Turkey Lessons Learned from Notoriously Challenging Gobblers

While all wild turkeys might seem the same, the idea that one acts just like the next couldn’t be further from the truth. Every gobbler is different, and some earn a reputation for being especially bad birds. Here are seven I’ve hunted in recent years that, through their unusual or unexpected behavior, provided valuable lessons.

THE BLUFF FLYAWAY

This scenario played out on a typical creek-bottom and bluff setting where a long, winding timber ridge overlooks a series of fields below. I don’t have permission to hunt those fields, but I can hunt the rolling pastures and hay fields on the high side of the bluff.

A turkey I dubbed the Bluff Flyaway roosted on that bluff and always flew to the bottom at fly-down time. One morning I spent a few hours calling to him. He’d give me some courtesy gobbles, but never came back up the hill. Our chat went on and on, yet that gobbler never even looked my way.

I gave up on him eventually, but during the off-season I crafted a plan for that sucker’s demise. One afternoon the following season, I took my uncle and cousin to that same property.

We did the typical calling circuit around the big pasture, eventually nearing the field’s back corner where the Bluff Flyaway liked to roost. I suspected he was leaving the bottoms around midday to early afternoon, later climbing the ridge to peck around in the pastures until fly-up. When I heard several crows at a known strut zone some 90 yards away, a wry smile stretched across my face. I looked over my shoulder and there he was.

One series of yelps and that gobbler blew his top. We rushed toward our staked decoys, and a few seconds later that bird was dancing around our spread. I snapped photos until my cousin sent that turkey to its final roosting place.

LESSON: Not every situation is suited for a morning hunt. Sometimes things work out better at a different time of day.

THE ULTRA-QUIET S.O.G. (Son of a Gobbler)

Quiet turkeys aren’t rare, but most are pretty challenging. That was true of one I killed in 2021. I’d hunted a certain creek bottom since I learned to walk, and for a couple of seasons one particular bird kept giving me and others the slip. Except when on a limb, he remained silent. On the ground, he sometimes gobbled once and nothing more.

One afternoon, I glassed down into the creek bottom and there he was, strutting away. Knowing this bird wasn’t likely to talk, I set a course up-creek in the direction it was heading. With the topography shielding my approach, I reached the bottom on the same plane as the turkey and settled in on the edge of the creek bank.

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After staking my decoys and getting ready, I launched a string of soft yelps. The bird gobbled his typical single time and went silent. I just waited at the ready, and about 45 minutes later, the turkey’s fan tips crested the weeds as the bird slow-walked into the spread.

I watched him for several minutes before making the Ultra-Quiet S.O.G. quiet for good.

LESSON: Turkeys that won’t gobble are harder to hunt. Set up in areas they frequent and wait ’em out. They’ll eventually show up.

THE CORNER CREEPER

The Corner Creeper is a tom I’ve chased for a few seasons. He doesn’t like turkey calls or decoys but does love hens and always seems to have one in tow. Even when he lacks a female companion, this darn bird still shows zero interest in my efforts to lure him in close.

I still haven’t figured out how to get this gobbler in my sights, and I’m bitter about it. With a little luck, it’ll finally happen this year.

LESSON: Turkeys that don’t respond to calling or decoys require a different tactic. Set up shop and employ a deer-hunting mentality.

THE DOUBLE-BEARDED SNEAKER

I’ll never forget a turkey that once slipped by right behind my friend Robert and me. It wasn’t the first time one circled in quietly, but the image of that double-bearded bird with its chest puffed out and beards dragging is seared in my mind.

We were set up on a bird gobbling in another direction, and we couldn’t swing to the Double-Bearded Sneaker on the weak side.

Fast-forward to a day in 2020 when I was hunting with my father and déjà vu hit me like a Mack truck. We were in the same spot but looking in a slightly different direction while calling to a gobbler when I noticed another bird moving through the timber toward us. We slowly turned and waited for the approaching tom to close the distance.

When it finally walked into range, it remained behind the brush from my father’s perspective, but I could see it clearly from my position. Wouldn’t you know, it was that same double-bearded bird from the previous year. Once again that turkey turned and walked away, only this time I grabbed a couple of quick video clips before it disappeared.

LESSON: Many turkeys follow a pattern, so make a mental note whenever one does something more than once.

THE POND PIMP

Notorious for strutting around a pasture pond, the turkey I nicknamed the Pond Pimp spent the bulk of his time in the timber across the property line from a pasture and pond I can access.

Every time I hunted that area, the bird would gobble, but always in the trees on the adjacent tract. Now and then, usually sometime between mid-morning and late afternoon, he would strut around that pond, but I couldn’t get across the 150 yards of open pasture to set up on him.

Then, one day, I had an epiphany. When that tom was strutting around the pond with a hen, I pulled out my tail fan and started crawling toward the courting couple. Within 10 minutes, the Pond Pimp was dead at my feet.

LESSON: Done correctly and with the proper timing, getting aggressive can pay off. But always play it safe and don’t fan turkeys in cover or along property lines. And never do it on public ground or private land where you share permission.

THE PENINSULA PUNK

I’ve never seen a turkey evade danger like one I dubbed the Peninsula Punk. For two years this bird has managed to come out of his numerous brushes with death unscathed.

He roosts at the end of a peninsula of trees bordered by fields on three sides. It’s a nearly impenetrable location because the turkey flies to the middle of the field in a different direction, usually away from calling and decoy spreads.

Typically, if you get a turkey in the mood to play, it’s between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. But even at those times, I’ve come at this turkey from every direction with nothing to show for my efforts in the end.

In 2022 and 2023, that gobbler survived several close encounters. Each time, I had another hunter with me and the bird came into range, only to get behind brush at a crucial time or somehow dodge lead. Maybe 2024 will be the year.

LESSON: Turkeys roosting in difficult spots often showcase random moves and/or won’t respond to calls and decoys. Deer-hunt these gobblers and intercept them along their lines of movement.

THE ROAD-RUNNIN’ RASCAL

A certain turkey I called the Road-Runnin’ Rascal spent a couple of springs roosting on the property line next to a tract where I usually hunt with others. He chose to roost on a ridge that overlooks a creek bottom split by a road dividing the property. I can hunt both sides of the road, but the side where this bird resides is a shallow strip of land, while the other offers more terrain and turkeys to chase.

Though I’d listened to him gobble for years, I’d never really hunted that Road-Runnin’ Rascal. When we finally tried to, he just escorted hens onto the neighboring property every single time.

During the 2023 youth season, I helped my cousin get on this bird. Actually, we were set up on the broader side of the road, hoping for one of four or five gobblers that roosted there.

When daylight cracked, the Rascal started gobbling its head off right on cue. To my surprise, he left that hilltop, walked down the hill, crossed the road and covered the full 400 yards separating us. That bird marched right into the five-decoy spread and strutted its stuff. I was snapping photos when my cousin clicked his safety and sent the gobbler flopping.

LESSON: When one or two decoys won’t work, consider using a bunch of them. A bigger spread will often coax gobblers to come in, even from great distances.