Goshen Valley Boy
Well-Known Member
I hunted real hard for both the first two weekends. This is just my second year hunting turkeys in the state of Tennessee. All my other experience is in Indiana. The birds I hunted this year in Hawkins County were on a TOTALLY different pattern than what they have normally been. I heard just as much gobbling as normal, but I just didn't SEE many birds. I saw two or three lone hens in fields in the afternoons, but no gobblers in the open.
I had to adjust my methods a great deal to adapt to what the turkeys were doing.
From my observations, here is what was happening...
1. Turkeys were sticking tight to the mountains and hardwoods, probably on oaks (acorns). They were not moving around a great deal at all.
2. I got a lot of gobblers to answer my calls in the morning, but could not get them to budge. My theory is that they had hens with them, the hens were feeding in the oaks and weren't going anywhere, therefore, the gobblers weren't about to leave the "hens in the hand to chase my hens in the bush."
3. Gobblers began moving around midday. Hens probably either went off to sit on nests, or scattered after feeding and the gobblers who lost track of hens began to cruise.
What I learned...
1. In some cases, you might be best to wait until 9 or 10 o'clock to go out. In situations like I ran into, I was just spitting into the wind by calling and wearing myself out by being out early. I didn't have access to hunt the properties where the birds were spending all morning. All I could do is talk to them and be frustrated.
2. I went to the highest point on the property and called at around 11:00am. At that point, I was surprised by a gobble from down below me. I had lucked into one of those gobblers that had lost track of the hens and was cruising around looking.
3. I resisted the temptation to move closer to him to try to see him down in the holler. I wanted to, but I had enough discipline to trust that he would come find me.
4. When he shut up, I shut up. I trusted that he was coming. I had already told him where I was, if he wanted to find me, he would do it on his terms.
It all worked out. He popped up 30 yards in front of me and I won this time.
I love it when I feel like I learn a lot from a hunt like that. Just thought I would share with others who might benefit from any of my experiences. That is the way I learned a lot of what I have, by reading and listening to others.
I feel like in years past, I would have screwed this hunt up somehow by not being disciplined or patient enough. Thanks to some of the information I learned on this forum, I had enough to close the deal this time.
Good luck to all.
I had to adjust my methods a great deal to adapt to what the turkeys were doing.
From my observations, here is what was happening...
1. Turkeys were sticking tight to the mountains and hardwoods, probably on oaks (acorns). They were not moving around a great deal at all.
2. I got a lot of gobblers to answer my calls in the morning, but could not get them to budge. My theory is that they had hens with them, the hens were feeding in the oaks and weren't going anywhere, therefore, the gobblers weren't about to leave the "hens in the hand to chase my hens in the bush."
3. Gobblers began moving around midday. Hens probably either went off to sit on nests, or scattered after feeding and the gobblers who lost track of hens began to cruise.
What I learned...
1. In some cases, you might be best to wait until 9 or 10 o'clock to go out. In situations like I ran into, I was just spitting into the wind by calling and wearing myself out by being out early. I didn't have access to hunt the properties where the birds were spending all morning. All I could do is talk to them and be frustrated.
2. I went to the highest point on the property and called at around 11:00am. At that point, I was surprised by a gobble from down below me. I had lucked into one of those gobblers that had lost track of the hens and was cruising around looking.
3. I resisted the temptation to move closer to him to try to see him down in the holler. I wanted to, but I had enough discipline to trust that he would come find me.
4. When he shut up, I shut up. I trusted that he was coming. I had already told him where I was, if he wanted to find me, he would do it on his terms.
It all worked out. He popped up 30 yards in front of me and I won this time.
I love it when I feel like I learn a lot from a hunt like that. Just thought I would share with others who might benefit from any of my experiences. That is the way I learned a lot of what I have, by reading and listening to others.
I feel like in years past, I would have screwed this hunt up somehow by not being disciplined or patient enough. Thanks to some of the information I learned on this forum, I had enough to close the deal this time.
Good luck to all.
