Penned-up gobblers? Who else?

Familyman

Twelve Pointer
This oughta be fun. On another thread, I just 'fessed up to having set up on and "worked" gobblers that turned out to be penned-up, domestic birds. It happened to me twice, in fact, in my 40 years of hunting turkeys. I'm not proud of that. "Middle Age Crazy" admitted to it, as well...in that other thread.

I just thought it might be fun to see who all else on the forum might have fallen for it....if they'll admit it.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
oh great one of those "That's NEVER happend to me" deals and then it does.
To this point that may be the only way I havent flubbed a hunt. :)
 

Firedog

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Been there, done that.. 1 time.. close to a property line, trying to call them across.. curiosity finally got the best of us and we eased towards them until we saw him.. Happened to my son this year.. he was biking on GL before the season.. heard a bird gobble.. he was excited because he had a permit to hunt that during youth season.. after hearing them for a couple of days in the same general location he decided to explore across the street to look for sign.. I think one scared him it was so close then he saw two in a back yard pen..
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
Many years ago... edge of an unfamiliar property. Birds gobbling like crazy ! Finally decided to stalk to the crest of ridge as a last resort.

Once i discovered it was a mountain house with penned birds.. I told my buddy if he would go unpatch the gate I would shoot onešŸ˜‚
 

georgeeebuck

Ten Pointer
Just the opposite for me.I kept hearing one gobble on the property two ridges over from me next to a chicken coop with a rooster crowing. Heard him two or three days in a week. Thought it had to be a penned up domestic turkey. Saw the guy that live there after the season was over and asked if he had a pet turkey. He said no but that a gobbler had been pestering his hens the whole month of may.
 

Scrub

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Had a friend call me and say lets go turkey hunting there has been one gobbling his head off. Get up and sneak back there when its pitch black dark get set up and sure enough he's there. I call, he gobbles over and over for about 30mins. Then I realize he aint moving I said any chance that neighbor down there has a pet turkey. Sure enough big ole tame turkey in a dog lot.....lol. We walked close to 1/2 mile to get back there and set up...we laughed about that for years.
 

CutNRun

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Same here. Had one in Chatham that I heard across the creek bottom one evening near fly up. I got started down by the creek extra early ready to move on him the next morning. He gobbled like crazy, but stayed on his roost for an impossibly long time. I eased as close as I dared and found a pet gobbler in a fenced back yard. D'oh!

Jim
 

josh

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
A friend and I did a few years ago on a public tract we never hunted , man we had him fired up, couldnā€™t figure out why he wouldnā€™t move closer, upon sneaking closer we saw why.
 

QuietButDeadly

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Play with some at a couple of places in NE that might as well have been in a pen. Two spots in particular, public land. One had a fish hatchery in the block of public and the hatchery naturally had a safety zone around it. We would strike up birds and they would gobble like crazy but never move. We finally found a spot where we could see them. Three or four toms strutting in the short grass around the fish tanks. They would gobble at anything but would not move, just spin around.

Another spot of public on one side of the river and private on the other. Could strike up a gobbler most any time of the day. He was in a short grass lot behind a barn on the private side. Gobble all day long but never move other than to get in the shadows when it was sunny.

Never killed a bird on either one of those places.
 

Familyman

Twelve Pointer
Play with some at a couple of places in NE that might as well have been in a pen. Two spots in particular, public land. One had a fish hatchery in the block of public and the hatchery naturally had a safety zone around it. We would strike up birds and they would gobble like crazy but never move. We finally found a spot where we could see them. Three or four toms strutting in the short grass around the fish tanks. They would gobble at anything but would not move, just spin around.

Another spot of public on one side of the river and private on the other. Could strike up a gobbler most any time of the day. He was in a short grass lot behind a barn on the private side. Gobble all day long but never move other than to get in the shadows when it was sunny.

Never killed a bird on either one of those places.
Sounds like those gobblers were in self-imposed "pens" as a means of self-preservation. They knew EXACTLY where to stand so as not to get shot! :ROFLMAO:
 

nchunter78

Six Pointer
Had a friend call me and say lets go turkey hunting there has been one gobbling his head off. Get up and sneak back there when its pitch black dark get set up and sure enough he's there. I call, he gobbles over and over for about 30mins. Then I realize he aint moving I said any chance that neighbor down there has a pet turkey. Sure enough big ole tame turkey in a dog lot.....lol. We walked close to 1/2 mile to get back there and set up...we laughed about that for years.
This is hilarious. Thanks for sharing!
 

nchunter78

Six Pointer
The question is......if this happens to you, is it better for this to happen when you are alone or when you are hunting with someone? I am thinking that if you are hunting with someone it adds to the story a little
 

Hevi 13. Anson

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Was waiting on my co- conspirator to chime in but I worked 2 penned up birds for bout 4 hours. Called my buddy and we returned the next morning and called for close to 2 hours before we killed a silent tom that slipped in to see what all the cackling was about. Two days later my neighbors well quit working and upon arrival I saw 2 large wild turkeys gobbling at everything in a pen
 

TarheelTurkey

Six Pointer
Iā€™m not sure if I have actually set up on one but we had one in the area we hunted years ago in a pen nearby. We called him Tame Turkey , if we were out listening and none was responding and we needed a boost we would go to the intersection at his location and blow the hooter or crow and call and BOOM Ol Tame Turkey would give us one !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
This oughta be fun. On another thread, I just 'fessed up to having set up on and "worked" gobblers that turned out to be penned-up, domestic birds. It happened to me twice, in fact, in my 40 years of hunting turkeys. I'm not proud of that. "Middle Age Crazy" admitted to it, as well...in that other thread.

I just thought it might be fun to see who all else on the forum might have fallen for it....if they'll admit it.
Lol I though there was a creek, a fence and dag on lake between me and that Tom and he had a dozen hens with him because i couldnā€™t get him to budge. Yup he was in a pen lol.
 

Shockgobbles

Six Pointer
Happened to me this year! I was out with a buddy of mine on his grandpa's place scouting before the season and he was coming to meet me about 30 minutes after daylight. I called him and told him before he left that I'd been hearing a bird over and over just hammering a few hundred yards behind his house. We got all excited and decided to leave and scout out the rest of the property, he remembered a few days later that his neighbor had a penned up turkey :LOL:

It was the second time I'd ever been over there and he'd never hunted before so I don't think it was something he was thinking about. So I don't feel too dumb about it. I know my dad did the same thing in SC a few years back and spent several hours setting up on a penned up turkey, it happens to the best of us :)
 
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