Going Cold Turkey

I did not want to interfere with the “A” season hunters, so I stayed out of the woods and fields during that first week of the season. I conversed with other turkey hunters, and most of them reported successful hunts. True, not all of them got their bird during that first week, but the turkeys were literally everywhere where hunters looked and the action was exciting for those participating.

When the “B” season opened, I spent many early morning hours “talking” with gobblers before they came down off from their roosts. Most of the time I was in my chosen location, with my decoys set out, well prior to daylight. This meant that I was out of bed no later than three A.M. most every morning, and in “turkey land” by four A.M. or soon after. I was quite surprised to learn that the gobblers were very vocal as long as they were on their roost. I found that once they came down to the ground they, for the most part, remained silent and would not come in to my calls. I used my cedar box call, my slate call, as well as a commercial hen call, but nothing seemed to work. I tried all three calls in different ways, from being very vocal and loud, to calling ever so lightly, with several minutes between calls. During this time I never was able to get a gobbler to come in to my decoys, or to my chosen location.

I believe the major causes for this behavior was due do the fact that the gobblers did their breeding early and by the time the “B” season arrived, most of them had lost interest in breeding turkeys. As a result, they simply ignored the calls and decoys - “going their own ways” once they came down to the ground.

In previous years, when I have been assigned to the “A” season, I have found that gobblers, and hens, responded to both calls and decoys much more readily than during the “B” season. I also realize that as more hunters participate in the sport of turkey hunting, turkeys are bound to get a bit more “educated” and learn to avoid hunters. I suppose by now you are thinking, “Boy! That old guy sure likes to blame the turkeys for all of his problems”, You may be right, but I am finding that turkey hunting is a learning experience and I am learning more and more about these wily birds with every passing season. Let me state a few examples to illustrate my point.

At first I was a bit frustrated that I was not able to get the Toms to come in to my decoys. I had tried many methods of calling, both loud and softly, as well as frequently and infrequently but I never did find an effective way to get the gobblers to respond. Most of the time they simply went silent when they came down to the ground. I seldom saw them afterwards, so I presume they left the area. I felt better after talking with several other hunters who were having the same problems as I was, so now I learned it wasn’t “just me”.

I met up with a friend one day and he inquired how I was doing with my turkey hunting? I told him that my luck had not prevailed yet. He told me that there was a large Tom strutting around his house most every day and he invited me to come down and hunt on his property. It wasn’t long after that when I took up his offer and found an excellent location to set up my decoys and take cover behind a natural blind consisting of overhead pine branches that hung down to the ground. This was on a side hill and I had an excellent view of the area, both above and below, from my position. I was set up well before daylight, and sure enough, the first rays of daylight brought some loud gobbling from a not too distant tree. There were too many trees for me to determine the Tom’s exact location, so I sat quietly, waiting for some sort of action to develop. It wasn’t long before I heard intermittent putts, which to me indicated the gobbler was somewhat alarmed. Those calls did not happen often - I’d guess once in five or ten minutes, but this took place for nearly an hour. I could only surmise that that wise old Tom had either seen or heard me, when I set out my decoys and got into positing, well prior to daylight. I use a small headlamp when it is too dark to see safely, and that was the case this morning. That may have been the cause of his alarm. Still, I sat as quiet as possible and kept a sharp eye out for that gobbler, who was also very vocal with his loud gobbles. Occasionally I would answer with my cedar box call, but for the most part I felt if he was alarmed I had better remain fairly quiet, hoping he would settle down and get over his anxiety.

It was just before five A.M. when I first heard that gobbler and I noticed him circling around behind me at about six-thirty A.M. He was in fairly open woods and I saw him clearly as he continued to gobble and walk down hill, about forty to fifty yards away. I have a Remington Model 870-pump action shotgun with a turkey choke that shoots a very tight pattern. Still, I chose not to shoot, because of the distance the Tom was from me. I simply did not want to take a chance of wounding it, so I watched it circle halfway around me. It apparently knew of my location, because he would stop and look my way, gobble loudly, and then continue his circuitous route around me. After a few minutes he went out of sight, by walking behind a pile of brush. This didn’t keep him from gobbling, and he continued to call for another half-hour before he moved away from the area. The last I heard of that bird, he was gobbling and moving off and I would estimate he was at least three hundred yards away! So, that ended our encounter that morning.

