Yes

You do it right , be back at the house by 7:00 . Gotta love the ones that come on a dead run. Lol

LOL different strokes, different folks - i'm a "take the temp" hunter - if he's coming w/a cluck every 10 mins, great; if he's coming w/more aggressive calling, then that's what he gets ... a bird w/hens vs a solo "hot" bird are 2 different scenarios - i learned a long time ago not to make rigid rules in the turkey woods - be flexible ... 100% endorse a box call - don't just wear out a yelp on one - learn ALL the calls on a box, incl. purrs & gobbles ... i prob issue soft clucks & soft yelps & purrs more than any other calls -- but that'll change in a heartbeat if a boss hen bows up & is cackling/cutting like a fool

back to the OP - some of the most aggravating birds to hunt are the ones like abolt300's - the ones that hold to a position and/or force you to employ a totally different style - extremely rewarding when you do bag a bird like that, but they also can eat up a lot of your time

He gobbled once he hit the ground 1 time and he was in the bottom with no hens around him I seen him. He walked across the bottom and straight up the adjacent ridge. It was a little higher than the one I was on.

[quote=abolt300]Did you call to him at all while he was on the roost? Had one once that was whooping my butt. If you touched a call while he was in a tree, he would automatically head in the opposite direction. Day that I finally killed him, all I did was beat my hat against my leg and then scratch in the leaves. Heard him pitch out of the tree and he walked up to within 30 yards. As others have said, you can get too close. I prefer 150-200 yds if I can control the set-up.

I clucked to him twice around 6:45 and scratched in the leaves a little (probably clucked a little more inbetween. Once he hit the ground I cut at him to see where he was at. But that was about all the calling I did.

Exactly how I see it playing out lol. I’m out of town this week, but Sunday morning I’ll be in the area for sure.

Hopefully with a week break I can hang up the ridge a bit more update with a success picture.

Did you call to him while you were that close and he was in the tree? If so, there’s your problem.

This….. that’s about the best way I know to prettymuch guarantee you ain’t gonna kill him.

I had one at 400 yards across clear cut on Sunday, 2 properties over.


How loud do you have to be to call that joker over?

Clucked 2x and scratched in the leaves

I think he stole that from PCPs first commandment of turkey hunting

Funny you say that though. Last night I was having an internal debate about dropping down in a bottom with a bird I struck about 6pm. 50/50 chance I would have killed him or scared him. Ended up channeling my inner PCP and deciding to “not scare the turkey”. It’s a small piece of land, close enough to occasionally hunt after work, and this bird is the only one on it. If it was a big piece of ground, I’d have killed him or run him out of there.

Wise decision, especially on a small property. Run him off and it may be days before he comes back to where you can hunt him. I go to great lengths to avoid spooking even a lone hen. Anything that throws any of the turkeys off their pattern is probably gonna reduce your chances of killing one. It's possible to hunt turkeys without them knowing they are being hunted, and I always strive for that. If you hunt deer every day, they know they are being hunted whether you spook them or not, but if you don't spook turkeys they don't know you are around.

No way to back it up but IMO they don't like the way a cigarette burns before daylight

hey PCP - curious to hear your thoughts on this - what about spooking birds when you shoot/kill one? specifically killing a gobbler when other gobblers are with him?

At times it don't scare them much since the other go kick his ass as hes dieing . Lol

Kinda like running up on a gray fox in the dark and he yells at you . It scares the he'll out of you but in a hour you dont think about it

If you hunting with a buddy and you kill one and other Toms scatter. You need a real raspy call I mean bad . Move about 100 yards to sert on the other one's and do a gather call .

I like a Quaker boy, ,,,,,, old boss hen , Jake special or Kiki run mouth calls.

Well, nothing you can do about that. As Frankie said, lots of times another gobbler will jump on your bird as he is flopping. Once they see he is dead, they usually realize something ain't right and will run off then. If I'm sure I've made a good shot, I don't mind waiting until the other birds are gone. If I am unsure, I get to the turkey as quickly as possible and don't worry about the impact on the others.

There are no absolutes in turkey hunting. Sometimes it's just unavoidable to spook a turkey. I was just saying to avoid it if you can. I have hunted with folks who didn't put any priority on it at all, and then wonder why the turkeys are gone.

roger that, Eagle One ... on small properties, i like to scout enough to get a good feel for what's going on & then designate a few "kill spots" & go ahead & have them prepared - usually try to pick a handful of places that are easy to slip into, preferably under cover (ditch/woods/whatever) w/out spooking turkey AND deer LOL ... on bigger tracks, there's a lot more wiggle room - but on a small spot, there's less margin for "error"

There'll be some Toms that are born spooked. Lol

Those are the ones that cause sleepless nights