Anything else you can blame for messing up a turkey hunt?

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
We generally do a fine job of messing them up ourselves. :)

But sometimes things beyond our control get in the way.

i've had coyotes, farmers, and other hunters mess up a hunt.

How about you, have you had some "help" in screwing up on a bird?
 
jboi72

jboi72

Eight Pointer
There was this one time on Caswell gl, don't have time at the moment to go into detail but if there is a hot bird any where on that gl you better stay as low to the ground as possible messed my hunt up big time and was almost a whole lot worse..
 
fowlplay'n

fowlplay'n

Twelve Pointer
I generally do a fine job of screwing them up all on my own and don't need extra help. On more than one occasion I've given up after a bird went silent only to stand up and see the bird turning to run from inside gun range.

There was one time that we were hunting and got a bird to play along but he was down in a bottom along the river. He was putting on quite a show about 60 yards out when a boat comes flying up the river with what sounded like a drag car engine on it and that bird took off like the road runner never to be seen again.
 
stilker

stilker

Old Mossy Horns
I had one coming in on a string one time,just popped the safety when out of the corner of my eye I see another gobbler run in and give him the spurs...I'll never forget them running out of sight with the feathers flying.
 
bowhuntingrook

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Was using blind and decoy in private 1 acre field to try and get my brother his first bird until a trespasser on a golf cart drove to about 60 yards with my decoy at 20 yards between us. Fearing we might get shot (we were hidden well in shade behind a decoy) I got out, he drove off. On my walk out to look where he went I look down in the woods to the left as a hear something, group of turkeys, the ones we were waiting for ran off. I go out and look at the cart tracks, it was obvious he was driving to each field, getting out and creeping up in the fields to try and find/shoot turkeys. We were lucky, so was he.
 
Lucky Clucker

Lucky Clucker

Old Mossy Horns
I have had almost all of it happen . At Sandhills years ago had one coming in good I had went after for about 2 miles,e was strutting down a path when all of a sudden he looked up and ran off like a streak. A big pine cone had fell almost where he stood,I guess he thought it was a hawk or some other varmint,the ones that leave out fast with out stopping are the ones who live to breed. Coyotes, deer,people, dogs, other hunters and a dang guy in SC. that wanted to turn out a coon from a live catch trap eating the cage around in the back of his truck, at my truck. Of all the places he could park in the middle of nowhere , he parks at mine where I'm working a turkey 50 yards from the road.After the bird ran off I went to my truck thinking someone was breaking into it. I don't think he will ever turn another coon loose near a truck in turkey season again that's all I have to say about that.
 
hawglips

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
Yeah, most mess ups are of my own doing. But the strangest hunt blowing incident involved a blimp.

I was hunting in VA and down to the last 15 minutes of legal shooting time and had a large group of turkeys slowly inching our way. And then we heard what sounded like an odd truck back in the woods coming right our way. It got louder and louder until we could see a big blimp flying just over the tree tops and went right over our turkeys, busting them like a covey of quail.
 

Zach's Grandpa

Old Mossy Horns
People, dogs, bobcat, cows, roving gang of jakes, and a helicopter. Though I've killed a lot of coyotes while turkey hunting I've never had one mess up a hunt.
 
nchawkeye

nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
I had a hawk swoop down and hit one of my decoys one morning...The gobbler was about 60 yards away, he skedaddled.....
 

agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
My all-time favorite is the time growing up in south Mississippi my dear departed dad, turkey hunter extraordinaire, had located a roost and we were going to work 'em one morning. He'd picked out a nice big, mossy red oak to back up to, about 100-150 yards from their roost.

We walked in without saying a word, settled in beside that giant oak and sat there in relative silence, only whispering occasionally, waiting for daylight.

The sun finally peeked through the trees and we started to get ready, expecting those birds to leave the roost at any moment.

My dad pulled out his handmade cedar box call and a ran a piece of slate across the edge and let the sweetest yelp you've ever heard slide through the cool morning air.

And the branches above us EXPLODED with the sounds of that flock of turkeys exiting their new roost, heading for the field. Once our heart rates came back down to normal and we realized we weren't going to die, we laughed and laughed. Busted!

I still walk by that tree whenever I'm back to the farm and I think about the good times my daddy and I had listening for ol' toms. And, occasionally, getting busted for one reason or another.
 
wolfman

wolfman

Old Mossy Horns
Hadn't heard a peep all day. Early afternoon I had been cold calling for a while. A hen flies into a tree directly above me while a gobbler starts hammering a short distance away. My pants are around my ankles because nature had called and my gun was not in reach. My white :donk:donk:donk does not camouflage well.
 

