Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

I think we've all been there. You spend 2 months getting better and better. You hit a point where when you pick up your calls you feel like you're just making the same sounds over and over instead of making some aspect of your calling improve(tone, volume control, cadence etc). It feels like that is your sound and what you can do.

What do you do to break out of this rut? Listen to the grand nationals and attempt to mimic what they can do? Practice with new types of calls?

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 The grand nationals are about pleasing judges not killing turkeys. There's a big difference.

What i enjoy is playing a variety of calls. It's amazing playing these calls and realizing that each builder has his own turkey sound. In my opinion that's the beauty and history of the call builder. In playing a variety of calls, i don't necessarily feel i get in a rut of practicing with my calls. Agree practice to learn the different sounds of your calls, but regardless out in the fields or woods just be your own caller. No hen's are the same.

Don't get too hung up on the Grand Nationals.

I was pretty decent at baseball and football.  But I never made a MLB or NFL team.  Those guys are .1 percenters.  So are the Grand National level callers.   It's not just that they run better calls.  They have a gift.

If you're making turkey sounds,  just do what you can to up your game.

I'm no competition caller.  But I still manage to kill a turkey from time to time.   

GN's is the last thing I'd listen to.  Random hens calling is where I'd be.  You tube has some great audio/video of wold hens calling. 

Those guys definitely have a gift. For clarification, I was meaning the tone/types of sounds they're making and not exactly the whole run of sounds they make on a stage.

Listening to how some of those guys call in the woods vs on stage definitely has its similarities but shouldn't be copied in it's entirety obviously. If you take a 3 or 4 second snip of sounds they're making to try to replicate is more what I was referring to

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Something I've always enjoyed doing was listening to Lovett Williams recordings and trying to match every sound call for call. The hens usually win, but it's fun practice and it breaks you out of your normal calling sequences.


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Quote from: ChesterCopperpot on March 03, 2022, 09:37:27 AM
Something I've always enjoyed doing was listening to Lovett Williams recordings and trying to match every sound call for call. The hens usually win, but it's fun practice and it breaks you out of your normal calling sequences.

What I have noticed in listening to other hunters call in the woods is that, apparently, none of them have ever heard a real, living, breathing wild turkey hen.  They say things no hen EVER said.  Not so much the tone............but the cadences and sequences. 

What you said is SPOT ON. 

Listen to REAL hen sequences..........and practice accordingly.  Practice for cadence and sequence.  The tone will come.

Are the Lovett Williams recordings available anywhere for download? I can only find the CD offerings online

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I practice hard on a trumpet and plateau for months at a time it seems like. I also have periods where it seems I'm almost going backwards. I combat it by keeping on with what I'm doing and have faith that eventually I'll get better. I can't control how much natural talent I have, but I can control the amount of effort I put in. Keep on hammering is my advice.


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Quote from: Terry on March 03, 2022, 10:12:01 AM
I practice hard on a trumpet and plateau for months at a time it seems like. I also have periods where it seems I'm almost going backwards. I combat it by keeping on with what I'm doing and have faith that eventually I'll get better. I can't control how much natural talent I have, but I can control the amount of effort I put in. Keep on hammering is my advice.


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Man I'm glad I'm not the only one. Pick up the trumpet one day and sound mediocre and the next is 2 steps back. You pick it up to play and just think man I sound the exact same as I did last week. What have I gotten better with?

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I've kept recordings of hens in my area and listen to it over and over, taking note of their cadence and tone.

I'll write it down like a sheet of music and focus on making clean sequences.

Otherwise I've found myself in a rut just making noise without really paying attention to what I'm doing.

Also, don't stop practicing but maybe try shortening your sessions if you feel you're stuck.

I don't practice much at all.  Usually get my calls out just prior to the opener and play around a bit.  I don't like calling, I like calling turkeys!

Surely I would benefit from a little more practice but, most of it will be in the car traveling on my way to hunt!

It is like riding a bike for me I guess.

Quote from: RLAG on March 03, 2022, 09:54:07 AM
Are the Lovett Williams recordings available anywhere for download? I can only find the CD offerings online

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I've never seen them as downloads, but I just converted the CDs. I've even got the spring one on my phone I might have a problem.


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I don't practice a lot anymore. A couple times a year I will fiddle with calls and then start warming up about a month before season. I used to practice constantly but after hearing the calling abilities of most hunters in the woodsl I feel pretty confident.

I mentioned in a post yesterday I don't pride myself on my calling ability whatsoever. I am happy with my current skill level as I have listened to some hens that sound awful. I'll be honest I wish I practiced my calling every single day or every other day of the year. Typically once mid January hits I'll be chirping on my mouth call every time I'm in truck, or annoying everyone in the house with my strikers and pot calls. This will continue until a week or two after season ends in June. Then next thing you know my focus will shift elsewhere, whether that is in preparation for deer season or other summer projects. Then the cycle will repeat the following year.

