Tom Turkey

[NWTFhunter]

Who of you have bagged a Tom without ever making a single call ?

I have taken 2 this way.

[Mfowl]

I've gotten two that way. One entered a field I was in after fly down, since I saw new where he was I set my decoys on the opposite side of where he was roosted, once he entered the field, I waited for him to pass by my position to check out the decoys. Great show, that was one of my more memorable hunts! The other bird I found at first light and followed him down a timebered hillside to some private land. He gobbled at all of my calls that morning but was headed away. I picked out a spot on a spine of the hill where the flock had traveled and returned that afternoon at 3:00pm and set up against a tree and waited. At about 7:15pm the first hen appeared making her way back up the hill to the roost. She walked right by me and I new if I sat tight the tom would appear. Sure enough a few minutes later his head poked up over a laydown and he soon walked to within 20yds of my spot, where I let him have it. That was late season, week leading up to Memorial day. One of my longest sits ever in the turkey woods but it paid off with my biggest tom ever.

[turkeydancer]

Been there many times ... if you have them patterned the worst thing you can do is call ... just wait them out.
 

[Gobble Doc]

Great story.  I can't wait to get impatient! 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Sometimes you need to do what you need to do !!  another thing to remember is if you hear a tome going off to your calls and he is not moving toward you put seems to be going back and forth on his strut zone you can pattern him rather quickly ...wait and see if he is going back and worth gobbling and if he is then you need to get to the point where he started gobbling and wait for him to return .....just need to be quick sometimes .....I killed a couple hard headed easterns and Rios this way when I finally got tired of listening to him 

[Fishnfowler]

The birds in my neck of the woods were hunted very hard last year and would run away if a lone hen started yelping.  They hung tight with the Jennies.  My bird and my Son's bird were taken by roosting the birds, being there at first light, seeing which path they started on, then hotfooting it to a spot we could intersect them. 

Both of these birds were taken by my kids two years ago on the youth hunt.  The birds were tight with a big flock of hens and we were able to get ahead of then and wait for them to pass by. 

[carpsniperg2]

I have killed 2 that I can remember killing without calling.

[baldopepper]

Been there many times ... if you have them patterned the worst thing you can do is call ... just wait them out.
 

I could'nt agree more-majority of my birds were taken without calling. In my opinion good patience is more important than good calling. 

[quadrafire]

If you ever get between a tom and the hens it is even easier.

Something about turkey hunting and calling though is much more satisfying to me.

[TheStovePipeKid]

My one and only Turkey was taken in fall. I didn't even consider using a call. These turkey were very weary and we spooked them two days in a row. I ended up hidden in a nice shaded bush for over an hour, and downed a Rio Tom a little before sunset on the last day of our hunt. We patterned them the previous days and just ambushed them when they came by. 

[buglebuster]

One time i was driving down the road, had 2 toms cross the yellow line in front of me, i rolled down the window and stuck my already loaded shotgun out the window and let one have it just jokin just joking

I have killed 1 tom that we had patterned without using a call, very neat to do and he was gobbling the whole time anyways

[alwinearcher]

All the biggest toms I have killed have been by patterning them... Seems like its the 2 year old toms that always come to the call fastest.

This is one my wife shot in 2011 after I watched him do the same thing 3 mornings in a row.

[turkeydancer]

If you ever get between a tom and the hens it is even easier.

Something about turkey hunting and calling though is much more satisfying to me.

Works great getting between 2 gobbling toms too. I was working a not-too-hot-to-trot tom that was hung up at about 55 yards on the Little Pend O' Wildlife Refuge when a really hot-to-trot tom fired up several hundred yards down the hill. Left not-too-hot and repositioned for the hotty. He quadruple gobbled and spit 'n drummed up the hill in just a few minutes.  When I dropped him at 7 steps, not-so hot had come in behind me and was spit 'n drumming within 15 yards.  Go figure ....

[The Gobble-stopper]

I have personally taken many a tom without a call. Patterning is sometimes the only way to do it. Get the rocky open breaks of eastern wa. Where they can see you 3 miles away.. Just pattern them. And nine times out of ten they will be the same place, same time the next day. Although I must admit, I pride myself in my calling ability. I guess I just sometimes get lazy. Many of those times I shoot the patterned turkey, I will give him a cluck or two, before I put the wammo on them. Makes me think I actually called em!

[sneakyjake]

give him a cluck or two, before I put the wammo on them

Make them crane their neck and look you in the eye before you shoot em.  I have slithered up on a bird or two.   Wx is looking nice, starting to get excited.  Got to go practice on the beach in PV for a week though.