Once I am setup and have a gobbler answer my call, how many more times should I call/receive a gobble in return before I go silent to get him to come looking for me?
I have been under the impression that you call until you see him.
Guess everyone has their own methods. I typically want the bird gobbling much more than I ever call. If he's alone n doing this you're in. Seems you can hear questions in his head, where are you, why aren't you coming? He'll often come looking for you n the less calling the better in this instance. If he is w hens you need to tick the hens off so they come looking, tick off the gobbler or you can try mock fights, that very often brings em right in. Dif scenarios though
What bow guy said. Many times I've had to agitate a hen to get her to come so he'd follow. Then there's been times when I had to just shut up and let him keep coming. When your silent at him and he's getting close looking for you don't worry, he'll give you that gobble most times. Just don't jump off of the tree you are on because chances are he's slipped up pretty close to it. Lol
Quote from: Bowguy on March 05, 2015, 06:58:08 AM
Guess everyone has their own methods. I typically want the bird gobbling much more than I ever call. If he's alone n doing this you're in. Seems you can hear questions in his head, where are you, why aren't you coming? He'll often come looking for you n the less calling the better in this instance. If he is w hens you need to tick the hens off so they come looking, tick off the gobbler or you can try mock fights, that very often brings em right in. Dif scenarios though
This is pretty accurate. A thing to remember is IMO if he cuts off our calling sequence with gobbling, I would not call anymore. They can pinpoint your location excellently and it usually means he is hot and committed so just be patient and let him come to you. Another thing to remember, especially on public land, the more you call and he gobbles, it may draw numbers of other hunters who move in and try to ambush/reap the benefits of your efforts (have seen it happen many times). Good luck this season and I hope this helps you.
It depends on several things for me. If I can see the bird and his reaction, it will make a difference. Also, how far away the bird is. My favorite turkey hunting scenario is to catch a bird gobbling in the woods and being able to move closer to him. Nothing will get a bird coming in on a string like being able to move toward the bird calling. Most realistic situation from the perspective of the gobbler that there is, IMO.
In those situations, I will call agressively and a lot. You need to know where the bird is before you can decide if you can move on him.
My favorite tactic is to act like I don't hear him. I'm just a happy little hen who is going about her business. Once I have him cutting on my calls and coming in I usually lay off the heavy hard core yelping and just cluck and purr, rustle the leaves, etc.. I'm hoping the gobbler responds by thinking he's not being heard and tries to come closer.
What you don't want to have happen is the scenario where you keep calling excitedly and the gobbler stops advancing and goes into a strut, thinking you are on the way. It is much better to have him think you're not getting his message and have him rushing your way.
I have one favorite venue where I sit near the corner of a field. Gobblers hear me on the other ridge and walk out to the road that comes in from the north to my location. It is a long curved stretch so I can hear them when they start the trek and hear them coming all the way around. It may take them half an hour to make it all the way. Once I have them in sight at about 100 yards, I can clam up completely and they will usually finish the journey.
I am now going to throw a jake decoy in the mix. Same advice? I am thinking once he sees the jake, no need to call anymore as he is probably going to come on in and assert dominance?
When you are calling to a gobbler, he will generally give you a pretty clear indication that he is on the way,...or not. If you call and a gobbler answers,...and then the next time he gobbles he is closer, that is a pretty good indicator that you are in business. At that point, you just want to call enough to him to keep him excited and coming in the right direction. Nine times out of ten, if a gobbler is getting closer to you each time he gobbles, you have an excellent chance of killing him. Just let him come and be ready.
The ones that are tricky are the ones that either don't come at all towards you,...or stop somewhere along the way and won't come further. That is when having some experience with those kinds of birds becomes important, but even with that experience, it is often a challenge to figure out what they want to hear,...or not hear.
In wide open situations, it may help to have a decoy of some sort out, but in areas with a reasonable amount of ground cover,...i.e. "woods" situations,...it probably won't matter.
Sometimes the best calling tactic is to remain silent.
When he gives me the gobble I am listening for, the caller goes in the pocket and doesn't come back out unless he fails to come or gobble within thirty to forty-five minutes. You have a decision to make which is do I want to hear him gobble or kill him.