KTMan

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Like everyone else I've had about it all happen, but last year was the craziest. Calling for my son, who was using a bow, two gobblers coming opposite direction. Finally got one in about 20 yds from me and 25 or so from him. Out of no where a black bear leaps out and tries to catch the strutting bird. This was in Caswell Co. not normal to see a bear.
 

Bar3006

Ten Pointer
2 years ago I was setup on the edge of a wheat field, I had 2 hens and a jake were 30 yards out in the field, and old tom had hammered a couple of times maybe 50 yards in the woods to my right. All of a sudden I hear voices, it was 3 young ladies on horses, they were easing around the 100 plus acre field. What a day to decide to ride thru the county side. When the turkeys ran off I stood up so they all knew I was there, didn't want to spook the horses. Anyway the ladies claimed to have no idea there was a hunting season ( they have permission to ride around the landowners place), but just my luck but what a site all 3 were at least 7's. Women love those horses!
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
i forgot about my house dog interference.
turkey coming from south on a string - turkey stands striaght up and runs away .
thinking that he must have really been spooked by me i look over my shoulder and have a house dog crouched directly in line of sight to the turkey.


he was the landowner's dog and had crossed one of those big sc low country fields to get in the action. I just wished he had been sleepy that morning. :)
 
Eric Revo

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
A buddy and I were trotting through a jack oak ridge in Robert Brent Management area to get to a bird that was hammering on the other side of a ti-ti thicket. It was a cold morning(for Florida) and we were making tracks and not really taking time to look around.
I was about 10 yards in front of my buddy and stepped on a "soft log" laying by a gopher hole...my buddy stopped and yelled a name that I'll refrain from using....the "soft log" that I'd stepped on was a huge Eastern diamondback rattler. The snake was cold and sluggish, but had raised his head and body about 2 feet off the ground and was looking at my buddy, who for some reason was trying to get his .45 out to shoot the snake. I walked back and shot the snake's head off with my shotgun.
The hunt was over for that morning and we started back to the truck with this huge snake over my shoulder. We had to walk down a small highway to get to where the truck was parked and everyone that passed us slammed on brakes for a better look at the snake. Even with it's head off, the reflexes would cause that snake to strike my leg as it bumped against me....he was dropped many times as a reaction.
The snake ended up being 7' 11'' long, without his head or section of his body that I blew off with my old Model 12. That was more than 20 years ago and I've still got his tanned and mounted skin with 11 rattles attached on a board in the attic. He was so big that his skin stretched across and overlapped a 1x12 that I used to mount him on.
I've had many turkey hunts "messed up", but that was by far my most memorable.
 

BigStrutter

Twelve Pointer
Had a mid morning bird coming slow but steady two seasons ago. About the time he should've came into view the grave digger fired up in the cemetery behind me. Obviously a backhoe isn't turkey friendly.

I've had fishermen spook birds when hunting close to the lake a few times too.

Ned
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
i have had two different hunters swear a hot air balloon messed them up. I was thinking that sound they make would be more likely to make one gobble. :)
 
Putt

Putt

Old Mossy Horns
After low crawling about 400 yards to try and use a rise in the field to call the tom over, I met my fate when I raised my head up to see where the birds were and realized I was laying on a fire ant bed. Well a couple of hundred bites and I and toted my clothes out for over a mile to get to my truck. Once there the base game wardens came by and had to ask what in the world I was doing.. I said itchin.... finally had to go get steroid shots and anti itch meds.. wasn't fun, and definitely isn't some thing I will ever forget.
 

bugg

Eight Pointer
Cool thread OS. I've enjoyed reading these posts.

Was hunting a mountain cove one morning. Birds would roost in the woods to the north of the pasture and make their south way down to the fields. We set up two hen decoys and sat down. Turkey's read the script and did exactly what we thought they would do. The resident cows made their way up and started a stampede against every turkey in the field. All but one tom scattered.

The cows spotted our decoys and came to run them off as well. When the decoys didn't run off there was a curious standoff, cows not real sure what to do about it, tom standing some 50yds away, strutting, and watching intently. When the tom turned, his fan blocking his view, the lead cow received a stick to the neck, courtesy of yours truly. The whole herd took off and eventually spooked the tom as well.

That was the stampedingest bunch of heffers I ever saw. Sometimes, you've got to just laugh and enjoy the memories.
 
rodman

rodman

Ten Pointer
Had one gobbling hard when I got out of the truck one afternoon. Got set up on him and called to him and he cut me off.Slate down gun up.He come into view about 150 yards from me coming hard when a tree limb fell out of a oak between me and him. It sounded like a bomb went off.Probably saved his life
 
sky hawk

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
bugg said:
The cows spotted our decoys and came to run them off as well. When the decoys didn't run off there was a curious standoff, cows not real sure what to do about it,
Click to expand...

Cows, cows, cows. I've had the same experience. Apparently a turkey decoy is mesmerizing to a herd of cows.

