Here is what happened to me about 5 years ago....I set up in an area where I had a run in with a turkey flock and a coyote about a week before. I was working the flock pretty good when a mangy looking coyote busted up the party.
The area was scratched up pretty good and I figured that that
turkeys have run ins with four legged predators all the time, so they would
return if they liked the area. I set up about 5 to 6 yards off a grass lane
where I could see for about 35 yards each way. I placed my decoys (hen and
jake) 20 yards to my right side and about 15 yards off the lane. I settled
in and stroked my glass slate call. I got an immediate response, only it was
a hen. A real raspy yelp. I gave her one right back. She gave me a cut right
back.
! OK Let's duel! Back and forth we went, cutting and yelping, and
then from behind her a Gobble-obble-obble!! All right!
This went on continuously for about 15 minutes. The gobbler seemed to be
liking my calls as he would gobble at each yelp or cut. I think that teed
off the boss hen as she came looking for me. She popped out on the lane and
came right up it cutting all the way. She walked right past my decoys and
paid them a no-never -mind. It's funny how they know exactly where that call
came from as she walked right up about 8 feet from me. She then stopped,
cocked her head to the side and gave me the hairy eyeball. I never moved,
breathed, or blinked. She didn't like what she saw and gave out a series of
PUTTS as she ran back down the lane. I immediately got real aggressive on my
slate call with cuts and loud raspy yelps. She stopped out at about 50 -60
yards and we began dueling again. All the while the gobbler was going nuts
with gobbles and double gobbles. About that time some other hens got
involved. What a racket!!
A lot of turkey hunters say that you should call sparingly, but when you got
a boss hen with a boss gobbler the only way that you are going to do any
good is to challenge her and the gobbler. Unfortunately in my case she
picked me out or didn't like what she thought she saw. There was not 5
seconds of silence in over 45 minutes of working the birds. Either they were
cutting and/or gobbling or I was yelping and cutting. It was Neat with a
capitol N!
I then caught some movement to my right away from where the birds were. Two
silent mouthed gobblers had snuck in from the back side of me to see what
all the fuss was. They were 30 yards away but they both had got up on me as
I was concentrating on the boss hen and gobbler. Both looked like two year
olds with 6 to 7 inch spindly beards. The big boy busted loose with a double
gobble and the two gobblers decided they didn't like what they saw/heard and
went back the same way they came. At no time did either bird's head go
behind a tree where I could swing around and pop off a shot.
I forgot about them and turned my attention back to the hens and gobbler. We
carried on for about another 15 minutes when I guess the hen said," Forget
it" and left cutting all the way. The gobbler stuck around for about another
5 minutes and then decided that the hen he was with wasn't all that bad. He
left too.
I packed up and made a big circle to try and get out in front of them and
re-set up. I called and called but got no answer.
I didn't l kill a bird that morning, but it was one of the best I had while turkey hunting.
