How far will turkey come?

xbow300win · Post by **xbow300win** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:46 pm

Just a question for all the experienced turkey hunters out there...I've had my fair share of chances this year, shot and missed one....probably too far, got a little impatient...my question is this....

If you go to a spot and you don't hear any gobbles in the morning, do you give up and move to a completely different area?

When calling, how far will a turkey come in the morning? Assuming their not henned up?

Thanks for the input....

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:51 pm

xbow300win wrote:When calling, how far will a turkey come in the morning? Assuming their not henned up?

Around here, they'll certainly cross a field ... it's not unusual for them to come several hundred yards to a call ... but this is very flat, big terrain compared to many spots.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:59 pm

A lot of Ontario guys are saying it is a silent morning, and the bird comes out of nowhere, very different from the vocal spring we had last year.

sits in trees · Post by **sits in trees** » Tue May 19, 2009 8:41 pm

i'm in NY state and the birds i'm seeing in the last week are coming in totally unannounced. so when i'm listening in the a.m. i'm not hearing anything in the way of gobbling, so i sit and dumb hunt and call and next thing you know theres a bird sneaking in???

Carnivorous · Post by **Carnivorous** » Tue May 19, 2009 8:49 pm

The one I got this year did not make a sound. Heck I didn't even see it. Good thing someone else was paying attention. LOL

Last weekend I had a jake start to approah my decoys but turned & ran obviously didn't like my decoys or maybe it was me...

xbow300win · Post by **xbow300win** » Tue May 19, 2009 9:53 pm

Thanks guys.

I'm gonna head out to one of my spots in the morning and try not to get discrouraged when I don't hear any gobbles in the morning.

I'm soooo trying to get a turkey so I can post a pic!

DirtyGun · Post by **DirtyGun** » Tue May 19, 2009 10:07 pm

The bird I harvested on May 4th came from 300 yards away. He flew down and ran all the way across corn stubble to my location. He was not the bird I was expecting as he was not the bird I had set up on. I had roosted a bird the night before and set up on him, but he wasn't the one that ended up in my freezer.

Many things can stop a bird from coming to you. A real hen may get between you and a gobbler, or, it could be an obstruction of some kind. Some birds simply will not fly over a fence to get to you and will expect that 'hen' to come to them at that point. Others will, if they're 'hot' enough.

I've had the instances of birds getting to a fence, or a creek, or simply a ditch and decide that they just "aren't THAT into the 'hen'" that is calling to them and if she wants to get busy...she can damn well come to them.

It's very frustrating to see a gobbler get to a fence line and just strut there for an hour, knowing that if you move, you're busted.

The thing to keep in mind is: If you can hear them...they can hear you. If you hear gobbles and you respond back at a good volume, don't worry...he heard you. He may be 300 yards away...but he heard you.

pdislow · Post by **pdislow** » Wed May 20, 2009 5:38 am

they may come from as far away as they can hear you from. they may come in in a minute or 2 hours and they may or may not make a sound in the mean time. if another hen gets in the way he may service her and then work his way to you... every situation is different but often they do not like to cross obstacles. if i had one gobbling 2-3 hundred yards away and there was a fence or ditch say a hundred yards from me ,i would probably move to that obstacle and resetup so i could shoot him when he got close to it. GOOD LUCK and remember "you aien't a gonna get one sitting on the couch" philip

G Money · Post by **G Money** » Wed May 20, 2009 8:56 am

I brought (2) gobblers in from over 400 yards last year looking for a FIGHT.
I used a HS Strut, "Jake" gobbler call on that special morning.
I shot the lead gobbler at 50 yards when they hung up a bit.

It was just one of those days when everything WORKED! They flew down without hens and I must have issued a challenge.
It worked!!

However:
This same tactic hasn't done anything for me this year...yet, or maybe never will again.

