Had a bird this morning I worked for hours and he just wouldn't move. Tried to move in on him. Yea that didn't work either. So what do you guys do when a bird is hung up. There wasn't any ditch fence or anything like that I could see causing him to hang up. He did have a hen with him I'm pretty sure but never could get a good look through the timber
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Go eat breakfast...
Try him later, or if you run out of legal time - another day. Like I tell my buddies, if you were at a night club sitting with a pretty gal or two or three, and some other gal across the room wanted you to come over and talk - would you leave?
I do things a bit different. Granted I hunt the hills so I have anatomy of the land to work with.
If I called him to a point I will safely back out and completely circle around. Do it right and you will call 2x just for location and you will be sitting for 5 minutes provided he is henless. Jme.
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Good plan of attack!!
Quote from: WildSpur on April 23, 2016, 12:06:38 PM
I do things a bit different. Granted I hunt the hills so I have anatomy of the land to work with.
If I called him to a point I will safely back out and completely circle around. Do it right and you will call 2x just for location and you will be sitting for 5 minutes provided he is henless. Jme.
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Same here. I might not circle, but I definitely move, reset on him.
Use a gobble call, get aggressive calling, if that doesn't work circle around and get in front of him if possible. It has happened a lot to me.
If you can move on him, I would do that as well. The biggest thing I would do is just shut up. I have had gobblers do the same thing. Gobble and gobble but wouldn't move. I completely stopped calling and a lot of the times they continue to gobble and eventually start working to where they last heard the hen.
Fire him up, then shut up. When he quits gobbling, get your gun up and start looking for him.
Usually I get in the truck and punch the steering wheel...
I will try gobbling and fighting purrs at the point in which I realize I cannot coax him in while working any given bird with a hen...
Best method is to be where they are going, or wait till the hen leaves.... That moment when the hens leave there is a period of time that the birds are extremely vulnerable... If you are in the woods at that moment, a tom will come in fast and hard....
I usually curse throw my calls around in a temper tantrum! Lol I usually have my best luck by repositioning.
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THIS...
Quote from: silvestris on April 23, 2016, 10:08:35 PM
Fire him up, then shut up. When he quits gobbling, get your gun up and start looking for him.
Or may this...
Quote from: Cleveland48 on April 23, 2016, 11:34:46 PM
I usually curse throw my calls around in a temper tantrum! Lol
A lot depends upon the situation. If a tom is within sight of decoys...decoy movement of some kind definitely helps. Excited calling may fire a tom or the hens he's with up. Getting a lead hen excited can get them heading your direction just as much as firing up the tom! Movement from one position...either go away or towards a tom can often help. Getting a tom fired up and giving him the silent treatment may get him wondering what the heck is going on. Knowing what to do in a particular situation can definitely pull things in your favor! Experience and being willing to try new and different things will likely pull things in your favor! Keep at it and you will succeed!
Quote from: WildSpur on April 23, 2016, 12:06:38 PM
I do things a bit different. Granted I hunt the hills so I have anatomy of the land to work with.
If I called him to a point I will safely back out and completely circle around. Do it right and you will call 2x just for location and you will be sitting for 5 minutes provided he is henless. Jme.
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This was going to be my exact advice. I love doing this.
Had this happen to me this year in a fresh burn. Woods to thin and flat to even consider repositioning. I tried to talk myself in to trying to make the firebreak and belly crawl from there, but the break was 25 yards closer to him. So I just sat there and took it like a man (whined, cursed, etc). :( SO frustrating, but it happens. I have repositioned successfully, just not an option this day.
All depends on why I think he won't come. If I think he has hens I'll go look for another bird and come back later in the morning to try him again. I don't risk moving around a lot on a bird with hens because there's a good chance it won't work anyway and I could spook him. If I think he's by himself and just being a turkey, I'll move on him. I'll give each set up enough time to be sure he's not coming and then I'll move again. Last year I set up 6 times till I finally killed one that was hung up. Sometimes it doesn't take a drastic move to make a difference. I just look around and say "ok he doesn't want to come right here, were does he want to go?" Easier said than done, but find that spot that he likes and you're in business.
17 HMR + Hen = Callable Tom. Or you could just be dirty and pop the Tom and let her live. Just a thought.
If he comes to a certain point and won't come any closer I will go quiet and let him move off. Once I'm sure he's far enough he won't see me I'll move up to where he came to before. Sometimes they will come back to that spot. It will appear to him that the hen has come to the spot where he gobbled. This has worked for me. If this doesn't work I'll try him later in the morning.
Quote from: Greybeard11 on April 30, 2016, 10:37:00 PM
If he comes to a certain point and won't come any closer I will go quiet and let him move off. Once I'm sure he's far enough he won't see me I'll move up to where he came to before. Sometimes they will come back to that spot. It will appear to him that the hen has come to the spot where he gobbled. This has worked for me. If this doesn't work I'll try him later in the morning.
Good advice. I've had this work for me too.
Lots of ways to deal w it n none work every time but what you were doing wasn't working so more of that isn't the answer. You can try gobbler/fight sounds n he could move. As stated leave em alone til later, just go quiet n see if he comes lookin(not my choice btw, but it works). Comes a time he's not the only game in town so if all else fails go find a "good bird"
First off I shut up. I think that sometimes to much calling is the reason he stops. He goes to that point and wants the "hen" to cone the rest of the way. I have walked straight away,say 50 or 100 yards and that has caused him to break. Other times I have cut a wide circle around him and got behind him.
There are a hundred different things you can do. Maybe one of them will work and the other ninety-nine will not. Hope you guess the right one out of those hundred and you can kill him. If you guess one of the other ninety-nine, after he shuts up and disappears, go look for another gobbler. ;D
If someone had a definitive answer they would probably make a ton of money...
I've taken notice, that some springs, this happens allot more then others...The further along in the season, the more it seems to happen...
The older dominate gobblers usually want the hen to come to him, so are/were you dealing with a dominate gobbler ????
Was he in his strut zone ? Was he with hens?? Was there something, that was keeping him from coming ?? Ditch, fence, water....?? What kind of ground are you hunting? Mountains, rolling hills or flat....??
What calls were you using...Friction, box, mouth calls & loud, soft or mixed ??
Lots of variables/ unanswered questions to deal with in a situation like this...
Most times, I'll let the action play out from right where I'm at for awhile......I've bumped allot of birds moving to reposition in my younger years.....My bad back has taught me to be much more patient.....
His back and knee's are way better then mine, so he's coming to me, if he's still interested...LOL!!
Lots of good advice given by other fella's on this topic.....Try different things and see, what happens....He'll be there tomorrow, if nothing works & remember, it still beats the heck out of being at work... ;)
BOOM! click, click BOOM! click, click BOOM! :z-guntootsmiley:
I had gobblers hang up on me 2 days in a row. Just let them walk off and move.
Dig him out. Hook a chain to him, whatever it takes. Duh. ::)
Like I tell my buddies, if you were at a night club sitting with a pretty gal or two or three, and some other gal across the room wanted you to come over and talk - would you leave?
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Well said.
But I hope he has the young bull and old bull approach if you know what I mean.
I like the circling idea. I've done that and it works. I've also had the hen come in first sometimes mad at the decoy if I'm able to set it up.
Go home. :TooFunny: