Tri-State Outdoor News

As turkey hunters, being the stealthy types that we are, we generally like to move in as close to the roost as we can in the hopes of getting our intended quarry to pitch down our way. However, invariably we will at some point or another attempt to get too close and end up bumping the bird off the roost. Heck, on one occasion, I no doubt got close enough – too close – only to watch the bird soar out of the tree right over my head.

Last season, I found myself in a situation in which I felt like I needed to get as close as possible to a particular bird. I had nearly killed him the night before in a picked corn field. I called him in from about 250 yards away as he was making his way across the field towards his roost tree. His only saving grace that evening was an extremely low flying jet that spooked him at the last minute – just as I was beginning to put some tension on the trigger.

I felt my odds were good for the next morning’s hunt, but I just wasn’t sure about trying to coax him across that field again. I phoned a good friend and accomplished turkey hunter from Illinois that evening and asked for his advice. I made sure to inform him that this bird was roosted on the bank of a creek, and that there was no way for me to get to him other than crossing the wide open picked corn field.

He advised me to get to my hunting spot well before I normally would and to make my way across the field. He said that I should have my decoys set up and be in position about a halfhour before the gobbler woke up and began gobbling, and that was the only way he felt that I could pull it off. Still, I was nervous about creeping so close to that gobbler with nothing between us but air. Had there been more cover I may have felt better about it.

Nonetheless, the next morning found me slowly picking my way across the field plenty earlier than I normally would. Upon reaching the area near where the tom was roosted, I quickly set up a full strut decoy along with a hen decoy. As daylight approached and the gobbler sounded off, I was shocked to find that I was a mere 40 yards from him with no trees between us. I slowly got myself ready, knowing that I now wouldn’t be able to move for fear of being picked off.

As fly down time approached, I was surprised to see that the gobbler had a hen roosted in the tree with him. This had me concerned as I was afraid he wouldn’t pay my decoys any mind having the real thing with him.
The hen pitched down first, landing right amongst the decoys. “Now, if the gobbler would only do the same thing,” I thought to myself. “He better hurry though, I don’t know how long I can keep from being picked off by her.”

Well, he didn’t do the same thing. Instead he flew in a direction parallel and away from me – landing in a spot about 80 yards away. After several tense minutes, the hen began losing interest in the decoys and began making her way towards the gobbler. “Great,” I thought, “He definitely won’t come this way now. She is going to drag him off the other direction.” To make matters worse, the direction that the tom flew down in, and the direction in which she was heading, was right to the area where I nearly killed him at the previous evening.
But before I could even get frustrated about possibly setting up in the wrong spot, the gobbler turned and started marching right towards my position – even passing by the hen on his way. At the moment just before he tried to teach that decoy a lesson, I couldn’t turn any more to the right and I let the hammer fall. Although it would have been a hoot to watch the show once he pounced on the decoy.

Could I have killed this bird on the other side of the field where I sat the previous evening? I can’t say. But I can say that I do believe that by successfully getting as close as I did to him, he must have felt compelled to confront the intruder who garnered his lovers interest for a few minutes. And it took nearly no effort for him to come such a little distance too. So, if you find yourself in a situation where crowding the roost is no option, and cover is minimal, remember to pack it in early.