Outfitting you for seasons of success. - The Sportsman Channel

Outdoorsmen can spin yarns about the excitement when severalgobblers, or a tom, with numerous hens approaches them at thesame time. But, quite bluntly, most of us, most of the time, havevery little tangible to show when numerous turkeys verge uponus. For in reality, when more than one turkey advances upon ourposition, our odds for success are often at least twice as bad asthey would have been if only one had come into view. Followingare some “more than one” type situations that are common,along with expert tips on how to cope with them.When In-Coming Gobblers BecomeEmbroiled with Each Other:Several years ago, I had spent the better part of the morningcalling and having no birds respond. Suddenly at 8:10 a.m., twotoms simultaneously answered my yelps, followed quickly bythree more longbeards, and finally a sixth – all amazingly within75 yards. By the time the last bird had gobbled, I had set up andwas extremely confident that soon I would have my pick of anyone of the sextet.However, I soon heard sounds of gobblers fightingfrom where the duo had answered. From the opposite direction,the trio of toms halted its advance, each member gobbling hardin response to the other’s gobbles, but totally ignoring my bestefforts. The sixth male ceased calling at all, not to be heard orseen again.Trebark inventor Jim Crumley has experienced similarencounters. “I think this situation is more likely to happen atthe beginning of the spring season,” says the Virginian. “Justas mature bucks go through periods where they tolerate eachother, where they engage in sparring and then fighting, and thenwhere they split up, so do gobblers. And for mature gobblers,that period of fighting often takes place at the start of a state’sseason.“Now as far as what to do when this situation happens,I don’t think the readers will like my number one option. Whenmore than one gobbler comes in and they start fighting witheach other, my advice is to get up, leave and go look for anotherbird. “Second, if you don’t have the option of hunting somewhereelse, I recommend that you stop calling altogether and wait forthe gobblers to sort things out among themselves. Then after asuitable amount of time has passed, start clucking and yelpingvery softly.”If the call softly plan fails, Crumley radically switchestactics and begins uttering loud, frenetic, fighting purrs. Raisea ruckus, he says, for a good 30 minutes. Remember though, thecamo maker concludes, that at best you only have a one in adozen chance of succeeding with the second and third options.I have had hens accompanying a gobbler make me outfrom as far away as 40 yards and as close as five yards. JimCrumley maintains that the old gobbler with hens situation is yetanother difficult one.“The problem with this situation is that the hen or hensinvariably come in first to your position, and that they are moreintent at looking over the area than the gobbler is because heonly has eyes for the hens,” says Crumley. “A real rule of thumbhere is ‘that the closer the hen is to the gobbler, the less of achance you have to kill him.”“Every situation is different, though. For example, ifthe hen is just a few yards away from you, and the gobbler is outof sight, consider running the hen off. If the hen starts cluckingor, heaven forbid, putting at you, try softly clucking back. Youmay be able to calm her down and salvage the situation.“Now if the hen or hens and a gobbler come in, thechances of you being able to move your gun into position becomereally poor. I think the best strategy then is to let the birdswalk on by you and out of sight, and then get up and repositionyourself in front of where you think they are going. Once youhave reset up, don’t call anymore. If you do call, you run the riskof the hens leading the gobbler away from your new position.”When Mature Toms and Jakes Come In:One of the most frustrating experiences I have ever had whilespring gobbler hunting took place several years ago. I hadjousted with a longbeard off and on for several weeks, but everytime I enticed him to my position, he was accompanied by a jake.On one occasion, the jake spotted me and ruined my setup. Onanother, the jake’s body obscured the gobbler’s vitals, and onone particularly infamous morning, both birds glimpsed me asI raised my 12 gauge and responded with a chorus of putts andthe flapping of wings.Chris Ellis, who operates a public relations firm in Fayetteville,West Virginia, acknowledges that when longbeardsand shortbeards amble in together, the chances for successdecrease dramatically. However, Ellis recalls a hunt where heand his brother, Craig, devised a strategy that can solve thisproblem.“Craig and I were calling from this flat, and suddenlywe had two jakes respond with their little, half gobbles,” recallsEllis. “They then come running in, just tripping over themselvesto mate with that ‘hen.’ Well, the next thing we know, we heara gobbler boom out and in he comes, and we can tell from thecolors of his head that he is in the ‘fighting mode,’ “The gobblerand jakes start fighting, and we can’t attempt a shot at the gobblerbecause the jakes are always in the way.When Gobblers and Hens Come in Together:27www.thesportsmanchannel.com