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Hardest Turkey I have ever hunted !!

835 views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  boarman1 
#1 ·
I have been Turkey hunting for over 21 years. And this is the Hardest bird I believe I have ever hunted. He is not a monster bird but he has to be super smart. I have been hunting this one bird for over 4 weeks. If it can go wrong it has went wrong. I can say that I have had to hunt smart to keep from pushing him off this property. He has around a 10 inch beard and average size spurs. Just over 1 inch from what I can tell. He has been hanging out with two other jakes and 3 to 8 hens but now its down to 3 hens. He stays out in the field everyday for over a month. I gave up hunting the public land birds that I had been hunting for this one and I hope that I get him by the end of the season.I have just over a week left and I have never been driven so crazy to get this bird. I will be posting a picture of him if I make it happen. This will be the bird I will enter in NWTF records for my eastern bird. This bird will not Gobble and he does not answer to calls at all. I have called a hen to me 3 weeks ago but he was no where to be found at the time. I have never had problems like this on a bird. He just want Gobble at all.
 
#2 ·
Sounds like the reason he has a nice beard is because he is smart, real smart but that makes the chess match that much greater when you get him. Best of luck and I hope you can outwit him! :grin:
 
#3 ·
I have Been after one that will gobble his Head off But wont budge if you hit a call when he hit the ground before he is In HIS SPOT he shuts up goes the other way and then gobbles when he is in his zone on the Same Knob. (PRIVATE GROUND)....

he roost in 2 trees and we have hunted him for 3 years.... he is at least 5 by his hooks Over 1.5 inches and he is average size... Every 4-5th gobble he chokes on his Gobble..

My buddy has put it all in this bird this year, i gave Up and went and killed a different bird. Still has 4- days left before our season closes. My wife and me and then my buddy are going to pull a Fast one on him this weekend .

Good luck and wish us the same.
 
#6 ·
Turkeys, the dumbest smartest bird you will ever hunt.
 
#7 ·
Sounds like it is time to get unconventional. If you have tried all the old tricks and they aren't working, time to get creative. I would try setting some decoys well be fore daylight and maybe using some fighting purrs to get his attention, just go crazy with calls, maybe in a little different area. Try to find soemthing he hasn't faced before. Good luck with him.
 
#9 ·
Turkey

Hey guys thanks for all the tips. Well just to give you some idea of what I have faced. Just imagine a big field. such as 250 yards across to the river banks and 600 or so yards long. The field is split 3 ways longways. With a section in the middle about 50 yards wide. The field next to the river is for Hay and it is about 3 feet tall. The front field has cows. The birds fly down in the field that is Hay so you can hardly see them untill they reach the middle field. They either come straight across or go to the other end and then cross into the field with the cows. I was set up perfect last weekend and guess what. The turkeys are always near the cows and of course this time the Cows didnt like the Gobblers strutting this one time and came charging after them and that was my chance and ran the turkeys the opposite direction. I can go on with story after story of really close encounters but it would take up to much time. Well I just moved so I had misplaced my Gobbler decoy and so I have one hen decoy and If I had a strutting gobbler I know I could get him but I dont and so everytime I have set up my Hen decoy its either the grass is to tall or my blind has it blocked by view of the direction they have came out and never see it. I have set up in the field with the cows and they just want leave me alone. they think the blind is a round bale of hay I guess and they want to sniff my decoy. So thats not an option. I have checked on the birds everyday and today is the first day I have not seen them in over a month so I get worried that they will stay on the other side of the river and not come back. My uncle is getting ready to cut his hay and our hay field and when he does this he will spend most of the time over there and that will ruin it. for some reason once the Turkeys go to the other side of the river they dont come back that have done this for years. I have seen some years that the Turkeys dont ever come to our side. These birds are so different than most other birds I have hunted .But everytime I go to Walmart and see the Primos B mobile decoy I slobber over it but the wife is not going for me to spend any money right now for a decoy with a week left in the season. But man its very tempting for me. I know of a place to sit it up and he would come. Because everytime the big bird comes in the field if he sees one of those Jakes he takes off running to them . Oh I have tried the hard cutting fast purring .He just dont want to come.
 
