I have an old old bird living on the property. We have heard this dude gobble both times we have been on the property but he wont budge. The most recent time we saw him crossing a field without hens headed towards a bird that was gobbling his face off. We got in front of him gave a soft couple of yelps he gobbled but took the right road instead of the left, leaving us to sit and listen to him crest the hill towards the other gobblers across the highway. We returned later in the day and found him again in the middle of a set aside field, but bumped him trying to sneak around the edge to get in position.
Here is my question. Since he was so aggressive and hell bent to get to the gobbling birds, do you think a jake strutter decoy will just drive him crazy. Im trying to figure a way to rile him up and put him in my dads lap. We have one morning left to hunt and Im willing to pull all the stops. Any suggestions? Any opinions? Gobble calls? Strutting Decoys? Breeding hen decoys? Whats it going to take to put this bird in the dirt?
You need a Jake or a full Tom decoy and a gobbler call. Should get him riled up by the sounds of it.
Im far from an expert, but would try some aggresive cuts on a loud box call.
Id also try a jake strutter, combined with a box call gobble(to sound like a jake)
He sounds like a challange, good luck! :thumbsup:
What Tim said,
Horner
Second what Tim said. I'd also set up in the morning where you think he wants to go. Does he have a general direction he likes to go when he flies down? Get in his path so to make sure he will see your strutter. You also may try to set a hen under your jake like he's mating. You may have a front row seat for an ol' fashion deke thrashin. A gooble tube is also a great way to p__s him off. Yelp, cackle, then gobble. Hang On and good luck!
Dave
Full strutter and some mad fighting purrs if he hangs up. I bet he will charge right in and thrash your deke.
Cut him off, be between him and where he wants to go. Don't call or just call one time! This is the way that I have had the best luck on old birds like this with a scatter gun. Shaun's idea sounds good too. Good luck!
It is all good.get it gone. Time :banghead:
He really only has one place to go and that is where we will be. His other option is to escape through a powerline cut, through a fence, then through backyards to get out to the road and then he has to cross that to get to some of the other birds that have been gobbing hard.
Weekend one, he sat in his strut zone and gobbled at every call we made, but would not come out of the woods and investigate. We were calling at him from 2-300 yards away and he just wouldnt come out.
Weekend two, we heard him gobble a couple times on the roost, fly down then we saw him crossing a field with zero hens on a march to get to the birds that were gobbling. Im assuming that since he has roosted there two weekends in a row, he will be there again.
Looking at the weather, it looks like storms through the night clearing up between 6-9 and then getting windy around noon. So it looks like we might have a window, lets just hope he cooperates.