Waiting for Turkeys to Come to Water

I have read that for the most part turkeys come to water every day. From the sign I've seen and turkeys that I've seen at waterholes from afar, it seems like they go to water mostly in the afternoon. The problem is that I've sat by a lot of watering holes in the fall hunt and never had any luck with it. Most of the time I sat by water holes in the afternoon, but I have also sat in blinds by tanks in the morning and other times of the day too. One time I was hanging out in a blind and noticed an apparently half full bottle of gatorade. After seeing some sediment in the bottle it occured to me that it wasn't gatorade. It is kind of fun to be near a water source, because of all the song birds and things that hang out there. Another neat thing I've seen in holes are waterdogs. They are creepy looking half tadpole half fish things that float around in the muck picking at stuff in the water. Sitting gets boring for me after too long. I'd do it again if the activety around the hole seemed really extensive, but the drought we've been experiencing lately looks like its starting to break and hunting a tank might be even less productive then it was. Without a drought, animals don't have to come to the exact same water everyday, because streams are running and seeps and springs pick up. One fall there was a cattle trough that had water in it all the time. A leaky valve or something would let the water into the trough a drip at a time. The area was very active and there was fresh sign all over the place. My dad said he felt like it was almost cheating to be sitting near the trough. We sat all morning, it was very beautiful, but the turkeys never showed. My dad thinks he heard some turkeys coming and might have been busted. I think the flock in the area was also using a drinker on the other side of the ridge. At the time we were anaware of the drinker. Anyway, if you decide to hunt a water source make sure there is tons of activity around it. One or two foot prints doesn't mean much. If you put it all together I've probably sat by a water hole 40 hours and haven't even seen a bird during that time. Most of the unproductive time can probably be chalked up to inexperience. I've sat near tanks that had little or no turkey sign. Animals are on high alert when they go to water since it is a perfect place for predators to ambush them. A lot of animals won't come to a tank if they think things aren't just right. Turkeys can be particularly twitchy.