Question

Long story short I got picked off by a bird last night. He walked around my ground blind and stepped into my shooting window at 4 yards. I only know of 2 toms in my whole area so the question is, how bad did I mess this whole deal up? I dont know much about turkeys cause we just dont have many of um. Are they like deer and I should just plan on not seeing that bird for a year? What are the chances of him returning to my clover plot (1 1/2 acre) tonight or tomorrow? I have pretty much the whole mile of river bottom to hunt, how far from the scene should I move? Two days and 13 hours in the blind I havent heard one bird, he just showed up last night 10 mins before sun down after I did some calling. I havent had any luck getting any response when trying to locate birds before season either so that is kind of out of the question.

Dad shot his bird from a group of 3 at 10 am and at 5 pm one of the other 2 was in front of the same blind.

How bad did you booger him ? ? Did he sneak off or run and fly ? ?

Did he have a girlfriend with that got boogered too? He will be where the hens are or where he thinks they will be. We’ve shot birds out of blinds in basically the same field on back to back days so I wouldn’t give up on your spot. But if you hear them a ways away and can move, I would do that! Good luck!

He came out of some thick stuff at about 4 yards, seemed tenative. got about 8 steps into plot where he was able to see into blind, took like 3 running steps then took off flying. Should have been sitting farther towards the back of the blind but I wanted to make sure I didnt hit it and move the whole blind when I drew my bow.

I havent seen a hen out in my area (within 3 miles) since february. Just one big tom, and this smaller tom that I spooked. Also ive been using one tom decoy and one hen. Maybe better just using two hens??

I think he would come back I would just keep a eye out for him, and give it another try one of them don’t know unless you go things.

Go with a lone hen decoy. More apt to come in without a huge population of birds…if you don;t have many birds to start with, that would look more natural.

I agree, I’d try going with a lone hen. I would also consider changing your setup ever so slightly.

Are you wearing 100% black clothes in the blind? Is your bow blacked out? Camera? Don’t be afraid to line the inside of your blind with a black sheet so you can’t be silhouetted against the back of it. Make sure you close the windows as best possible so the birds can’t see through the blind.

Good luck!!!

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Are you wearing 100% black clothes in the blind? Is your bow blacked out? Camera? Don’t be afraid to line the inside of your blind with a black sheet so you can’t be silhouetted against the back of it. Make sure you close the windows as best possible so the birds can’t see through the blind.

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This was the other half of my problem. I deer hunt out of ground blinds quite a bit and have good success, however, I had the “ninja suit” packed away with the rest of my deer hunting clothing. Overall I was just too sloppy wearing camo and not getting positioned in the blind correctly (not to mention the bird was darn near in my lap when it stepped out). Guess I learned to give the Turkey a little more credit on the eye sight

It’s tough. Some birds are just plain on-edge, and they live their lives that way. At that range esp., they can see you blink no problem at all. My MN bird this year did something very similar. Came from behind the blind and 7 yards to my left, looked into the blind (possibly silhouetted me) and at the dekes….broke strut, turned 90 degrees, and slowly started walking straight away. Not sure what it was I did wrong, if anything, but there was something that didn’t sit as right with him as it should’ve.

Keep after him, and there’s still another bird working your area as you mentioned. That, and they’re on the verge-of, or already are, spreading out to breed more hens. In the next few days to a week, you’ll start to see wandering toms at all hours of the day, crossing roads, wide open fields, and pastures. Then, at any point, even if you already worked an area, a new bird can show up.

Good luck and keep the faith, it only takes one!

Joel