#11 ·
Hey guys thanks for all the tips. Well just to give you some idea of what I have faced. Just imagine a big field. such as 250 yards across to the river banks and 600 or so yards long. The field is split 3 ways longways. With a section in the middle about 50 yards wide. The field next to the river is for Hay and it is about 3 feet tall. The front field has cows. The birds fly down in the field that is Hay so you can hardly see them untill they reach the middle field. They either come straight across or go to the other end and then cross into the field with the cows. I was set up perfect last weekend and guess what. The turkeys are always near the cows and of course this time the Cows didnt like the Gobblers strutting this one time and came charging after them and that was my chance and ran the turkeys the opposite direction. I can go on with story after story of really close encounters but it would take up to much time. Well I just moved so I had misplaced my Gobbler decoy and so I have one hen decoy and If I had a strutting gobbler I know I could get him but I dont and so everytime I have set up my Hen decoy its either the grass is to tall or my blind has it blocked by view of the direction they have came out and never see it. I have set up in the field with the cows and they just want leave me alone. they think the blind is a round bale of hay I guess and they want to sniff my decoy. So thats not an option. I have checked on the birds everyday and today is the first day I have not seen them in over a month so I get worried that they will stay on the other side of the river and not come back. My uncle is getting ready to cut his hay and our hay field and when he does this he will spend most of the time over there and that will ruin it. for some reason once the Turkeys go to the other side of the river they dont come back that have done this for years. I have seen some years that the Turkeys dont ever come to our side. These birds are so different than most other birds I have hunted .But everytime I go to Walmart and see the Primos B mobile decoy I slobber over it but the wife is not going for me to spend any money right now for a decoy with a week left in the season. But man its very tempting for me. I know of a place to sit it up and he would come. Because everytime the big bird comes in the field if he sees one of those Jakes he takes off running to them . Oh I have tried the hard cutting fast purring .He just dont want to come.

Try an old turkey fan on a stick. Make a cow decoy. Find him in the roost and remember to bend at the waist (j/k:embara:)
 
#12 ·
Turkey

Well guys I went out yesterday evening and no sign of the birds and I have been checking all day today and no sign of the birds either. I hope this isnt the end of my season. I knew if they went to the the other side of the river they want come back. I really needed to get a chance at this bird before season ends.
 
#13 ·
Good Luck with this one. I know just how you feel. I hunted a bird like that two years ago and he is still haunting me. He disappeared also and I thought he was gone. I saw him the night before the last day getting ready to roost. I set up on him the next morning and he gobbled at me all morning but wouldn't show himself. finally about 45 min before noon, he came in to 60 yards and stayed there for over 15 minutes gobbling and strutting and that was it. It was as if he new it was the last day and just wanted to mess with me one last time.
 
#14 ·
Turkey

Well its looking bad for me. The bird was not out last night or this morning. No sign of any birds. It looks like they went across the river . I have 6 days of season left. I dont know what Im going to do now.
 
#15 ·
Well its looking bad for me. The bird was not out last night or this morning. No sign of any birds. It looks like they went across the river . I have 6 days of season left. I dont know what Im going to do now.
Don't give up, move around if you can. Birds are not in areas where I hunt where they usually are. Just have to try new spots if you can or get as close to the last area where you seen them. Maybe he is henned up and if they go to nest he may wonder your way.

Best of luck!!
 
#16 ·
Turkeys

Well the road going into the property is a dead end road but the road starts off on top of a hill and goes down to the gate and I can use my binos from there and look over the entire property I can hunt. I have a birds eye view of Our field my uncles field and a neighbors field . And I can see everywhere I can hunt so I will go and sit and glass these fields for awhile and if the birds are there then I can go after them . But I have checked the fields alot .Its about 1 minute from my home. My grand mother lives beside our field so they will let me know when the birds shows up . The hens are on nest now so the Gobblers have went on the search on the other side of the river. Its private property that is not hunted anymore but they dont allow hunting either. Time is Ticking for me. the hard part is when I will leave to take my son to school I would drive down there to look at the gate at the end of the road and the birds would be 50 yards strutting and they was used to my family driving by them every morning. But the times I could hunt they wouldnt be there . Its just my luck. but now they have vanished for now. Ill keep you all post on how it goes this last week of season.
 
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