There is def no set map or plan, you have to learn to take the birds temperature. That takes trial and error and probably over calling more birds than you are willing to admit
I've called the crap out of birds to finally drag them in my direction after hundreds of gobbles and I've killed birds of only 2 or 3 cluck and purr series they could barely hear.
Start with quieter and less often than you think you need and ramp up from there.
It all depends on the situation for me. I hunt a good bit of public ground so the more I make the bird gobble the more I am likely to get screwed up by another hunter. If I confident that there isn't another hunter around and I think that the gobbler is by himself, I will try to get him to the point where he cuts my calling off. Then I will shut up for a few minutes. If a few minutes pass and he doesn't gobble and/or don't see him. I give out a few soft yelps to see if he is close. If he is close I stop calling, if he isn't I start calling again usually. If he has hens I work the hens. All depends on the situation. Sometimes I do the right thing and sometimes I don't that's the fun!
:OGani: Take the birds temp, the hotter he sounds, the less I call. If he wants to play, make him do the work.
I love calling and getting that reaction gobble... But I have often found that less is far more when it comes to calling...
As Bowguy points out, calling to a hen is a different story... If the birds are henned up, and I get a response from the hen, my calling becomes much more aggressive and agitated... Just like any lady (or person for that matter) they hate to be cut off... If the hen is yelping, I yelp back in the middle of her sequence... If she is cuttin', I cut while she is...
If I have a tom answer my call, I shut up pretty quickly. If he is gobbling and coming towards me, I stay quiet... If I do not hear anything after the first gobble, I will give it maybe 5 minutes and try again...
If a bird is not coming towards me, I might try cutting the distance (if the terrain allows for it), or if he is relatively close, I might try walking away and calling... Or, on a close bird that will not come in, I might just stay still and quiet, or give a cluck or purr every so often.
I have been perplexed on many a bird that was coming in seemingly hot, and then suddenly stops... Could be he met another hen on the way to me... Maybe he met up with a bobcat or coyote... Maybe he is like me and easily distracted, and something else of interest distracted him on his way in...
Quote from: GobbleNut on March 05, 2015, 12:49:32 PM
When you are calling to a gobbler, he will generally give you a pretty clear indication that he is on the way,...or not. If you call and a gobbler answers,...and then the next time he gobbles he is closer, that is a pretty good indicator that you are in business. At that point, you just want to call enough to him to keep him excited and coming in the right direction. Nine times out of ten, if a gobbler is getting closer to you each time he gobbles, you have an excellent chance of killing him. Just let him come and be ready.
The ones that are tricky are the ones that either don't come at all towards you,...or stop somewhere along the way and won't come further. That is when having some experience with those kinds of birds becomes important, but even with that experience, it is often a challenge to figure out what they want to hear,...or not hear.
In wide open situations, it may help to have a decoy of some sort out, but in areas with a reasonable amount of ground cover,...i.e. "woods" situations,...it probably won't matter.
True. I might add I usually don't call much more than every 5-10 minutes.
I like the analogy Will Primos gave several years ago on a Truth video, you gotta take a turkey's temperature.
Some birds just can't get enough calling and are so ready to die you think, man that was easy and exciting. Not many of these birds around.
Sometimes you gotta play it tight lipped to make him come your way.
For example, last season I was set up on a damp misty morning in a blind at the edge of a field that I knew the birds roosted on the flat above. One pair of gobblers hammered on roost and I could tell got with hens. Another gobbler roosted about 75-80 yards to the left of them did not get in the crowd. He stayed above me and answered every time I called, most often cutting me off, but I could tell he wasn't moving. So I just shut up for about 15 minutes and he started gobbling on his own but was noticeably closer. I replied back and he stayed put gobbling for several minutes. I realized if I kept calling he wasn't gonna move, so I never said another peep. He broker over the hill strutting and when he say my decoys he slid right up to them. Had I not realized he was luke warm to the calling he would've most likely stayed above me gobbling until some real hens came in.
Again, I've had birds you could throw everything at and they get wound up and gobble all the way in and others where you had to play hard to get with. Just be mindful of how he is acting when you start out and remember to take his temperature.
