the crafty club foot

well there is this bird and yes hence his name the CRAFTY club foot, while huntin him i found one afternoon he would gobble to aggressive callin but wouldnt come( characteristic of an old bird) old birds have learned that they dont have to come to the hen and that if he gobbles enough the hen will come to him. the second time i hunted him i found out that if you call soft to him he will go the other way .....then i found out he will shut up if i do a fighting purrr as a last resort ......bottom line hes old , hes been around he has probably been shot at several times.....the next time i hunted him i learned he doesnt like a decoy not even a jake over a hen! then today i learned that if you call he will run the other way. had his hen come in to my callin while he walked swiftly the other way.....now he has led me no other choice but to bushwack him ...i talked to my buddy kerry terrell that is with knight and hale pro staff(which has hunted this bird with me many times) and he says you will have to bushwack him ! he said walter parrot would certainly bushwack him .....i saw him today and from my estimates which are pretty accurate ....he has a 12-14'' thick beard and has to weigh in the 23-25lb range ....and theres no tellin what his spurs look like! anyone else had any bouts with an old bird like this????

Got One Of Them Too!

Yeah Been Seeing An Older Bird 2 Times. He Sends In His Younger Brother And Sometimes The 5 Jake Boys. Havent Had A Shot On Him. It's A Waiting Game For Hime, But I Will Have To Wait Till Next Year To Try Him On. I Had Neck Surgery And Can't Shoot Now. So Just Have To Use The Camera For Now. Good Luck On Yours.

yes ---hunted him far to often its kinda like battin practice only John Smoltz is pitchin !!!! MOJO will only die when the devil himself takes him back to hades -----I gave up on this bird again 4 TH YR NOW !!! --1 of the few places I can go to hear a bird gobble every day only I'd rather hunt another bird maybe I'm cazy--SS

any others?

Yep. I became obsessed with an old bird a few years ago on our lease in Elbert Co. This bird would gobble like clockwork, but only once or twice. I saw him one afternoon in a small powercut. It was a windy day and he was just standing in full strut, all by himself. The next morning I slipped in the creek bottom he resided in, and hearing me walking, he gobbled. He was close. I just sat down, facing the direction he gobbled from. I did not call after that. Several minutes later, as I moved to make a soft call, he putted directly behind me. That's the last encounter I had with him. He finally died of old age or predation. He was some kinda bird.

you're lucky that he even gobbles at all.........

IMO most really old toms no not gobble, i've got pics of 5 toms on a tract i hunt but out of 10 morning hunts a 2 year old bird is the only one opening his beak.

He is on the fringe, he won't go to the turkey plot where the hens are. He has likely felt some big spurs in his backside and is low on the pecking order.I don't have enough open groung to obserrve the pattern to set up a bushwack plan or i would have already tried it.

Sounds like your bird comes to open ground where there is visibility, for both of you, my guess would be to set up near the roosting area and be totally hid,don't call just leaf scratch and wait him out.
He's too smart for calling or decoying so a bushwack or blind setup is the only way you will ever collect those spurs.

come on i know theres other ppl out there that have hunted a particular bird?

Yeah check out my Ghostbird threads from last week. This makes the second year has given us the slip. If you call while he is in the tree he either shuts up or he flys down and goes the other direction. This bird will sit in the tree for ever. Thought i had him bushwacked sunday morning. The bird had a long thick beard so i took him. Turned out to be a 2 year old with a 9.5" beard that is nice and thick.

anyone else ???

Ive hunted a bird like that....

I hunted him hard for 3 years....He was an Oglethorpe County bird....
He would be roosted in nearly the same tree every morning.....Its hard to describe the place he roosted...It was a VERY steep ridge with small springs on each side....So steep you wouldnt think a turkey would walk up it at all....Birds would be gobbling all around but when he gobbled they ALL shut up...One morning I decided to go for broke and left the house an hour early....I climbed into that little nook well before the sun started to rise..I was praying I hadnt spooked him....When light started to crack a bird gobbled way down the creek....My bird cut him off to let him know who was boss....Only thing is he was roosted on the oposite side on the bottom of the steep ridge....I called softly to him and he answered..I shut up and he did too...An hour went by and I was about to dose off when I heard a twig snap...I popped the saftey off just in case and had my gun up on my knee....Next thing I saw were the tips of his tail feathers coming up over the hill....I clucked and he stuck his neck up....That was the end of the steep ridge gobbler....he flopped all the way down the hill and I had to slide down the "mountain" to get him....I think he was a 5 yo bird....He only weighed 14lbs soaking wet (he fell in the creek)....He had a thick 10 1 /2 inch beard and razor sharp 1 1/2 inch spurs...

I was really proud to take this bird....

arrow, man i hear ya bud ...i would be happy to kill him too old birds are hard to kill ive only killed 3 birds that had 1 1/2'' spurs well 2 actually the other one was 1 3/8'' and they are hard to come by but one things for sure they sure are fun to hunt .

ow yeah arrow i forgot to mention , when you killed that bird i bet that about a couple of days after wards u heard gobblers you had never heard before didnt you? that happens almost every time.

ttt

ttt

arrow 3??

arrow 3?? how bout a response??

Yeah man....The birds started up again after the king was dead....That place is only a memory now...I can still hunt it but I havn't heard a bird there in 4 years now...Used to hear at least 3 every morning..