DEAD SILENT UP NORTH ??

[klickman]

I saw three longbeards today.  They had no hens with them and were more interested in eating grass seed than responding to a call.  THese are unpressured birds too.  Funny because I saw a gobbler 3 miles from there and he was gobbling like crazy.  Weird season.

KLICKMAN

[returnofsid]

Last Friday and Saturday, turkeys were gobbling all over where I was, in the NE.  The gobbling started at about 5:00AM and continued with consistency until about 10:00 AM.  Then it quieted down a bit, but I'd still hear the occasional bird throughout both days...until Saturday evening.  Saturday evening, a huge thunder storm rolled in and it POURED!  Sunday morning, I woke up to no rain but thick fog, at about 4:00AM.  Not a sound.  I heard a single gobble at about 5:30AM.  Not a peep the remainder of the day, even after the fog lifted and the sun came out.  By afternoon, a second thunder storm rolled in and it POURED again.  By this time, I was already hooking up the travel trailer to head home anyway.

Saturday morning, I heard the first gobble at 5:08 and walked back into camp with my very first turkey, at 6:12...

[turkeydancer]

I saw three longbeards today.  They had no hens with them and were more interested in eating grass seed than responding to a call.  THese are unpressured birds too.  Funny because I saw a gobbler 3 miles from there and he was gobbling like crazy.  Weird season.

KLICKMAN

Time to break out the full strut deke and gobble on the tube call .... 

[Tom Tamer]

Get out that raspy old box call and fire off a

I saw three longbeards today.  They had no hens with them and were more interested in eating grass seed than responding to a call.  THese are unpressured birds too.  Funny because I saw a gobbler 3 miles from there and he was gobbling like crazy.  Weird season.

KLICKMAN

Time to break out the full strut deke and gobble on the tube call .... 
[

I saw three longbeards today.  They had no hens with them and were more interested in eating grass seed than responding to a call.  THese are unpressured birds too.  Funny because I saw a gobbler 3 miles from there and he was gobbling like crazy.  Weird season.

KLICKMAN

Time to break out the full strut deke and gobble on the tube call .... 

Time for the old box call and a few long drawn out Tom yelps.

[Gametaker23]

Hello i am new to the forum as well as to the adventure of turkey hunting i am from central Washington where we all know the bird population is nothing like that of the NE part of the state, but i am going to be hunting the next few days in a spot where i have located a few toms. I was curious if i should bother with a decoy and if i should put it in the clearing or in the timber line where i have found the most sign i am just not sure how i should go about these birds every-time i get close to closing the deal they seem to pull a quick one on me any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am enjoying my first season with lots of close encounters just wanna do what ever to ensure that i am always improving.

[turkeydancer]

This late in the season I would have used a decoy or two (maybe my full strutter and a hen deke), and I would put them about 20 to 25 yards out in the clearing while I sat at the edge of the timber or just inside the line.

[returnofsid]

This late in the season I would have used a decoy or two (maybe my full strutter and a hen deke), and I would put them about 20 to 25 yards out in the clearing while I sat at the edge of the timber or just inside the line.

This is exactly what I did yesterday, though I used a Tom archery target as a decoy, a hen directly in front of it, a second hen, feeding, about 5 yards off to the side and a Jake about 10 yards off to the other side, all facing me. I called in 2 Toms from quite a distance away but then they hung up at about 70 yards, never moving any closer. They were gobbling like crazy for about 30 minutes. Then they stopped and wandered off. The decoy spread was 20 yards in front of my blind. The Tom/hen "couple" were both used to harvest my first bird a week earlier. This time, I added the second hen and Jake. I was just in the trees at the edge of a field. What did I do wrong?

[Gametaker23]

Ok thats probably my problem the birds seem to have a strut zone just inside the timber line because yesterdayi had one coming in and just stopped about 60 yards below me and wouldn't come in ant closer he seemed very interested but that could just be my inexperience the bear that came in about ten yards in on me and then busted down towards the bird probably didn't help all in all I had I great first spring season and I am hooked for life thank u for the advice means a ton. Now would u use that same tactic in the early part of the season with multiple decoys and posted in the timber line or are the birds more suseptable at that time?

[turkeydancer]

returnofsid -  Not sure you did anything wrong, sometimes it just goes like that ... or maybe you were "playing country" and they wanted a little "rock-n-roll" ... that's why it's called hunting versus harvesting.  Since they know within a foot or two of where the turkey calling is coming from, I might try setting the dekes only out about 10 to 15 yards out instead of 20 to 25 ... might be a bit more realistic for them.

GameTaker23:  Usually I don't use decoys a lot or at all early in the season.  The birds will get more wary after they been bumped, overcalled to, shot at, etc., and then they seem to like seeing a bird before committing and coming in.

[returnofsid]

I think I was set up on the wrong side. This was a clearing that's about 100 yards across. I was in the tree line, on the east side, decoys were about 20 yards out. The toms hung up in the tree line on the east side. They came from the east. I don't think they wanted to cross the hundred yard clearing, to get to the decoys. Next Thursday, I'll hunt the same area, but set up on the other side. They roost east of that area a few hundred yards.

[Gametaker23]

Turkeydancer than you for ur time i really appreciate the advice! I am gonna purchase a jake i already got a hen i will give it one last shot for this spring season this friday. I think i know what i gotta do, if anything it will be another great learning experience.