Ditch the decoys and you'll prolly be surprised how many more birds won't hang up as bad in open hammocks/land I've heard. If I use one at all it's only a hen and I think I've tried them twice. All the best turkey hunters I know don't use them so I try and learn from them.
First of all Iluv2hunt and Dony1 they have medication for that. lol I dont necessarily think turkeys have a concept of time and maybe I worded it wrong but I do think him looking at a setup with no movement causes him to be leery and they are paranoid about everything,it wont spook him but may just look odd enough to him to make him go the other way.
well I went in this am with no decoys. my knee was really hurting so I only made it 30' from my car in a narrow wood line along a big field. I know it sounds crazy but it's a great spot, always see birds there. anyway at first flydown the same jake and 2 hens as the other eve (different spot), but they flew down totally silent and ignored my calls, but were very close. nothing was making a sound. by 10am I packed up to go and decided to try 1 more time. took out the call and binocs and got a faint gobble back. after about 20 minutes he was in sight coming in, nice bird just across the open field on the other side of the barbed wire fence when fwc rolls by, I'm saying to myself please don't stop now, which of course they do and back up to my car a retired cop car exactly like theirs and start nosing around, I'm watching the bird get nervous. the wind is blowing from me to the 2 old fwc officers so as softly as I can while still being heard say "I have landowner permission to hunt here, my landowner permission form and handicapped hunting permit are on the dash, I've got a tom coming in and you are interfering with my hunt! can you please just leave" lol, they did but managed to spook the bird. I got him calling back about 20 minutes later but he wouldn't enter the field. he was working his way around it and I thought I might get a shot after all but he stopped in a swampy area about 3/4 of the way around and stayed there. those fwc boys had impeccable timing, another few minutes and that bird would have been DOA.
well I went in this am with no decoys. my knee was really hurting so I only made it 30' from my car in a narrow wood line along a big field. I know it sounds crazy but it's a great spot, always see birds there. anyway at first flydown the same jake and 2 hens as the other eve (different spot), but they flew down totally silent and ignored my calls, but were very close. nothing was making a sound. by 10am I packed up to go and decided to try 1 more time. took out the call and binocs and got a faint gobble back. after about 20 minutes he was in sight coming in, nice bird just across the open field on the other side of the barbed wire fence when fwc rolls by, I'm saying to myself please don't stop now, which of course they do and back up to my car a retired cop car exactly like theirs and start nosing around, I'm watching the bird get nervous. the wind is blowing from me to the 2 old fwc officers so as softly as I can while still being heard say "I have landowner permission to hunt here, my landowner permission form and handicapped hunting permit are on the dash, I've got a tom coming in and you are interfering with my hunt! can you please just leave" lol, they did but managed to spook the bird. I got him calling back about 20 minutes later but he wouldn't enter the field. he was working his way around it and I thought I might get a shot after all but he stopped in a swampy area about 3/4 of the way around and stayed there. those fwc boys had impeccable timing, another few minutes and that bird would have been DOA.
Dang that stinks. Hopefully you can get back on him tomorrow. It reminds me of the only time I have ever been checked by fwc in a local club was when we were in the middle of running an 8pt and he pulled up and I told him 'here's my license, membership card, and search my truck quickly if you want to, I have a buck race I need to be a part of and my dogs are on it so let's please make this snappy' lol
They were just looking for some naked guy sitting in a tree. LOL