Coyotes and hawks haven't done me any favors either. I'm not sure why a hawk tries to swoop down and grab a bird 3 times his size.
 

30/06

Twelve Pointer
Cows, Yotes, landowners, dogs

Was at the club a few years back and was doing a little work between hunts. Landowner calls and there's a bird gobbling like crazy on creek behind his dads house. I take off down the road and don't hear the bird. I worked my way to the creek and never heard a peep, kept on going and set up a few hundred yards further back, nothing. While walking out the bird fires up right where he said it was. I sneak in close and call a little, bird fires right back, all I need is for him to cross a fence. All of a sudden I hear a gator, at the top of the hill. It stops for a second and then keeps on coming right too me. Here comes the landowner putting out minerals, drives right by me. I called him and made him come pick me up, he felt terrible but said when he stopped at top of the hill he didn't hear me calling or bird gobbling, figured I had left. Oh well.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
And lest i forget the wild sow and her piglets that ruined a texas hunt for my daughter and me. We still laugh about that.

Everything showed up at once coming from opposite directions. :)
 
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TarheelTurkey

TarheelTurkey

Six Pointer
On the same pair of gobblers once a house dog chased them out a field and separate day a group of deer came out and pushed them away from us ! Luckiest birds lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Moose

Moose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
sky hawk said:
Cows, cows, cows. I've had the same experience. Apparently a turkey decoy is mesmerizing to a herd of cows.

Coyotes and hawks haven't done me any favors either. I'm not sure why a hawk tries to swoop down and grab a bird 3 times his size.
Click to expand...
I've had hawks buzz my decoys usually focused on hens I'm sure it's to try to find one of the polts. I've been attacked by a bobcat while turkey hunting and that sure messed up my hunt heck I about messed myself.
 
Blackwater

Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
My very first attempt was spoiled by a boat....my boat. Some years back it was my first attempt at calling turkeys so I left camp in my sneak boat when there was just enough light to avoid obstacles in the river and I was slipping downstream toward some gobbles I had heard. When just across from a dried up slough I heard one off about 150 yards at the back of the slough. There was just enough water in the mouth of the slough to pull up my boat between two cypress knees and tie off so I got behind the bowl of a large cypress where I could see the slough and got on the diaphragm. He hit the ground and came in a run, gobbling every few steps; not across the slough as expected, but around the left side through the woods. I couldn't figure out how he could be coming so fast without making some running noises and in no time he was on the scene but I have a large tree blocking my view. He checked up before exposing himself, came through a screen of bushes, saw my boat and the next thing I know he's flying across the river. Lesson number 1!
Disappointed, I crossed over the mouth of the slough to find a two track leading through the woods to the river which explained how he was able to cover so much ground so quickly and quietly, save for the gobbling. The next day I set up at the end of the two track, had some coming to my calls when they exploded in every direction about 60 yards out. Next thing I know there's a coyote in the lane for a brief moment, not enough time to get off a shot but my cousin killed her two days later about 1/4 mile downstream. Busted two days in a row.
 

boomer

Twelve Pointer
A deer was the funniest. The gobbler was about 200 yds out and coming and I could hear something walking behind me , i figured it was a hen .It got closer and closer and so did the gobbler. The gobbler stopped about 100 yds out & was strutting & what ever was walking was even closer. Well I was concentrating on the gobbler when out of the corner of my eye I see a doe . She is at 5 yds or less & she is very curious about the camo lump near the oak tree. She walks up to my boots and is looking around when see realizes something ain't right. She explodes and runs and is snorting carrying on. She runs straight towards the gobbler and almost ran him over. He flys off to get out of the way. Hunt over. I am so scared out of my wits that I just sit there. 10 minutes later I hear noise coming my way . I sit and here comes that stupid doe. Looking at me again. I stand up , she goes nuts and I see the gobbler fly off behind her. Hunt over and time to get breakfast.
 

Larry R

Old Mossy Horns
Topped out over the top of a mountain ridge and did a couple of soft clucks. Two gobblers maybe 150 yards down under the back side of that mountain gobbled, gobbled and double gobbled. I leaned my shotgun up against a huge tree I planned to back up against. Took off my hunting coat and pulled out two hen and a Bubba Jake decoy and headed about 30 yards down the hillside and set them up. I turned to head back to the tree I intended to back up to when I saw a long beard standing 5 yards from my shotgun. I was 25 yards from the shotgun so "What could I do?" LOL I knew there were two hot ones down the mountain below me so I ran for my shotgun expecting the gobbler guarding my shotgun for me to do an about face and leave. W R O N G. The $%$^%^$%234 took off flying right at me and right over my head and off down the mountain side. Right on top of or over the two gobblers I had heard down below me and thought I could work. Never heard another peep out of either of them.
 
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