Turkey seasons are beginning to wrap up around the country. Some of you may have already checked in to a clinic with depression symptoms because the season did close. For those of you battling it out until the end, here are a few tips that could make the difference on toms trying your patience.
HUNT LATE
Early in the season it's smart to tag a gobbler right off the roost because he's in the company of so many hens, oftentimes all day long. Late in the season those same hens abandon Mr. Tom leaving him alone and looking for love around midmorning. That's the time to be in the woods trying to lure a lonely gobbler into #5 range.
CALL SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK
Turkeys have heard it all by now and then some. It's time to either send a different message or better yet, call softly. Soft yelps and clucks of a content or seeking hen can hit just the right chord for a gobbler paranoid from running into other hunters. Set up in a wooded area and call softly.
The dense cover will cause the gobbler to hunt you instead of you hunting the gobbler.
CHARGE!
Finally, if nothing else works, go after a stubborn gobbler. For safety's sake don't call when you move, but move between calls on a gobbler stuck in one position. Move, set up and call. If he still doesn't come your way, repeat. Keep inching forward. Slight movement often makes a gobbler believe his dream date actually is interested in a relationship. Plus, it's the end of the season. If you bump him you have nothing to lose.
Good luck!
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| The way he is responding I think be believes he's going to be on the ABC hit show "The Bachelor." |