How many yelps in a row?

[R.W. Mackey]

What Bowguy said about the Lovett Williams tapes. Sounds like your new at this, there is no better sound to copy than the real turkeys. Lovett was a Turkey biologist and Hunter for many years, he recorded all the turkey sounds and breaks them down by life cycles and hunting seasons. Get a few of them and listen to the hen sounds, most of your questions will be answered.
  Also, if you can find a copy of "The Turkey hunting world of Ben Lee" one of my all time favorite reads.
This book inspired me during my early years of turkey hunting.
  Your questions have no right or wrong answers, there are no finite numbers, and what worked today will probably not tomorrow. This is why so many of us enjoy the challenge of hunting these great birds.
The only way to learn is go hunting, try different sounds, different strategies, different calls, it's all good.

RW

[G-12]

I vary the number, cadence oitch, volume and mix in purrs clicks and whines.

And I could care less if I have a weird sounding yelp now and then...listen to live hens ain't none of them gonna win on stage

[joker]

You will hear turkeys make 1-3 nice calm yelps, they will make the standard 3-8 yelps, OR they may get excited and try to call a gobbler back to them and give 30 loud yelps without taking a breath. You have to be in the situation and call accordingly.

Steve

[Marc]

My first choice in choosing the sounds I will be making is to listen to the hens that morning...  If the hens are clucking and cutting more than yelping, that is what I do, if they are mostly yelping, that is what I do.

I think that often we get so caught up in hearing birds gobble, that we forget to listen for the hens.  I have hunted with several people who never even heard the hens talking cause they were so keyed on the gobbling at first light.  As soon as I hear that first gobble, I listen for the hen that made them gobble (unfortunately, sometimes I never do hear them).  Listen to the cadence, the tone/pitch, as well as the sounds they are making (clucks/cuts verses yelping).

I have heard hens repeat the same sequence over and over in repetitive manners...  Sometimes they mix it up...  If what I am doing is not getting a response, I try something else (that might mean a different call, or switching from yelping to clucking or cutting or purring).

I think that one of the most important things is not calling though.  Once I have a bird coming closer, I try to call as little as possible...  A watch is a very important turkey hunting tool for me, cause 5 minutes seems like an hour when I really want to call again.  As long as a bird is making forward motion towards me, I do not call anymore.  Ten minutes go by without an answer, and I might try to call again.

And once again, do not ignore the hens...  Sometimes a hen is easier to call in than the tom...  If a tom is henned up, and you can get the dominant hen riled up to come in and fight, the tom will follow.  The most successful method for this is to emulate the hen as soon as she starts talking...  Cut her off in mid-sentence a couple times as well (apparently women of all species hate this).  The one time I usually call aggressively is when I am calling to the hen.

[chestnut oak]

Cool thread !

[trkehunr93]

So basically, random yelps will be my best bet? And by random yelps, I mean random number, random pitch, random cadence.

Will it hurt to throw in some rasp here and there?

BINGO!!!  A good call to use is the cutt that goes into a series of yelps, 4-5.