Spend any time in the woods around turkeys, or more simply, get on "The Forbidden YouTube" and hit a bunch of videos that show real, live, hen turkeys making the various turkey sounds.  What you will find is that turkey voices vary A LOT! 

Giving credit where credit is due, those upper-echelon turkey callers in any elite contest are unbelievably good at replicating the sounds that they have all gravitated towards since they have realized those are the sounds that human judges want to hear.  But as several others here have pointed out, your average hen turkey just does not sound like that!  Sure, there are SOME that do, but for every hen turkey that makes the "box call yelp", there are a dozen others in the woods that make some other, remotely-similar, version of that sound. Same with the "bubble cluck" that is trending nowadays,...or the "flute-like purr". that seems to be popular at the moment.

Simply stated, there is "contest calling", and then there is "turkey-killin' calling".  They can be one and the same, depending on the turkey you are calling to, but very often they are not.  If you want to compare your calling skills to the "contest greats", more power to you and keep working at it.  If you want to hunt turkeys successfully, however, you should concentrate more on "when, where, and what" to say to a gobbler more-so than the specific turkey voice you use to say it with.

Bottom line is learning to sound like a real turkey is pretty easy nowadays. Learning those "Three W's" listed above is the more important part for killing gobblers.  Yeah, we all spend varying amounts of time running our turkey calls prior to the season, and if the truth be known, I'm sure a bunch of us secretly compare ourselves to those contest guys.  The fact is, though, that we are mostly just doing it because we want the season to hurry up and get here!   ;D :angel9:

Having a personal flock of Eastern, Rio and Merriams can expose us to a myriad of sounds, tones and cadences. It is very enjoyable to watch and listen to the subtle nuances of each hen. Having to tune so many calls makes calling a frequent enjoyable chore.

One trapping season at camp, each evening I would play the same box to try and master all it had to offer. By the time spring season arrived I kinda felt bad for the Toms that heard it.

I also like to play for the turkey hunters ear and call them to my booth all summer. Fun fun fun. 

I just flat out love turkeys and their talk.

I would add, if you're burnt-out take a break for a while. Your putting too much pressure on yourself. This stuff is supposed to be enjoyable. You're gonna improve in time.(And the two posts above: great advice so true, just like people turkeys have different voices)

When you hunt enough, you what sound will work. Don't over think it. Woodsmanship and knowing where the turkey wants to be is much more important than perfect calling. Also knowing when to shut up and make him hunt you. Patience kills more turkeys than championship calling any day.

Remind yourself that learning to call is like anything else we try to do in our life.  It takes time, practice and patience.  Most of the time we, as humans, want things right now.  Instant gratification, if you will.  We set our minds to practice and take SOME time for that but then our patience wanes.  We don't see the results we want in a month or two and we give up.  We need to realize the learning process is a Lifetime of ups and downs.  My suggestion is take some time off.  Put the calls aside.  As others have said, DON"T watch and listen to calling contests, listen to real turkeys.  Listen intently to their pitch, cadence and rhythm and learn the subtle things they are conveying.  Most of us want to Blast the airwaves with that NWTF calling contest vibe but don't take the time to learn the softer side of the hens.  Being aggressive with our calling has its place (this inflates our egos) but if you listen to REAL hens they are mostly subtle and soft in their daily walk through life.  As others have said, get on You Tube or buy a CD and listen to Real hens.  Then pick up the calls and work on LITTLE things to take your calling to the next level.  Remember it is a process and processes take time and PATIENCE!       

I think it's important to record yourself during practice, outside and at least 10-20 yards from the recording device.  Work on one type of sound at the time.  Record a short run, listen to it, try to adjust, repeat.  Compare how you sound vs recorded sounds of wild turkeys.  Don't practice a lot rushed begrudgingly, practice at a time when you have time to focus and enjoy it.


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Quote from: ChesterCopperpot on March 03, 2022, 09:37:27 AM
Something I've always enjoyed doing was listening to Lovett Williams recordings and trying to match every sound call for call. The hens usually win, but it's fun practice and it breaks you out of your normal calling sequences.


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X2 I listen to Lovetts' CD's every day in the spring prior to opening day. It really helps
me remember what real turkeys are saying and how they say it. I also try to imitate them but they always win with me as well.

I practice by grabbing my scratch box, opening the window, and listening/chatting with the turkeys in the front yard.

Wife doesn't appreciate it too much though :-)