Bowtech84
Well-Known Member
Just trying to get some thoughts from other turkey hunters. This year is the first year I've bought two bow tags and opted out on the gun season. I've been turkey hunting for quite some time and this year so far the turkeys just seem off. I filled a tag opening morning on a two year old and have messed up a couple opportunities so I'm not complaining just wondering what others are experiencing? I've had at least 15 toms within shotgun range hardly any gobbling and only 4 have been within 20 yards. I'm using bullheads so that's about my max I'm comfortable with. The turkeys that did come into range were very cautious only two of them actually made contact with the dsd jake and it wasn't the usual beat down where a guy could stand up and do the Macarena without them even noticing. I hunt private ground with very little hunting pressure if any other than me. I watch a group of turkeys near my house and there is a group of 4 toms that hang out together and then one straggler. They usually will follow a pair of hens around in the morning then mid day/evening I always see them alone. The other night I was watching the 4 toms and a 5th tom came out of the timber about 150 yards away. As soon as the 4 spotted the 5th they took after him on a dead run. I thought it was going to be easy pickings so I roosted the 4 that night and set up on them the following morning. At daylight I only heard two gobbles but knew all 4 maybe even a 5th were close. After fly down I see the usual two hens and 5 toms in tow. I start putting at them and the hens start making there way towards me. The lead hen comes in and walks between the blind and the jake decoy while the other hen feeds by around 20 yards. The 5 toms came to about 25 yards and strut for at least 5 minutes. The whole time I'm debating on trying to draw or wait to see if I can convince them to commit. Long story short they never did commit and I chalked it up as a blown opportunity. I know turkeys aren't very smart and it's hard to say what happened but it seems as tho it's happened way more this year than any other. I watch these birds roost in the same general area every night so my next plan is to try an afternoon/evening hunt with my strutter and see how that goes. I will keep ya updated. What are all of you experiencing? On a side note the toms were fired up during the youth season and very callable. Maybe it just happened early this year? Good luck!