I returned to visit “Mr. Gobbler” several times after that, and I finally located his roosting area. With this knowledge, I figured I could outsmart him. My first attempt was to sneak in quietly, prior to daylight and set up my decoys about a hundred feet from where I had determined he roosted. Sure enough, I heard his loud gobbling a few minutes before five A.M. I remained quietly in place and only occasionally did I answer his calls. My hopes were for him to fly down from his perch and land in an opening in front of me, where he would see my decoys. My hopes were shattered when that Tom flew off his roost in the opposite direction from where I was sitting.

Now I knew I was up against a wise old Tom, so I would change my strategy. The following morning I sneaked into position on the opposite side of that tree where the Tom roosted. He had picked a hardwood tree surrounded by three softwood trees that concealed his location from my view. That second morning I moved in even closer, hoping to get sight of that gobbler while he was still on his perch. I also sneaked in the dark, well before four A.M., and did not use a light. Sure enough, he began gobbling loudly at his usual time - just before five A.M.

This morning I decided I would remain well hidden and would not do any calling - thinking that in this way that old Tom would come down off his perch and land close by, where I might get a shot at him. You guessed it! I never was able to see him up on the roost and when he left, he flew off in the opposite direction from the side of the tree where I was located. I am still pondering how he knew where I was located! He flew out of that tree so fast that I only got a brief glimpse. If I had blinked, I would not have seen him. Once he landed he started gobbling and continued hurriedly running off. From being there previously, I had also learned of his exit route. So, I headed in a circular route to try to get into position where I could see him go across a field. I soon learned I was too late, when I heard him gobbling from the further side of that field. One thing for sure, he had made a fool out of me for several mornings, so I decided to spend my time hunting elsewhere.

My son Jim has a couple of the camouflaged “pop-up” tent blinds that he uses for both deer and turkey hunting. On several mornings, I would meet Jim at his house, twenty-five miles from my home. The area where we hunted was only a short distance from his home, so I planned to arrive about four A.M., or shortly after. We liked to get inside his blind before daylight. One of his blinds we set up and left in place for several days. The other blind he carried in on his back so we could set it up in different locations.

I was quite surprised to learn how effective these types of blinds are. They don’t seem to bother either the turkeys or deer. We tried several locations and heard gobblers most every morning. Most of the time they would not come in to our calls or decoys. It seems that the only time that happened was on mornings when Jim went to his blind alone. He managed to get some turkeys to land in front of his blind, as they flew down from the roosts. I believe during the season, he fired four shots at turkeys, but he didn’t hit them hard enough to stop them.

Other friends invited me to hunt on their property and told me about having as many as twenty-five turkeys around their homes. I accepted their offers and set up in different locations. I also made a few mistakes. For instance, on two consecutive mornings, I set out my decoys in the edges of fields. (One location was about five miles from the other.) The first morning I was surprised to see a Tom go flying off in a hurry, soon after daylight. Why? I believe it was because he had sat on his roost, in a hardwood tree, at the edge of the field. He was probably wondering what was going on when I sat out my decoys almost directly underneath the tree where he was perched. I used my headlamp that morning and I’m sure he knew something strange was going on. He never gobbled that morning and I had to laugh when I saw him go sailing over the decoys, landing in the woods, where he ran off in a hurry.