BigBird-VA · Post by **BigBird-VA** » Wed May 20, 2009 9:22 am

pdislow wrote:they may come from as far away as they can hear you from. they may come in in a minute or 2 hours and they may or may not make a sound in the mean time. if another hen gets in the way he may service her and then work his way to you... every situation is different but often they do not like to cross obstacles. if i had one gobbling 2-3 hundred yards away and there was a fence or ditch say a hundred yards from me ,i would probably move to that obstacle and resetup so i could shoot him when he got close to it. GOOD LUCK and remember "you aien't a gonna get one sitting on the couch" philip

I've always heard if he answers and responds to you he can will probably come to you that day. They also know exactly where you are too.

I and a friend called one in before season out scouting and trying to roost birds. He was several hundred yards away and started coming right in. We just wanted to locate some but this guy was in a rush to get to us. We couldn't go on the property he was on so we were deep in the woods on a logging road. We figured he would come down the road so we stepped off to the side to watch him. He was 100+ yds away and not in sight when we called the last time some 20 yds off the road. The bird came in and strutted in front of us back and forth. He knew exactly where that hen was at. We didn't call any more after that last call when he was 100+ yds away. The bird knew that the call came from off the road some and proceeded to walk in directly to us. He walked within 3 feet of us and walked on by. He almost stepped on my feet. Closest I've ever been to a wild turkey. Then came back by us again and walked 75 yds away and flew up in a tree to roost for the evening. We just sat there until dark. It was a good lesson on exactly how keen a sense of direction they have by just hearing to 1 call.

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Wed May 20, 2009 9:35 am

BigBird-VA wrote:
pdislow wrote:they may come from as far away as they can hear you from. they may come in in a minute or 2 hours and they may or may not make a sound in the mean time. if another hen gets in the way he may service her and then work his way to you... every situation is different but often they do not like to cross obstacles. if i had one gobbling 2-3 hundred yards away and there was a fence or ditch say a hundred yards from me ,i would probably move to that obstacle and resetup so i could shoot him when he got close to it. GOOD LUCK and remember "you aien't a gonna get one sitting on the couch" philip
I've always heard if he answers and responds to you he can will probably come to you that day. They also know exactly where you are too.

I and a friend called one in before season out scouting and trying to roost birds. He was several hundred yards away and started coming right in. We just wanted to locate some but this guy was in a rush to get to us. We couldn't go on the property he was on so we were deep in the woods on a logging road. We figured he would come down the road so we stepped off to the side to watch him. He was 100+ yds away and not in sight when we called the last time some 20 yds off the road. The bird came in and strutted in front of us back and forth. He knew exactly where that hen was at. We didn't call any more after that last call when he was 100+ yds away. The bird knew that the call came from off the road some and proceeded to walk in directly to us. He walked within 3 feet of us and walked on by. He almost stepped on my feet. Closest I've ever been to a wild turkey. Then came back by us again and walked 75 yds away and flew up in a tree to roost for the evening. We just sat there until dark. It was a good lesson on exactly how keen a sense of direction they have by just hearing to 1 call.

wow that sounds like quite an experience

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Wed May 20, 2009 7:14 pm

My 3 birds in VA this year all came from 300-400 yards away. As BB-VA said about pin pointing the exact spot you called from, I can attest to that, I made only 6 calls to these 3 birds and all came like they were on a string.

Rich

wildman · Post by **wildman** » Thu May 21, 2009 10:00 pm

A gobbler will come in to the call from as far as he can hear you calliing if he's looking for hen's and lonely.I've called them across buffalo river ,thru fences ,from ridge to the next .They just have to be lonely and looking for hen's .I've also had them to hang up over nothing blowed down tree ,2 strand barb wire fence ,wet weather spring that you could step over .

perrysbirds · Post by **perrysbirds** » Fri May 22, 2009 9:14 pm

The one I shot on Thursday came in from at least 300 yards!
Good luck and play hard to get when calling.
If you call and he gobbles back,he knows right where you are!
Im no expert and is learning just like yourself.
Good luck!

Adrian J Hare · Post by **Adrian J Hare** » Sun May 24, 2009 4:04 pm

I filmed one of my birds I took this season and it started a 1/2 mile away. Had to film it in steps as it got closer or I would have been out of tape but we got it all the way to the headach

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