OK, so I'm in the corner of a fallow crop field last night in my pop up blind. Farmer says a gobbler was strutting in the field in front of my blind the night before (when I wasn't there). This is a historical strut zone. I put out my two Avian X hen decoys and Avian X quarter strut jake about 12 yards in front of my blind in the field(which is just on the edge of the pine trees bordering the corner). Soft purrs about every 10-15 minutes on my slate call. A gobbler and a hen (he was drumming and she was squawking) came through behind the blind real close-like 10 yards. I heard them over my left shoulder and as they got behind me, I figured no one was going out to challenge my decoys, so I started squawking right back at the hen to try and get her to come out and challenge her two hen rivals. No luck and they continued to move slowly off.
Decoys were placed with Jake facing the blind and one feeding hen and one breeder hen in front of the Jake.
Anything I should have done different? The farmer has already texted me twice today saying there's a gobbler out in front of my blind strutting. :knothead:
Will be back there again tonight and then on the weekend all day
A lone hen decoy might get him, but it could be a timing issue, too. If he's following her around, could be that he's strutting around early, and when she finds him there, they go hang out...
If he struts close enough to your blind for a shot, then don't mess with a good thing by using decoys. Just sparse, soft calling. If you need to get him closer, then I agree with rwbowman...use a lone hen. Good luck!!
I don't anything I would have done differently. You just need to catch him without a hen. Toms with hens seldom do what you would like them to. He seems to like the area. Just need to spend a little more time there to catch him when he is lonely is all I think you need to do.
Dont change a thing! He will be yours shortly!
Time, patience, and a little luck is all you need.
Time, patience, and a little luck is all you need.
I'm definitely no expert, but if he is strutting in front of your blind when you AREN'T there calling, I'd try just being patient, without any calls. :archer:
Well he's a tough older bird-about 8" beard. Was around the blind for an hour plus tonight. He had a hen around and she moved off into the pines behind me. He strutted about eighty yards out for about fifteen minutes. He moved in to about twenty five yards and i thought here we go but then he moved out to about forty yards again. Will try just hens tomorrow to see if that helps. Will be my first time out in a.m. and see if I can wait him out.
Well he's a tough older bird-about 8" beard. Was around the blind for an hour plus tonight. He had a hen around and she moved off into the pines behind me. He strutted about eighty yards out for about fifteen minutes. He moved in to about twenty five yards and i thought here we go but then he moved out to about forty yards again. Will try just hens tomorrow to see if that helps. Will be my first time out in a.m. and see if I can wait him out.
QuoteOriginally posted by Florida lime:
I'm definitely no expert, but if he is strutting in front of your blind when you AREN'T there calling, I'd try just being patient, without any calls. :archer:
Could even go decoy less :dunno:
I don't know if it is because of pressure in my area, but I find that decoys often spook birds off... occasionally they work well though.
Now you went and got me confused. :knothead:
Quality of dekes seem to make a big difference for bow. Lower quality dekes get them in the vicinity for the shotgun, but to really hold them around the only dekes that I have seen/heard consistently do that are the high quality Avian and DSDs.
Good luck.
Dan in KS
He obviously remembers your setup, give it a different look. Try adding another hen to your setup, or remove the Jake, call softly with a different call, or striker.
Ray, Loose the decoys... Sleep in, and try to catch him without a hen with him. It's almost impossible to call a hened up Gobbler away from her... Sit in the blind & when you're sure he's not around, give 2 or 3 series of hen yelps. Then set your call down & don't touch it!!! When he hears her... He will come looking! When he sees the empty field, he'll come to the strutt zone & start strutting & gobbling to call her back. Just, wait him out... OR, you could use a single strutting Jake decoy, and gobble at him..... Bring him in looking to whip the snot outa the punk kid that's using HIS strutt zone!!! Good Luck!!!!!
I wouldn't change a thing about your setup, I just killed my first Trad turkey this year, and I did it by using 2 hens and 1 jake decoy (all Feather Flex) The tom came straight in to the jake decoy and started pushing it around until an arrow ended his morning. Be patient...it will happen!
I think the key words here are "Strutt Zone".....
Ray's blind is overlooking a well established strutt zone. If the Tom has a hen, or hens with him... He has no need to go there, and all the decoys in the world, nor the sweetest calling ever heard, will bring him in...
He has to "need" to go to that strutt zone, before he will. He has to be alone, and have no hens in sight... This is why the farmer keeps telling Ray that he's seen him out strutting in front of his blind. The farmer keeps reporting a lone Tom, in the afternoon/evening... The Gobbler probly meets up with a hen in the morning. Then, after they're "done" she leaves him flat & heads off to nest. He's all alone, and heads off to find a new girlfriend... To his strutt zone, to sing & dance around, and hopefully get lucky again!!!
Check out my post on pg 2 of the "How many have killed Turkeys" thread...
I like having one hen on the ground like she is receptive for breeding, with the jake right over her.However, some days no matter what you do some turkeys just won't play the game. Then a few days later they run right in. Keep at it.
How close is "right in front of your blind"? The farmer's "close" may not be "bow close".
This has been a very interesting year so far. I started by buying a DSD Submissive Jake to relapse my aging decoys. The first couple days I hunted I had birds hang up but I am not sure they saw my decoys (jake and 2 hens). The last three days I have used just the Jake and no hens. I killed a nice bird last weekend with a roller bow miss a shot opportunity one day and today missed a Jake twice:( with my Longbow. I am really having trouble taking my eyes of the head and picking a spot on the body. I catch my eyes wandering. I have a few very dedicated Turkey hunters and the lone Jake or strutter for some reason has been getting attention. Go figure.
