[BIG OL AL]

Well...... this is an expansion of the posts that Hthrly posted.
I figured we all could post a few situations that you learned a lesson on.
I had a situation last year. Right as the sun started coming up and the birds have already flown down. There I was in a blind looking at 3 big Toms and a hen. They were about 70 yards out and the boyz were all strutting back and fourth in front of a closed gate. Well the hen didn't have any problem getting to my side of the fence and walked with in 15 yards to me. She just went under the barbed wire fence. After an hour or so the Toms moved down the fence line and on to the adjoining property.
So what was I gonna do?
I figured I would go after them. So I went down in a ditch and popped out right at the property line. I made it to a big tree and started to stand up...... WRONG!!!! The birds made me and started doing their alarm call. So the day went on with seeing nothing but hens for the rest of the hunt.
So the next day I got out there and this time I left the gate open. Had two Toms sounding off. One to the left and one to the right. I started doing some aggressive cutting with a gobble following my string of calling and all of a sudden I see a bird walking up the fence line. He gets to the gate and does the same thing the birds did the day before. He just kept walking back and fourth on the other side of the gate. 20 minutes went by and I was getting winded from all the cutting I was doing. All of a sudden he deflates and realizes he can go through the opening in the gate. He inflates again and was on a b-line to my decoys. He did a back flip after I pulled the trigger at 12 yards. One of the best if not the best birds I ever got.

So what did I learn? I learned to never close a gate if I am hunting turkeys and am close to a gate.
:cheers::cheers::cheers:

 

[JackJr]

That or prop up the bottom wire with a tree limb.

Jack

 

[BIG OL AL]

Here is another. It was late in the morning and I pretty much quit hunting for the birds and went to mushroom hunting. There I am leaning up against a tree when all of a sudden a huge Tom pops out of a ditch about 7 yards away. I threw the gun up and took aim and POW!!!!! FLAP FLAP FLAP the bird flys away. I rushed the shot and shot cleanly over his head.
The lesson I learned this time was that I didn't take time to get my head down on the gun and rushed the shot.
:bangin::bangin::bangin:

 

[Whitemarsh]

A pair of wire cutters will work too.

 

[mrclean]

It sounds like the were accustomed to having the gate closed so they were slow to go through the opening even though you had opened the gate. They're really not all that bright. But, in their defense, they had probably been hanging up in that spot long before the season, so it was a habit.

 

[Poor Valley]

Hey Big A, don't feel like the lone ranger. Most of us have been there too.

Nowdays when I set up I look for anything that can/will hang a bird up and make sure it ie within range of my gun when I make th decision as to where to sit.

And speaking of getting down on the stock, I remidid that problem by adding a peep sight to mu turkey gun. First time I used it in too much of a hurry my cheek going down met the stock comeing up. Learned another lesson there---wait for a sight pict before pulling trigger!!!

 

[mrclean]

I'm considering going to a red-dot or holosight for turkeys.

 

[henry]

Instead of trying to quick draw a bird, try raiseing your gun in super slow motion. The birds will usually (not always) get nervous and start to walk away putting and doing their little head bobbing thing. It normally gives me enough time to pop em before they get out of range.

:cheers::cheers:

I've made every mistake imaginable on turkey and have now started thru the list the second time,,,,,,,,,,,it took me 25 years to go thru it the first time:rotfl:

 

[spectr17]

Barb wire is the scourge of turkey hunting. I could add 8 or 9 more notches to my boxcall if I had just seen the dern fence before I set up.

They're hell on camo pants too.