The following morning I was at another location, and I chose to set out my decoys adjacent to a small farm pond, in a small field, next to some woods. It looked like a spot where turkeys might frequent, although I had not scouted this area prior to the season. I went there because a friend told me he had about twenty or more turkeys living around his property and invited me to hunt there. Again, I used my headlamp to set out my decoys in the small field, about a hundred feet from the woods. I found an excellent place to sit and remain hidden, with the decoys about twenty yards out in front of me. I was all ready for turkeys before four-fifteen A.M. I sat quietly until about five A.M. before I heard a gobbler call and it was so loud that I knew it must be roosted in the edge of the woods really close by. In fact, I expected to spot it in one of three or four big trees located near the field, as soon as it got light enough for good visibility.

I only heard the one gobbler but he was surely vocal and called often and loudly. Sometimes I would answer his calls and at other times I remained silent. It was a fairly warm morning and I finally had to use some repellent to keep the mosquitoes away. Of course I had my face and hands covered with a camouflage facemask and gloves but they still wanted to chew around my eyes. That gobbler continued to call intermittently, and I answered him just enough to keep his interest, hoping he would finally fly down to my decoys, that I knew he could certainly see.

After awhile I noticed a motion and watched intently. Soon I saw a doe come walking towards my decoys. She had her head stretched out and was staring at the setup. As she got closer, she began to take stiff-legged steps and a couple of times she even pounded the ground with a front hoof. I enjoyed watching her antics for several minutes before she finally decided to head into the woods.

About fifteen minutes later, I saw another larger deer come walking into view. This one was more cautious, and stayed further away from the decoys. Suddenly it turned and ran off for a short distance and then stood in place and blew several times, before running off into the woods. All the while, the gobbler continued his calls and he kept it up until eight-thirty A.M. before he finally went silent. I never did see him fly down off the roost. One thing for sure, he never came my way. I don’t believe he was alarmed but for some unknown reason, it chose not to come to the decoys. We had carried on our “conversation” for three and one-half hours, so naturally I was disappointed that he didn’t come out where I could see him.

I believe during the season I must have seen about fifteen gobblers. In every instance, when I attempted to call them in, they did not respond. One day, I saw a huge tom strutting in front of a hen, so I decided to see if I could interest him in coming my way. I spotted him mid-morning when I approached a field. He was about a hundred yards away, so I used my slate call and gave him my best “come hither” call. I guess he didn’t like what I said, because he simply walked out of the field.

Another morning, my son Jim and I were heading back to our car when we heard a tom gobbling loudly in a field a short distance from where we were walking. Jim took a shortcut through the woods, while I walked in the roadway, parallel to the field and walked down another road that led to the field. I approached quietly, looking intently to see if I could see the tom, when I heard two shots. From the direction they came from, I knew it had to be Jim shooting. Soon, I saw a Tom go flying across the field and over the treetops and out so sight. I simply stood in place and shortly after I saw another tom come up over a crest of the backside of the field and it stood there looking around. It didn’t move for a couple of minutes so I got out my hen call and called softly. The tom instantly heard the call and started to come my way, just as Jim came up over the crest of the field into view. I took my eyes off from the tom for a few seconds to look Jim’s way and when I looked back the tom I had been watching was gone. I have no idea how he got out of sight so fast! It turned out that Jim took his first shot as the Tom he saw was running directly at him. He missed, and the gobbler took to flight and he fired another shot, and missed again. So much for that action.

Another day we were set up with the pop up tent blind and Jim finally had to go to work. We had heard several gobblers earlier, so I decided to stay a bit longer. I happened to glance down the field and saw a deer intently staring at Jim, as he walked towards the deer. He was completely camouflaged, and the deer was very curious. Jim would take three steps and the deer would step his way three steps. He tried six steps and the deer walked six steps towards him. It was quite a sight to watch. Finally, Jim said, “Why don’t you get out of here?” With those words, the deer bounded out of the field in long strides.

Even though neither Jim nor I harvested a turkey, we still had fun and enjoyed being out hunting turkeys. I have to admit, my butt was “draggin’ a bit” after getting up at least by three A.M. for most of the three weeks that I hunted turkeys. But, I am normally a “morning person” and like to be out and about in good season in the morning. As for me, I know I will be anxious to get out “talking turkey” come another season.