Craziest thing that spooked a bird

turkey_slayer · Post by **turkey_slayer** » April 15th, 2015, 9:51 am

Any weird things happened that cost you a bird? Yesterday I had one in range and a widow maker fell out of the top of a dead pine 15 yards behind me and he blew out. No wind at all. I thought it was a turkey flying up at first but quickly realized it wasn't. Scared the shat out of me

Post by **redarrow** » April 15th, 2015, 9:59 am

Worked a gobbled for about 30 minutes once near an oil well pumping station.Kamski had the gun up and was ready. Gobbler was coming in just over a little rise. I could her him walking . another 10 steps and he was in the bag. SLAM,gobbler gone. What the heck. Oil well worker pulled ,jumped out and slammed the door.We were so fixated on the gobbler we never heard the truck drive in.

killerstump · Post by **killerstump** » April 15th, 2015, 10:06 am

Just yesterday had 1 starting to fire up he was picking up
Gobbling and stirring my way then a power line trimming company fired Up a
Chainsaw on the next hill
And you guessed it he gone!

Here he is actually after I'd covered about 1000 Yards to
Get Setup on him. I'd not called or anything at this tie He'd just strut gobble and stop
Like this

Jaybird · Post by **Jaybird** » April 15th, 2015, 10:11 am

Mushroom hunters in Iowa have killed my hunts many times on Public land. Latest was 2 years ago, when I realized a nice Tom was setting up a secondary strut spot around 10 am, so that was where I set up before light and waited. Sure enough around 10am, here he came Gobbling away. Just before he came into gun range, 2 mushroom hunters appeared, and he turned and ran. When the morels are out, you might as well forget hunting Public in Iowa.

Bigspurs68 · Post by **Bigspurs68** » April 15th, 2015, 10:18 am

Had a big ol boy strutting out a pretty beech flat in WV several years ago. Everything was calm and I was just enjoying the show when two grey squirrels chased each other down a tree near him. He freaked out and flew off. Like he never saw a squirrel before....

FullChoke · Post by **FullChoke** » April 15th, 2015, 10:28 am

I was hunting on a friend's farm in Arkansas a few years back. I was slipping down a gravel road as quietly as I could and directly, one gobbles on the roost right in front of me. I freeze. Eventually he flies down on the hillside about 80 yards away where he continues gobbling. There is a treetop between us for cover, so I walk through the leaves, scratching like a hen and set up against a pine just off of the road. I start calling and he gobbles back immediately. He is getting closer by the minute and I finally see him just as he steps behind a tree. I get my gun on the other side of his tree 3...2... and suddenly there are birds flying and running everywhere and I watch him lope away in the mass exodus. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement in the road. I slowly turn my head and there stands the family's Bloodhound dog! Apparently when they let him out to pee that morning, he must have picked up my scent at the house and trailed me all the way out to the woods.

I have had several occasions where a hunt was busted by an outside element, but that stands as the most exquisitely timed screw up I have had to suffer.

crenshawco · Post by **crenshawco** » April 15th, 2015, 10:43 am

One of the main spots I hunt has a 40 acre pasture that birds strut in a lot. The landowner also allows a local military base to do helicopter training in the pasture. I've had helicopters land and run birds off out there probably a half a dozen times. The birds usually come back shortly after they leave though.

hawglips · Post by **hawglips** » April 15th, 2015, 10:43 am

A blimp. Flew right over the turkeys and I and flushed them like a covey of quail. Darnedest thing ever. Would have just called them back in but legal shooting time was 10 minutes away.

hobbes · Post by **hobbes** » April 15th, 2015, 2:27 pm

Had a couple hung up at 60ish yards within 100 yards of a trailhead years ago in IL. They seemed to be slowly working their way to me when someon at the trailhead started blowing some kind of horn. The turkeys didn't like it one bit. I never said a word when I walked by their truck. It appeared that they were searching for a lost fox hound.

killerstump · Post by **killerstump** » April 15th, 2015, 2:28 pm

crenshawco wrote:One of the main spots I hunt has a 40 acre pasture that birds strut in a lot. The landowner also allows a local military base to do helicopter training in the pasture. I've had helicopters land and run birds off out there probably a half a dozen times. The birds usually come back shortly after they leave though.

That chopper been a heck ofa bird to killed. You'd been famous lol

kygobbler · Post by **kygobbler** » April 15th, 2015, 3:12 pm

I was setup in a blind one morning and could hear birds in a tree right behind me. I got a gobbler fired up and he was charging in over an open field. He stopped at 100 yards and was just looking at me. Then I see the back side of two birds fly down into the other field and the gobbler takes off. Im thinking great the hens flown to the other field and he went after them. Then all of a sudden I see two birds fly back to me out of the corner of my eye. I peek through the window of the back of the blind and there are 20 buzzards all around me.

Turkinator · Post by **Turkinator** » April 15th, 2015, 4:17 pm

Bird banders from the state college. As l passed them walking out they excitedly told me that they heard an eastern wild turkey right before they saw me

howl · Post by **howl** » April 15th, 2015, 5:00 pm

Called up a white horse in the middle of calling up a gobbler. Had to run the horse off and then switch to calling up a different one.

Post by **redarrow** » April 15th, 2015, 5:22 pm

kygobbler wrote:I was setup in a blind one morning and could hear birds in a tree right behind me. I got a gobbler fired up and he was charging in over an open field. He stopped at 100 yards and was just looking at me. Then I see the back side of two birds fly down into the other field and the gobbler takes off. Im thinking great the hens flown to the other field and he went after them. Then all of a sudden I see two birds fly back to me out of the corner of my eye. I peek through the window of the back of the blind and there are 20 buzzards all around me.

Bath time ???

GLS · Post by **GLS** » April 15th, 2015, 5:30 pm

While working a bird, I could barely hear the barking of a dog over a half mile away bee-lining in my direction. "Naw, they won't come near". Louder and louder the barking increased until a sawed-off beagle (sorry, John ) ran a deer (deer in low gear) past me within 15 feet with Short Stuff, nose to the ground, yapping away behind the deer. It was a low speed chase which ended my hunt. They couldn't have come more directly to me. I couldn't believe it.

Shellwaster · Post by **Shellwaster** » April 15th, 2015, 6:28 pm

GLS wrote:While working a bird, I could barely hear the barking of a dog over a half mile away bee-lining in my direction. "Naw, they won't come near". Louder and louder the barking increased until a sawed-off beagle (sorry, John ) ran a deer (deer in low gear) past me within 15 feet with Short Stuff, nose to the ground, yapping away behind the deer. It was a low speed chase which ended my hunt. They couldn't have come more directly to me. I couldn't believe it.

That deer was hoping you'd shoot that beagle that's why it ran towards you.

I was setup on the edge of a rather large pasture where birds would frequent mid morning and while I can't say for certain if the primary gobbler was committed to coming towards me but his hen's where. The birds were probably 70 yards out when I see cows coming down the tree line in my direction. Evidently turkeys don't much care for the company of cows cause without a peep, they turned around and got out of their so fast you'd thing their heads were on fire and tail feathers were catching. I hate these cows, they have ruined more hunts for me then I care to admit.

fmdavis · Post by **fmdavis** » April 15th, 2015, 6:59 pm

Had a bird coming in one time.. another 20 yards and he would've been in range.. all the sudden a band starts playing a 100 or 200 yards away and the bird shut up and got out of there. Turns out it was a band practicing for an event at the farm I was hunting.

Cut N Run · Post by **Cut N Run** » April 15th, 2015, 10:54 pm

A few years ago I was hunting one of the horse farms where I maintain trails in my spare time. Quality trails gives the women easy places to ride and me access to quickly and quietly slip around the property when I'm hunting.

So, I'm set up beside the root ball of a downed tree, just above the swamp, where a gobbler roosted regularly. A little past dawn, after the crows start to call, that gobbler fires up from less than 100 yards away. Things are looking good. He hammers about 25 times in 10 minutes and there's no hens to be seen or heard. He double gobbles on my tree calls. Right about the time I figure he's going to fly down & come my way, he all of a sudden gets quiet. Instead, I hear an unmistakable thop, thop, thop coming down the trail (?!?). A woman in neon yellow running gear comes jogging past me on the horse trail. I didn't hear the gobbler fly, so maybe he'll get going again once she's gone. No such luck, woman turns around at the edge of the field and starts coming back my way on the same trail. This time I definitely hear the gobbler bust and fly off. I stepped out and stopped her to let her know she F'ed up my hunt and she is trespassing. Turns out that she's visiting the neighbors and saw how clean the paths were and thought it might be a good place to run & didn't think it would bother anybody. Never mind that she had to pass a half dozen POSTED signs to get on that trail.

Jim

poorcountrypreacher · April 15th, 2015, 11:10 pm

I once had a gobbler half way across a field coming straight at me; maybe 2 more minutes til gun range at the rate he was coming. Then out of nowhere a low flying helicopter flew right over the field and ran him back into the woods. Turkey started back gobbling but would not enter the field again.

I've never seen a helicopter like that over the farm before or since. No idea what he was doing.

Johndoe · Post by **Johndoe** » April 29th, 2015, 7:47 am

GLS wrote:While working a bird, I could barely hear the barking of a dog over a half mile away bee-lining in my direction. "Naw, they won't come near". Louder and louder the barking increased until a sawed-off beagle (sorry, John ) ran a deer (deer in low gear) past me within 15 feet with Short Stuff, nose to the ground, yapping away behind the deer. It was a low speed chase which ended my hunt. They couldn't have come more directly to me. I couldn't believe it.

No worries Gil
Couple years ago I was being ignored by a gobbler and hen, when I heard a noise. As it got closer I thought it was some ones horse runnin to me. As the deer ran past me a coyote was runnin her. At 20yds I ran some TSS up his/her AZZ. Don't think that yote ever ran another deer. Lol
Damn turkeys never spooked, but they damn sure kept ignoring me.

JD

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