Stalled Strutting Pair of Toms At 60yds. What to Do?

[french_lake_kid]

Had this prob this A.M. and cant really afford to miss many more mornings of school. What do you guys do to convince him those last 20yds? Thanx guys/ladies

[DonBo]

Need more input, more input.

Were you using decoys? This sometimes helps.

Were you with anyone? Often if the caller sneaks behind you a ways the birds will work past you to the caller.

Sometimes just scratching in the leaves to sound like a hen feeding will work.

Soft calling. Clucks and soft purrs.

Sometimes NOTHING will work. Aint it a great sport?

You might also try setting up near the roost AFTER school.

Good luck tomorrow!

[french_lake_kid]

Oh sorry, ummmm, about 300yards from there roost, on the edge of a hay field and oak patch with deep gullys. Had a lone buckwing motion hen in up-right "standard" (not feeding) position about 10 yards from the edge of the woods in the field.

[Andy Loos1432404924]

Maybe you are calling to much, once he sees the decoy you can back off of the call a lot. Or else when he doesn't commit and goes back in the woods, try cutting him off inside the woods. Usually works very well. Did that this morning. Took two moves to finally get both Toms to commit. Good Times!

[DonBo]

300 yards is pretty far. Maybe try setting up a little closer. Also I'm not sure one decoy is enough this early. Most hens are still in smaller flocks right now. I agree with HuntFish, not much need for calling once the decoys have been spotted.

[Wallydog]

Sometimes NOT having a decoy is better. The tom seeing that hen (in a decoy) that does NOT respond to his gobbling ......which he is asking her to do makes him hang up. No absolutes in any situation, just be prepared for a different look to entice that gobbler into range.

WD

[Jim916]

I had a similar situation a few years ago. They would hang up out of range. I went home that night and looked on the internet for tips. One thing I read is what was mentioned earlier, rustle the leaves to sound like a hen feeding. So the next day I set up closer to the roost area. I spooked them off setting up my blind. Velcro windows are very noisy. The turkeys did come through,and now they are at the spot I set up the day before. I was not happy. They were even gobbling to the rustling leaves but would not come in. So I circled into the woods and came out the opposite side of the pasture. I set up my decoy and the 3 turkeys gobbled like crazy and walked by at 60 yds or so back into the woods. By this time I was wondering what am I doing wrong. In desperation I made the fastest yelp I could on my glass call. The turkeys turned around and came right to my decoy. I shot my first turkey that day. This whole thing took about 2 hours.

But everyday is different.

[Borch]

Set up so when you see the bird it's already or nearly in range. For instance below a rise, around a corner. The leaf rustleing is a good tip. I've killed toms doing this wihtout a call. Try it wihtout a decoy and back off on the calling as the tom gets closer. Make him look for that hen and wander into range.

These birds sometime make it so easy and then later make it seem impossible to kill one.

Good Luck!

[Scott M]

Are you set up at a spot they are using or a funnel type location? I'm guessing you are picking the spot because the trees are there to break up your outline. If you can move somewhere closer to where you've been seeing them you'll do yourself a favor of not having to draw them off the beaten path so far.

Otherwise, like others have said, calling can be minimized. Subtlety is preferred this early. Borrow some hen decoys from a friend or buy a few cheap foam ones and make it look like there are a few girls looking for love.

[NoodleSalad]

You can try this or that! If it works, it worked that time. You're turkey hunting! Let it drive you crazy! All good advice contradicts itself in a certain way. Hit the books extra hard and follow your passion. If you think about it, you're actually sick! I get the plague about the same time every year!

[eric29]

I know you said your not using a feeding hen deke but it something you should look into. Its worked wonders for me. Probably the best thing ive ever bought for turkey hunting, no more hung up toms since i got it-they come runnin.

Also make sure your decoy is close to u no more than 5 yards in front, that way he has to come close to you before he sees that something not right.

I rarely do any calling once he made eye sight with my decoy and if i do it very quiet purrs. Never loud calling when hes close, youll never hear a hen call as loud as you can make your pot call get. Loud calls work good for getting attention at a distance but not when theyre close.

