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Bottoms or Ridges

Willie

Willie

PMA Member
In your past experiences do birds prefer ridges or bottoms in the morning? This morning was phenomonal in the turkey woods and we had birds fired up from 5:50 till 7:30 but could never get a tom to show his face. We were hunting a bottom bowl type area with ridges surrounding three of the four sides. We could get responses out of birds but couldn't get them to fully commit - plenty of hens to draw away their attention though. Nonetheless it was a fabulous morning to be in the woods.
 
I agree on it being a great morning. I had three gobblers sounding off but they were henned up good. I've found that after a couple of days of bad weather, "it rained here for two days", they like to hit the open fields to strut in the open where they can dry out. The tops of ridges on logging lanes can work good to.
 
I have killed them in both, but every bird is different as to where he wants to go. Lately they have been favoring those ridgetop openings and edges where they can really show off in my areas. The way things are right now with the hens....I am sure the gobblers would strut on I-80 if that is where the hens were. Heck, when the calling gets tough, I just stick them out and hunt them like deer. Go to a strutting area, feeding area or some other place that attracts hens, set up a blind and wait them out. Sometimes I don't even put out a decoy or call very much.
 
This is an old lesson my buddy from Old School Missouri told me that has paid off. The way a turkey's body is made it's easier for them to walk uphill with their weight in the front, its harder to walk down hill so they'd rather fly to the bottoms when they roost, if you want them to come in on a call easier... Set up higher then they are. I don't know if its all true but it has paid off for me.
 
No real rule, i have seen them do both things, i have watched a bunch of birds walk down hill, and i have seen gobblers fly accross the river in search of a hen.
so in my experience, there is no rule,
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General rule of thumb is they WILL do opposite of what I do!!!
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Amen to that!
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I hear you guy's - I've just never second guessed myself so much as this year. It's just been a frustrating season to say the least - until today........Story and pics tomorrow
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