why did they do that

[benhanson]

this morning i went out on the edge of a field and called 2 toms of the roast out of the woods. i was call on a fence line 90 degrees to the woods and had a hen decoy off to my left. they seemed really interested and cutt all my calls but when they came out they just strutted along a road right next to the woods then they just walk over the hill 60 yards away. once they got across the field i saw there where hens over there that the where with.

so my question is why didn't they come to my decoy and within range i know they saw the hens and that's why they left but why didn't they walk past my decoy on their way over

[Everyday Hunter]

I'd say that the number one reason is that they're turkeys. [;)]

Steve

[mark hay]

when the birds cut your call, were they in sight of the deke?
if not , did you call to the toms once they could see the deke? after all , the reason dekes are used is to CONVINCE . convincing hens make audible calls . i'd guess that the fact that there were more real hens ; moving , and probably purring, which seemed more attractive to the toms .

[Everyday Hunter]

I'll give you a serious answer this time. (Actually, my first answer was no joke.)

Although it's a little hard from the description to get an exact picture in my mind of the situation, I think you had a couple of things against you. But first, what you had going for you.
[ol][*]Because the gobblers cut into your calls, your calling wasn't the problem. You can have confidence in your calling ability.
[*]It sounds like you had a good set-up. Your dekes were in the general direction they were planning on going, which can't be a bad thing.
[/ol]On the other hand, you would expect them to respond more than just vocally -- by coming to you. Why didn't they? I see two possible reasons.
[ol][*]If they saw your hen deke (and it sounds like they did), they didn't see movement. This seems like a situation where a stationary decoy may have hurt you. If you also had a jake decoy (one that they could tell was a jake), it might have helped because then they would have thought they had competition. Would you have done better without the deke? Sometimes we're better off without decoys but in this case I don't think so because...
[*]Turkeys tend to  know where other turkeys are. These gobblers may have heard the real hens (their hearing is better than yours), or had been with them the night before. So, they headed toward the real girls. And knowing your hen (deke) was there, they expected your hen to respond like hens are supposed to do -- go to the gobbler, or (if she wants a piece of him [:)]) at least go to him on his way to the others. [/ol]I don't think you could have played this better unless you had prior knowledge of the real hens, and were set up where either the real hens got mad at your deke, or you were close enough to the real hens that the gobbler considered your deke as part of the harem of others.

There are lots of people on this forum who know much more than I do, so I'm interested in hearing other answers. These are the discussions I really like, because they are great opportunities to learn.

Steve

[benhanson]

when the birds cut your call, were they in sight of the deke?
if not , did you call to the toms once they could see the deke? after all , the reason dekes are used is to CONVINCE . convincing hens make audible calls .

mark they didn't cut my calls or even gobble after they saw my deke and i did call after they saw it to get them to break strut

everyday hunter to help you get a better idea. they were roasted in the woods to the north. i sat on the west side of the group of trees about an inch from the top of this pic my deke was about 10 yd south of where i sat they came out of the woods at the T the road and the fence makes then they walked west about a 1/4 of a inch then went south into the little backwards J made by the woods to the south then they walked through that woods farther south to the hens in the field. hope that helps a bit more

[mark hay]

the longer i hunt turkeys , the more i believe they can hear far better than we give them credit for . and WE do give them a lot , when it comes to hearing .
 they could no doubt hear the REAL girls , and by hearing them they KNOW the exact spot where they are . the fact that you called to the toms after they could see the deke makes me believe there is or was something unnatural about the deke , i mean body posture /body language, that didn't fit with the type of call you made . it's been my observation that when hens are purring they have their heads down in a feeding posture . i have never seen or heard a hen purring with its head up . i don't know what call you used at the set up, i'm just throwing out some possibilities that might help you see a little better .
good luck

[benhanson]

mark my deke has it's head up and i called mainly with excited yelps

[mark hay]

well it now appears we are both asking the question,,,WHY DID THEY DO THAT?

[benhanson]

I'd say that the number one reason is that they're turkeys. 

i think that that's our answer but it's turkey hunting and finding out WHY DID THEY DO THAT is part of what makes it fun

[mark hay]

yes sir, i agree. we tried to get a gang of jakes fired up tis morning . they cutt, cackled , yelped , and gobbled . but they didn't want to play with us . spent about half of yesterday staying within 100 yards of the bunch . everytime we set up and tried to make them interested , they would get real vocal for a few minutes and then shut up for an hour or so . i used mainly jake yelps and clucks this morning , even offered them some of my pathetic jake gobbles . they would respond but gave no ground .
other times of year they would be all over me ,,,,why did they do that ?
havin' fun in the turkey woods ,,,,,mark