Realtree.com

Second Chances

By Steve Hickoff

Second Chances...After a Miss

Strange things can happen in a turkey setup especially after you've pulled the trigger. Listen to what these experts have to say about sitting tight after the shot!--By Steve Hickoff

I'm no stranger to missing gobblers. I've done it around the country, with some of our finest turkey hunters along. On several of those occasions, keeping my seat has turned whiffed toms into tagged turkeys. Yes, it goes against conventional thinking, but if you happen to miss, keep working birds to remedy that muffed first effort. Don't despair. Another tom might be strutting in just as you lick your wounds.

Of course, it helps to be hidden well in the first place, as good camouflage can't be underestimated, if only to bolster your confidence. I mean, wouldn't you rather be wearing a pattern like Realtree Hardwoods or Advantage Max-1 with wild turkeys nearby? Good camo rarely whiffs.

Also, if a buddy drops a gobbler, stay put, and keep working others in the area. Sometimes, too, longbeards in gobbler gangs will assert their dominance, and mock tread or beat up their recently departed flock member-in range of your gun or bow.

"Tighten up," as Realtree's John Hafner likes to say when it's time to get serious. Stay alert for mop-up opportunities. In multiple-limit states, you can even call a bird in, drop it, and work another into range again. You can also reposition after a shot, and succeed. I recently caught up with veteran turkey chasers Gary Sefton and Ernie Calandrelli to ask them about such second-chance opportunities.

Sefton on Second Chances

"Turkeys are too busy being turkeys to quit everything after you take a shot and miss," says Woods Wise Products' promotions man and gobbler getter Gary Sefton. "When you miss a turkey, he'll often fly into a tree. I always say he stays in that tree until he forgets why he flew up there."

This is especially true during the spring mating season, Sefton asserts. On one outing, he had several blown chances before tipping it over.

"I was using a mouth call--though I had initially located him with a box--and it was extremely windy. The gobbler was in the woods, so I set up where I expected him to come. I missed him three times when he stepped into range." Though disappointed, Sefton hung in there.

"Back in the mid-80s, when you missed a gobbler it was a big deal. You could go four or five days without seeing a turkey. I cussed myself, the bird, and everything else. When I missed, the turkey had flushed into a tree along the open field edge. I slowly moved through a pine thicket and got up in there with him--say 150 yards away--and took a little nap. Not 30 minutes later, a crow flew over, called and the gobbler sounded off."

Mercy. The Woods Wise Products pro was back in business.

Don't Count Your Turkeys Until. . .

"I called, he responded, and started closing ground. With the bird coming, I was on red alert. Just then, I heard dogs running a deer right over top of him. Well that ended that."Twice bitten. Anyone else would have quit that gobbler, but not Sefton.

"I went back to where I'd first come into the area, and yelped. The gobbler answered, now behind me. He'd made a big circle, following a fence. I set up again, and started calling. It was so windy the gobbler couldn't quite get a fix on me. I let him go. I knew where the fence was, and got next to it, so that he'd have to come down the side of the fence looking for me. Finally he did, and I dropped him."

Sefton, an autumn turkey chaser as well, is a firm believer in calling to turkeys after a shot. "Heck, to scatter autumn turkey flocks, I often shoot into the air as a strategy. That's something of a tradition. And all fall turkey hunters know those birds can be called right back. They couldn't survive if they didn't get back to the business at hand."

Calandrelli on Keeping Your Seat

Ernie Calandrelli, Quaker Boy Game Calls' public relations and sales guru, has put hundreds of gobblers in front of his own shotgun, and those of others. He's seen it all, hunting multiple-states annually. It's made him a patient, calculated hunter--and not a little opinionated. Heck, he's earned that right.

"In my view, the stupidest thing you can do when you knock a gobbler down, is to get up," he argues. "If that turkey isn't dead, and happens to get up, wouldn't it be easier to shoot from your sitting position, than to do it on your feet approaching the bird?"Hard to argue there, but some hunters make this mistake, Calandrelli implies. "Don't get up. If that bird raises its head, smack him again," he says. There are other situations when you should keep your seat as well.

"Say you call in more than one gobbler, and shoot one," he continues. "Wait. If you have a buddy with you, be patient. Sometimes the gobbler that's been dropped will start flopping on the ground--head shot but still moving. Most of the time you're going to shoot the dominant strutter, so with him down, the other birds want to move up the pecking order."

This knowledge can help the other hunter with you score.

"Other subordinate gobblers might see that dominant bird on the ground, and come right back in. That's when you really need to hang tight. They will often come right in and stomp on that dying bird. I've seen it happen many, many times."

Don't Jump the Gun

"Don't jump up and run," the Quaker Boy pro routinely stresses. Over the years we've hunted Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, and New York together, and I can tell you from experience, Ernie sits tight. Real tight. Sometimes even soft snoring comes from that position. I mean, the guy is relaxed AND confident.

Why stay put? "You may need to call other turkeys in after you've taken one," he suggests. "Turkeys are wary, skittish and tough to kill, but they don't put two and two together--hey're not human. Even days later you could sit in the same spot, and call one back," Calandrelli offers confidently. Case in point:

"I called in two longbeards on Missouri's opening day one season, and killed one. His buddy flew off," he says. Now a lot of guys would avoid that spot again with one tag left for the split season, but not Calandrelli.

"The following Monday I was right back in there, sitting in the same exact spot. The survivor gobbled on the same roost, flew down, and I called him right back, just like that bird had done a week before. That longbeard died not five feet from where I'd dropped his brother."Had it been spooked? Hardly.

Missing and Second Chances

Say you or your buddy miss a bird. The turkey will most likely run or or fly into a tree or maybe just walk off if you don't move or make too much noise after the blast. What would Calandrelli do?

"If you stand up then, the way a lot of guys do in that situation, the gobbler might know what happened. If you sit tight and stay quiet, the turkey leaves, and things will settle down. Don't start cursing. Don't get mad at yourself. Think positively. Give him thirty minutes, maybe more. You can try to call him back then and there. Better yet, reposition."To Quaker Boy's Calandrelli, woodsmanship might also help you get another crack at the turkey you just missed.

"Circle around and get on the other side of the bird if you can," Ernie instructs, "using terrain to hide your movements, hunting in the direction he went. In some cases they'll come right in again if you've figured out the lay of the land right, and gotten into position without spooking the gobbler."

Never give up on a bird until the season is over, or the turkey is dead, he says.

"I've seen gobblers shot at and missed one day, only to come back the exact same way the next day. You sure aren't gonna kill a bird unless you try," he says.