dont know what to do

[Rennat]

we have hunted this farm 3 times in the past month and there is a giant tom on this property but he is not your ordinary bird let me explaine.
first of all we are only allowed to hunt once side of the road as the farmer has cows and dosent want any hunting in the big fields so we are limited to how close we can get to this bird...
2nd there are houses that i put red circkle around.... the birds locations and his travel ways (that he went that day are marked in Yellow) our locations are marked red.

1st setup was for the youth hunt and this big boy came all the way up the dirt road to the clearcut gobbling his head off making all other gobbles we heard shut up... he made it just 30 yards from us when he decided he wasnt going to make the hill into the clearcut he decided to go around us .... 1st roost is where he was roosting that morning. my daughteer shot a ake there and we called it a day, he never seen us or was around for the shot .

2nd setup we wnt into a smaller clearcut as his roost location was different and didnt want to harrass him from the same location, we called him out to the middle of the field when a car came down the road and he high tailed it back to the wood line near the 3rd roost and worked his way hundreds of yards around us this took hours for him to do but slowly he was working his way in behind us to the open field watching him through binoculars at about 300 yards away he picked up some of our movement and took off like a rocket. we had 2 hen decoys out at this time..

3rd setup was in some field brush as he was roosting in yet another location.... this was intresting as he really wanted to come to us but averytime he would make it into the open field road hunters/ heater hunters would drive by and he would take off back to the woods, if he heard a vehicle comming he would go back to the woods he didnt even have to see the vehicle.... This tells me that hes been shot at from the road before... we played this game about 3 times when he diceded to come back into the open field to hang out with the farmers ducks he stuck around with them and i guess he felt safe as when vehicles drove by he stayed put as long as the ducks were with him.

then it started to rain and he high tailed it back to the roost and flew up to the roost....

this bird is no dummy he makes dang sure all is well before he commits to anything...
our first set up it seemed he sensed something was wrong and didnt want to take the chance. on our second setup we got busted but again he was 300 uyards out and wouldnt come any closer i know he had to see our decoys that day at that spot before he caught movement. our 3rd setup he didnt see anything from us but wasnt willing to take the chance... oh and he didnt like the rain and he did like the ducks....

so thats what i know about him other than he is huge and pressured and by himself.... but im not sure what to do to get him i have thrown everything at him... im almost considering using duck decoys and duck calls ...
we would like to go after him Friday morning. I think he will live a few more years personally but the lil lady wants him bad and by law can only hunt him till noon, any ideas?

here is the only pic i could get of him about 200 yards out in the field last thursday evening heading to his roost

[DeanoZ]

im almost considering using duck decoys and duck calls ...

I think an unconventional bird requires, unconventional tactics...I would probably consider using a duck decoy...but no calls, he;s smart enough to know there are no ducks in the treeline...either that or nix the decoys all together.

I would also consider going to a setup that looks safe to him...safe meaning, safe to get to and a safe spot to hang around.  Setup maybe along the strip of woods he went all the way around  and through during the second attempt when he was trying to avoid you after he busted you on the movement.

Just my thoughts FWIW, but I'm still a novice at this so I'm certain some of the veterans here may have a better idea.  Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[Gobblerman]

Okay Rennat, with the info you have given us, this would be my plan:
 
Since you can't hunt him on the side of the road that he seems to always roost on, you appear to be at a major disadvantage.  I think I would hang out concealed at position 3 at daylight, wait for him to fly down and start his day.  I'd hit him with some conservative calling to measure his response....a few simple, soft yelps.  If he heads your way, stick with that.  If not, I would ramp the heat up with some more agressive stuff....some cutting with some loud yelping mixed in.  See how he responds to that.  If he shows no interest, I would shut up and let him tell me what he is doing.  I will assume that he is gobbling often enough that you can course him by his gobbles.  If not, I would attempt to find something that will make him give himself away....locators (crow call?)...or aggressive cutting/yelping....or whatever will do the trick. 
 
If he won't come and won't gobble enough to let me know what he is doing, I would move carefully to the spot where I think I can see the most area and wait to see if he shows himself somewhere.  If he shows no interest in my calling, or is shying away from it,...and if I really want to kill him anyway,....and I know where he is and where he is potentially headed, I would take a guess as to which route he is going to take to get there,....move, and set up along that projected route.  No more calling unless I have to try to move him the last few yards as a last resort....and then just a cluck and/or purr.
 
If he is coming along the day 1 route, I would quickly head for that dirt road and set up along it as close to the main road as I could without being seen....probably would not set up the decoys, especially if I thought he had been spooked off already with them set out.
 
If he takes the day 2 route, I would head for that back corner where he cut across the open field between the woods, and set up in that area.  If I really thought he might avoid the decoys, I might place them further down the field (in the direction of the roost) so that if he popped out into the field before reaching the corner (where I am awaiting), he would see the decoys and maybe head further down toward the corner before crossing the field. ...Or I might just forego the decoys and take my chances that he would cross at the corner again. 
 
If this is the last time you will get to hunt this bird, I would throw caution to the wind.  Nothing would be off the table (ethically, of course).  Risky moves or last resort aggressive calling of any sort would be tried....maybe even some duck calls!!  [:)]
 
Jim
 
 

[WillowRidgeCalls]

If he is playing hard to get with your decoys (hens) try showing him just a jake or a stutter and call accordingly, some deep raspy yelps and some gobbles and throw a challenge at him. If he's an old bird that runs the roost, he may not like the new kid on the block.

[Rennat]

thanks for the advise .. we headed out this morning only to hear silence, not a single gobble which is od from this bird as hes a gobbling machine, no sign of any birds what so ever, i wonder if some one bagged him or if he moved on?