[sticknstring]

It happens - that's turkey hunting. So exciting but sometimes so darn frustrating! Plenty of good advice and tricks mentioned here but as Don said, sometimes no matter what you do won't get them to commit. We had a pair at 17-18yds yesterday and couldn't get a shot and there was even a real hen on the opposite side of the blind and they still wouldn't budge... talk about frustrating. Oh well, tomorrow's another day. Good luck!

[NWBuck]

Many things could've been the cause, including a turkey who just wouldn't cooperate under any conditions.

That being said, when I have a turkey that's hung up, I try to remember the phrase "silence is golden". Sometimes the best call you can make is no call. Good luck!

[delzz7]

Were yours decoys facing you or the birds. If the decoys were facing the Toms, they would probably expect the hen to come to them. I like to have my decoys somewhat facing towards me or so the decoys backs are towards the way I think the birds will be coming from.

[Guppy]

I know it won't be the answer to all situations, but yesterday I had two decoys set out. One hen and the Primos Jake Mobile. I just used the artificial tail on the jake. We had two toms come out of the woods and they ran to the jake decoy. We should have doubled but only got one. We went out and picked up my bird and were standing discussing what happened when more birds gobbled close by. We got back in the blind and within ten minutes, four more longbeards came out. They ran from about 60-70 yards away straight to the jake. After waiting a minute for a bird to separate enough for a clear shot, we had our second bird in about ten minutes. I have used other jake decoys before but have never had the results we got yesterday. I am sold on the Jake Mobile decoy!

[Archerysniper]

I also used the jake strutter with real tail feathers to take my last 2 birds with archery equipment both shots were under 12 yards and the one 2 years ago was beating the stuffing out of the decoy before I could get a shot.

[french_lake_kid]

Thanx guys for all the tips, I left my house 2 go 2 my g-mas where I hunt and never got to a computer til now... I ended up about 50yds inside the tree line and that just so happened to be 50 or so yards from the roosted 20-30 turkeys. They were a bit more quiet 2day with the wind but they still gobbled. The woods I was hunting is at the endge of a road, corn field, swamp, hay field, and is on the edge of a big hill with very few but very big oaks, also deep gullys and sharp ridges intermitted together. So not much cover, I set my lone hen about 20yards to the right and behind me, I sat at the base of the hill looking up, and back against the bottom of a lone oak with luckily a downwed tree with the crotch right at my feet and also rested my gun. They were mostly roosted at the top of the hill on the edge of the corn fielid, as it got lighter I could see a few silouettes swaying in the wind. Well all but one bird flew down in the opposite direction as me to feed in the corn field. One strutting tom wavered back and fourth trying to decide between joining the group to feed or come down the hill to have his way with my hen. He at first joined the group and I continued soft clucking and purring. I looked up to see one last bird in the tree and though it was if they all turned to crows because 5 other turkeys flew over to the surrounding trees and then finally with the lead of the origonal bird they swooped down. The first landed nomore than 10' infront of me, which was a lone hen followed by 5 more hens. That was enough to convince the entire flock up in the corn field to come running down the hill with the undecided strutter from 10min. earlier leading the way by about 100yds. He seen all the hens around me and couldn't help himself. So at this point I have 4 hens on my left, 3 on my right and 5 toms and 4 more hens ahead of me, almost entirely surrounded Wow was that a test of nerves, but to shorten this a bit the tom basically followed the hens to my left and when his head went behind the last remaining tree I could allow to still get the shot off, I pulled up and he stuck his head out the otherside and game over! Crazy thing happened though, must of been the dominate bird cuz once he hit the ground and did his "death flap" 2 other mature birds FLEW over and started spurring and jumping on him!!! It was crazy. Thanx to all of you who replied, 23lbs. 9 1/2 beard, 1" left spur and 1 3/8" right (very sharp) spur. Killed at 6:30 am Zone 461B

[Borch]

Congrats!!!!

What an exciting hunt!

[Archerysniper]

Great bird glad it worked out for you.