I spent 5 days in Texas using the Avian X decoys and had mixed results. Early mornings while the Toms ere still following the hens around the hens would come in close, but the gobblers hung up and circled around....
late afternoon i had one gobbler come right in but he busted me in my brush blind moving my bow into position.... The next time i try that turkey hunting i'll be using a pop up blind.
i do think the lone gobblers in the afternoons are more susceptible to the decoys.... or it seemed so in my case.... i tried the lone hen and pulled the jake one morning and got the same results. the gobblers hung up and did a lot of calling, but wouldn't come in past 30 yards.....
5 days just wasn't enough time to get it going this trip.....But i gave her a good shot.
First off, thank you all for the comments. First I'm happy to report I've earned a bachelor's degree and put a nice six inch beard gobbler this morning. It wasn't the long beard that's been my nemesis this week, but a nice bird. My nemesis did show up this morning at half hour after shooting light. He worked two hundred yards across the field and hung up at fifty yards. My first configuration was a feeding hen right up next to the blind and theJake and second hen in the breeding position about twelve yards out facing the blind. I was thinking this would pissed him off. Well he gobbled his head off but wouldn't commit. Off he went. Gobblers were sounding off and the it went quiet. Next I got out of the blind moved both hens up close and put the Jake out at thirty five yards thinking it would be like duck hunting and I'd create a landing zone. Well he comes back through and moves through just on the outside of the Jake at forty five yards strutting and gobbling the whole way and moved off again. So I moved the decoys again. Jake at about twenty and hens at seven. Here comes more gobbling. Can't see him yet out the front window but sounds close. It's multiple gobblers and the three of them march right up to the jake and start trashing him. One of them stopped long enough and took a Kustom King Trailmaker broadside at twenty one yards from my 1971 Super Kodiak. It actually looked like the arrow bounced off of him and he flopped over dead in fourteen yards. The arrow actually penetrated five inches out the other side and broke the hip bone. His wing snapped the carbon arrow off and it looked like it bounced off.
The moral of the story is that the older bird was just a little more cautious and experienced. The three amigo's were looking to trash the young upstart with the two lady friends.
With only one day left in our short season three birds in the hand was more likely than an old bird in the bush. Pictures to come soon.
Patience pays off ! :thumbsup:
Hmmmm double post.
Well done Ray :thumbsup:
Congrats!!!
Congrats Ray! I got the last season this year. I'm really starting to get pumped.
Congrats!
Nice work!!!!
So here are some pictures. 1971 Super Kodiak with original limb covers. Easton Axis arrows with Kustom King Trailmaker heads. This is the same arrow point combination that I took my fall gobbler with last year. Deadly combination for me. On the autopsy picture attached, you can see the white leg/hip bone piece sticking out a little. The head broke this on the way out of the bird. 43# bow, turkeys are tough.
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Here's my final setup. The hen decoy up front with another hen decoy off to the left in the shadow that is not in the picture. The Jake Decoy in the middle and then the two gobblers behind it that came in with my dead bird laying in the background. The jake decoy is at 21 yards from the front of my popup blind which is on the other side of the service drive leading around the edge of the field. The two gobblers are standing at about the closest point that the big boy ever came to my setup. My daughter Morgan will be hunting with me during the third season hunt period in two weeks so we'll see what the birds are doing then.
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Nice bird and pics! Congrats!
Congrats!
Sorry Ray, almost forgot!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:
Thanks gentleman for the kind comments. In northern MI, our seasons are a roll of the dice, in my opinion. Our first two hunt periods are 1 week each and then the third hunt is a 3 week long period where anyone not drawn for the first two get to hunt. The weather for the first hunt can be iffy and you have to put in for the permit by February 1. If you have bad weather for the week, especially the weekend if you can only hunt then, you may miss out on a chance for a bird. Fortunately for me, the nasty weather was early in the week. The plus side is that you're hunting uneducated birds. While I was able to get close on a couple of evening hunts, Saturday was truly a glorious spring day to be in the woods. Sunny, crisp and no wind. I felt comfortable getting in and out of the blind to change up decoys because I was able to track gobblers by sound (however they can always slip in silently). Even though I didn't bag the 'nemesis', I still had fun trying and it was a learning experience-what more could I ask for.
Good luck to those still out in the woods and hopefully, as the original thread title indicated, I just wanted to share ideas back and forth on scenario's and what could be done different. It certainly is a nice way to bridge the gap until the fall hunting seasons come around and the bonus is I have an opportunity to get out with my daughter during the last hunt. :thumbsup:
Congratulations Buddy, you're getting to be one heck of a turkey killer. We might have to change your camp nickname to "Big Turkey" :biglaugh:
Hey Ron, I hope last falls bird and this one are not isolated instances. Before that I was one bird in 13 years, which I hardly believe puts me in the 'turkey killer' category.
As for you, get after that long beard you were telling me about. The northern faction of the Shrewhaven gang was 2 for 2 last week. If by chance your turkey has a 9" or greater beard, Greg and I will concede bragging rights. ;)
Congrats Ray!
Thanks Allen,
Hard to see in the picture,but that's one of your string builds (with Bow Hush silencers). GREAT product for those of you who use vintage bows and want a B-55 string. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Nice bird! Congrats!
very nice
Great job!
Awesome!
Congrats on a fine bird!
Bisch
Congrats...great job!
Nice work, Ray. Congrats on a great bird.
Congrats Ray! way to stick with them. I know a lot of guys who would have left after the first gobbler left..
Nice work Ray!!!!
Way to go Ray! Just love reading and seeing these successful hunts unfold.
Bill-
Good Going Ray! :thumbsup: