Frustrating

[caliber420]

I hunt high altitude Merriam turkeys with my bow every year. I have yet to connect with one, but I'm getting more and more skilled at calling them in. Today was opening day and I called in two toms within 45 minutes of sunrise. They hung up at 60 yards then walked away. Then a shotgun went off down the canyon, and they quit gobbling. Then I was on some other gobblers a little ways away and just when it started moving closer another shotgun went off and they all went totally silent.
I was going to be camping there all weekend, but that was enough to put me over the edge. My motivation dropped to zero and I decided to just leave. Maybe I'll go back later in the season, but it was really disappointing for me. Wish we had an archery season for turkey here.

[willybepop]

Public land?

[caliber420]

Public land?

haha yep. one of the crappy things is that i know some of the guys that were out and they were only in there because I had told them that I hunted around there, maybe i'll have some good karma coming. Loose lips sink ships.

[willybepop]

I've avoided public land for that reason. However, if my hunting lease continues to rise in cost, I may start trying it.

[caliber420]

I think I'm going to put off hunting them until a nice weekday or until I can hunt some private land in the north.
My buddies who blasted birds all over there yesterday didn't even apologize or anything for spooking my toms out. I told them i was gonna leave and they could hunt the entire spot. So damn frustrating.

I woke up today in the worst mood, still hearing gobbles in my ears.

[InstinctiveArcher]

That's just one of the challenges of hunting public land. Some guys are really courteous, some guys aren't. It's the same during deer season.
Plus, turkey with a bow is no gimme. They've got eyes way better than deer, and are very cagey. If they don't like one thing about your setup, they won't come in.
Good luck! Our season starts the 18th and I'm hoping to go stick a gobbler.

[Raptor02]

That's tough luck man. Turkeys have always been the toughest animal to hunt for me. Seems something like that happened every time I got a bird coming in. I did get my first bird with a bow 2 years ago but it was out of a ground blind. Without that I couldn't imagine being able to draw my bow undetected. Good luck. Sounds like the area is great for birds even if there's a lot of hunters.

[InstinctiveArcher]

I usually find a log to sit behind. Then draw my bow and shoot it horizontally so that they don't seem me. If there's is a big enough cap, I'll get way down on my knees and shoot under.