belly dragers

[turkeytracks]

First off I want to say thanx to all of the guys who helped me out so far.  But last spring I found myself in the edge of the woods with a flock of I don't know how many turkeys.  There was 5 or 6 big belly dragin toms. Calling didn't work so I tried sneakin in.  All of a sudden the birds took off over the trees, none of the turkeys said anything or alarmed each other and I was wondering why they took off.  I never saw them again, nor did I see them in the fall.  If anyone has any thoughts on why this happened I would appreciate it.

[turkeytracks]

ORIGINAL: turkeytracks

First off I want to say thanx to all of the guys who helped me out so far.  But last spring I found myself in the edge of the woods with a flock of I don't know how many turkeys.  There was 5 or 6 big belly dragin toms. Calling didn't work so I tried sneakin in.  All of a sudden the birds took off over the trees, none of the turkeys said anything or alarmed each other and I was wondering why they took off.  I never saw them again, nor did I see them in the fall.  If anyone has any thoughts on why this happened I would appreciate it.

sorry guys i ment to put this under discussion.

[mark hay]

well i'd say , from experience, they saw you move. i've had turkeys spook and fly off at 1/4 mile on more than one occasion. if your confident they did not see you, well then they either saw another hunter or a predator that you couldn't see.
about the birds not being vocal, they do that at times and being there was a flock, they were already together as hens and toms . the toms didn't necessarily need to gobble and the hens didn't need to yelp. i'm guessing there was some considerable distance between you and the birds or you would have heard the toms making that SPIT N DRUM and the hens purring.
my advice at this point of your education is ,,,LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES,,,,,,,that's turkey hunter education.
what you experienced is commonly called ''the gobblers were henned up''.
i don't know anyone personally that has ever pulled a tom away from one hen , let alone a flock. my advice , next time you run into this situation, keep quiet and try to keep track of the flocks where abouts . later in the morning the hens will leave and the toms will be looking for another hen and likely be more cooperative to your calling.
keep asking the questions and check out the thread on the ''turkey hunters journal'' . you'll see my meaning.

[turkeytracks]

Thanx for the advice Mr. Hay, I will start a jounal this spring.
 
I also just want to say I'm very excited about this spring!![:)]