Interesting turkey stuff I seen

I never knew turkeys would "bed down" for periods during the day. I just figured they were always on their feet all day long. But I have observed numerous toms just plop down and sit for up to a half hour at a time. Sometimes in a grassy field, sometimes in the woods.

Bruce

 

I have seen Toms just plop down and stay down for 3-4 hours on a hot afternoon-even within 100 75 yds of hunter-like they are waiting the hunter out-usually in the shade.

 

have you ever heard of a tom gobbling while in flight?? today a super hot bird flew into an opening behind me gobbling while coming in ,?I know because I had just moved through the thinly wooded area to close in on another bird .Then I heard the flying one behind me moving way too fast to be running ,and the area he came from was open river bank,final 30 yards was quiet.

 

One time I was flying through the woods in spring on my four-wheeler (doing telemetry research work on quail), when I noticed a tom out in front of me 70-80 yards away plop right down on the ground,(I'm assuming to take cover and hide from me) with only 5 yards in between the road and him, although there was a little cover he was in. When I got to him, I stopped abruptly fast, and turned off the atv. He shot up like a rocket onto his feet and ran away really fast kind of hunched over with his head down. I was surprised he chose to run rather than fly, with me being so close to him like that.

 

I was hunting a gobbler that was working the edge of a field I called and called and he simply walked under the shade of a tree and like you all have mentioned plopped down about 75 yards from my setup.

 

Years ago on my first turkey hunt I called in a hen to 10 feet and she spread out her tail like a Tom and and was acting real weird.

 

I have video if 4 hens in full strut just like a tom. It had rained the night before and I assumed they were drying off their feathers. They were on a small knoll in the wind. But maybe not!

Bruce

 

One of the coolest ive seen...a couple years ago while morel hunting, me and my brother watched a gobbler cross a smaller creek. It was easily small enough for the bird to just hop over to the other side but instead it got down in the creek which was about 8-10" deep and walked up it a short distance and stand there. Nothing too outstanding just different to see it standing there like a heron.

 

My son and I were turkey hunting once, we hadn't seen anything all morning, only herd a few long range gobbles, as we were walking back to the truck on a 4 wheeler trail through the thick part of the woods, out of no where comes a Tom in for a landing over our back's behind us, heading the same way we were walking, he buzzed our heads and missed us by just two feet and hit the 4 wheeler trail twenty feet in front of us on the run. We were so stunned that we didn't even raise our guns.

 

A couple of years ago my son had shot a bird the first day of his season so we went out the next day just to see if we could call anything in. No gun along. We were sitting in the tent with a Dave Smith hen decoy about 10 feet in front of us in the woods. We called a big gobbler in off the roost and he came in spitting and strumming. He walked right up to the decoy and started to breed it. He knocked it off the stake and the decoy was on the ground. He bred it right there in front of us. We could actually hear it squirt when he was finished (the first time). Then he laid down with his neck stretched across the decoy for a few minutes. Then he got up and strutted for a while and then had another go at the decoy. He bred it 3 times over the next half hour. Each time he would lay down next to it with his head on the decoy. As he kept breeding this decoy he would be pushing it all over the woods. By the time he was done the decoy was 30 yards from the tent. It was pretty interesting. When he was finally done with her he gobbled a few times and walked away.

I have also had coyotes attack my dekes several times plus a red tailed hawk once. Even had a fisher sneak in and get close to the deke but then took off.

Bruce

 

There used to be three toms that would chase me when I was on my Harley. The more I reved the engine the faster they would come.

 

One of our neighbors domestic Bourbon Red turkeys has flew the coop and has been spotted cruising around with the wild flock .I guess the grass was greener... ;D

 

My group i hunt with call it, " pancaking" I've had hens do it to me in grass fields later in the season when they see me. They drop to the ground the lower their heads. I'm assuming they have a nest there.

 

A couple years ago, I had a really young jake come in; beard probably only sticking out an inch or two. He stood beside the lone hen decoy and stretched his neck straight out as far as it would go. He then undulated his head and neck side to side just like the movement of a snake. He did this a couple times and then moved on, I guess because the "hen" never responded.

Last year, a gobbler was strutting with a hen about 150 yards away from me in the middle of a huge field. It was late evening with about an hour and a half of daylight left. I had a strutting tom decoy and a hen decoy out. After about an hour, the longbeard was attacked by 6 jakes, all making the "fighting purr" sound. They chased him out of sight. I thought the game was over. Then here they come, the big tom followed by the jakes. He went back to the hen and was attacked again. This time they ran in a big circle near the hen and ended up about 250 yards away on the opposite side of the field, while the hen was feeding in the middle of the field. All of a sudden, the jakes let up, and the long beard started walking back toward the hen. I was surprised when he walked right past the hen. He walked all the way back across the field and stood right beside my tom decoy and went into full strut. He looked sideways at the decoy as if saying "We can take 'em. You got my back?" ... and then I dropped him. The jakes come over to inspect the dead bird, and stayed nearby. So as not to spook the jakes, I waited until almost dark and walked out to get the bird, and the jakes were about 75 yards away watching. Instead of getting spooked, the proceeded to fly up and roost right there.

I love turkey hunting!!!