.

Like Strut said, sometimes it's almost so easy it isn't fair!

It works, try it.

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In hunting fall birds...scatter them and call them back in.

Who has actually done that?

I have always had that tactic in mind, but never applied it.

Every fall bird I've shot(5), have always been by stalking or by walking up on them accidentally.

I have always thought they are scittish to begin with, and spooking them will only make them harder to kill at that point in time.

Just wondering who has done that scatter and call back with success.

While I don't get much of a chance to hunt fall birds due to the bow season, I did hunt them a couple of times. (no Gobblers yet). I heard them sounding off as I was moving through the woods and set up and proceeded to call them right in. Took two jakes that way. I never understood the mentality to scatter them when you can call them in?:confused:

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While I don't get much of a chance to hunt fall birds due to the bow season, I did hunt them a couple of times. (no Gobblers yet). I heard them sounding off as I was moving through the woods and set up and proceeded to call them right in. Took two jakes that way. I never understood the mentality to scatter them when you can call them in?:confused:

Fall birds really are group oriented and if you scatter them all different directions they will make a ruckus with all their calling! all you need to do is either give a couple kee-kees or mimic the sounds of another turkey!

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I never understood the mentality to scatter them when you can call them in?:confused:

Guess it's the excitement factor. A scttered flock coming to the call is something to see and hear..........birds pouring in from 360 degrees..........many times at a dead run.

About the only thing to compare it to is a big flock of geese 10 feet over your dekes (and your head), wings in reverse and feet out. Mass pandemonium. :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

I should not admit this but I have done this twice this year. It worked great. I did it a few weeks ago and when the boss hen showed back up I missed her with my bow. Shot right under it at 20 or so yards. Second time was just the other day. Busted them up and called them back. Only problem was my girlfriend missed with her shotgun. Ooops. Uh Oh! Still had a blast though. The scatter and call back tactic works awesome.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest TennesseeTurkey

yeah that tactic works great! Ive been hunting the kentucky rifle season all week and the hens are very vocal early and off the roost until around 9 am I have found. I even got out of the car one morning last week and shut the door and a gobbler hollered at me. It was no fluke either as i love hearding those thunder chickens yodel I did it about 20 times :D

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This is the first Fall turkey season I have hunted here in west-central Iowa..I took a bird the afternoon of 11/1. A friend of mine and located a bachelor group of jakes and got as close as we could and scattered them. We then sat down in some cover and made a few yelps with a mouth call and waited..did not take long and one of the jakes came rushing in to the call. I put a clean kill on him at less than 10 yards. I have since purchased a 2nd tag and have seen alot of birds but they have been busting me on my way into the woods. This morning was cool and rainy here and I sat down and tried calling one in..I actually had a tom gobble back to me multiple times but he was heading the opposite direction so had no shot. Gonna hit it hard tomorrow in the cold, wind and flurries and see what I can come up with. Best of luck to you.

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might wanna watch urself there adjam5. or maybe take a quick look at ur hunter digest. the game commission really seems to frown upon stalking during turkey season. As an EMT ive seen at least 4 hunters who were shot cuz they called in a stalking hunter.

I have stalked flocks of birds that I KNEW were birds, not other hunters. I hunt family private land only, and I don't shoot at anything I don't confirm.

Thanks for the safety tip.

BTW welcome to the Realtree forums:).

Edited by Adjam5
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  • 3 weeks later...

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