Question: Alex, let's say you're excited about hunting this morning. You've put a turkey to bed. You know the tree he's roosting in, you know where he's going to fly down, you've already got your site picked where you'll be calling to him, and you're waiting on daylight to close the deal. Then you reach the spot where you've planned to set up, and the hunt works out perfectly as you've planned, except for one small detail. When the turkey was at 20 yards, and you squeezed the trigger on your 3-inch Magnum, the turkey's head wasn't within the shot pattern. And, for some reason known only to God, you missed. The bird ran off, and now you have no turkey to hunt. What will you do?
Rutledge: If this is the only turkey in the area, I'll stay with him. After the shot, I'll notice in which direction the turkey runs or flies. Several different times, I've called turkeys back to the same spot where I've missed them within minutes of the miss, if I immediately began calling with loud, aggressive cuts and cackles. Other times, I've set up in the same spot later in the day and called in that same turkey.

Remember, after you know in which direction the turkey has gone, your best tool to take this turkey will be patience. I want to see if that turkey will start gobbling again on his own. Sometimes they will, and sometimes they won't. If that turkey starts gobbling again after I've missed him, he's telling me I've got another chance to take him that same day.

Don't forget, I told you to watch the direction the turkey went after the shot. If I scouted this turkey thoroughly before I hunted him, then I'd know where the turkey liked to strut. So, I may get up immediately, circle around the turkey and try to reach his strut zone before he does. Then, I'll have a second chance to take him in his strut zone. When I reach that strut zone, I'll change calls. For instance, if I've used a diaphragm call when I've called the turkey in and missed, I'll either use a friction or a box call. More than likely I'll use a friction call and give subtle clucks, whines and broken yelps. I want to sound like hens feeding in and around the area where the turkey wants to go.

Question: Okay, Alex, how do you call the turkey back to the exact spot where you've missed him?
Rutledge: A few years ago, I participated in a Jakes hunt sponsored by the National Wild Turkey Federation in Indiana where I guided a young turkey hunter. We set up to call a gobbler on the edge of a cornfield in a strut zone. But we were set up with the sun in our face. I hate to set up with the sun in my face, but it was the only place we could set up. It was late in the season when the hens were already on the nest. I called this gobbler from about 1/4-mile away. As the turkey came in, the little boy looked at the turkey through the scope mounted on his shotgun. He whispered, "I've got sun in my scope, and I can't see the turkey."

The scope had a red-dot focusing device, and the little boy couldn't see the red dot. So, the young hunter shot at the bird, but missed. The bird ran off about 100 yards and immediately started gobbling. Then, we spotted another tom coming into us. I kept calling to keep the turkeys talking. At the same time, I used my Gerber Multi-tool to take the scope off the little boy's shotgun. By the time I got the scope off the shotgun, two gobblers were coming toward us. The first turkey stopped about 30 to 35 yards from us. The little boy wanted to take the shot. But I didn't know how effective the young hunter's gun was at that distance. So, I told him, "Hold on just a minute." The second turkey came in pretty quickly and stopped at about 20 yards from us. The boy took him.

We can learn two things from this hunt. If the gobbler you shoot at and miss isn't completely terrorized, you may be able to call him back. If you start calling right after the shot, and there's another turkey within hearing distance of you, the second turkey may not know what that shot has been all about, and if he still hears a hen gobbling in that same location, he may come in to the call. I always believe in staying put after you shoot, if you miss the turkey because you may have a second chance at that same turkey in that spot. Or, you may have another gobbler come to you that you haven't realized he's even in the area.

Visit our Article Archives