Once he has committed, and I know he is coming, I only give him enough calling to kill himself.
Once he has responded to my calls like Gobblenut said, if the next time he gobbles and is closer than the first, shut off the calling, and have your gun ready. Unless there is an unseen hen between you that lures him off, you are in business.
A trick I have used to avoid over calling, yet keeping him engaged and knowing where he is to add 5 mins to the time between calls each time. 5 mins, then 10, then 15 etc.
Quote from: chatterbox on March 06, 2015, 05:40:02 PM
Once he has committed, and I know he is coming, I only give him enough calling to kill himself.
Once he has responded to my calls like Gobblenut said, if the next time he gobbles and is closer than the first, shut off the calling, and have your gun ready. Unless there is an unseen hen between you that lures him off, you are in business.
Hit a home run that chatterbox...dead bird 95% time if you can shoot. Don't do like my wife did few years back, was sitting by herself for first time, had been hunting with me only. Well, this day she had her own call and worked 3 big gobblers right into her lap...marched right by her and into my set-up couple hundreds yards away...killed the biggest of the three. She had bead on them and could not make herself pull the trigger..had never killed anything in her life. Funniest story have ever heard..and really happened. You do have to pull that little thing in front of your finger...he not just going to drop dead.
There's some quality information on this thread. No wonder there's so many successful turkey hunters here. You could absolutely write a tutorial on the great advice given here.
After a gobbler has responded to my initial call (usually cutts on a long box), I'll let him gobble back a few times before I talk back to him. When I do answer, I'll turn my head away from his direction and call again on a mouth call to make it sound like the hen is moving away and is not all that interested. Then, when he's closer, some purring or leaf scratching is usually enough to get him to commit. If his follow up calls keep getting closer, there's no need to let him pinpoint your location.
Once a gobbler has responded, too many times I've heard other hunters stay in the same spot doing the exact same call with the exact same pitch & the same volume over and over. It doesn't take long for a seasoned gobbler to realize that something's not right. By mixing it up and changing the sound or the (perceived) location of the calls it adds more realism to the situation and increases your chances. At least it has mine anyway.
Jim
Quote from: Cut N Run on March 09, 2015, 05:59:00 PM
Once a gobbler has responded, too many times I've heard other hunters stay in the same spot doing the exact same call with the exact same pitch & the same volume over and over. It doesn't take long for a seasoned gobbler to realize that something's not right. By mixing it up and changing the sound or the (perceived) location of the calls it adds more realism to the situation and increases your chances. At least it has mine anyway.
Jim
Interesting point... I guess I do the same thing. Cup my hand over the call to make it seem like it is coming from a different direction, or put my box call behind the tree and call (if the bird is far enough away), or walk away while calling (and coming back the the tree I was sitting) if the bird is far enough away...
Obviously, once the bird is closer, I stop all this nonsense and just sit still, but I am often working birds that are a long distance away, and off property I have access to hunt.
Quote from: silvestris on March 05, 2015, 02:50:21 PM
When he gives me the gobble I am listening for, the caller goes in the pocket and doesn't come back out unless he fails to come or gobble within thirty to forty-five minutes. You have a decision to make which is do I want to hear him gobble or kill him.
Winner winner turkey dinner
There's years of successful turkey hunting expressed in these replies and lots of good advice. The only thing I could add is what I've observed over the past 25 years of my turkey hunting, and it is this...Almost always, the dominate gobbler is not the first bird to come to the decoys, rather the hens, jakes, and subordinate gobblers arrive first, often in that order, followed by the dominate bird bringing up the rear...and he's not necessarily in any hurry to get there. I've had at least two successful hunts where I shot what I though was the dominate gobbler only to see him fly off a few yards before coming into view. If the turkeys are milling around the decoys and seem to be preoccupied with them, just give it a minute or two longer to let the dominate gobbler come on in if he hasn't already done so.
Killed one yesterday morning and I wasn't calling to the gobbler I was calling to his hens. I called quite a bit but it got the hens to head my way which brought the gobbler in. Guess it just depends on the situation
Quote from: Youngturkey on March 28, 2015, 12:12:27 PM
Killed one yesterday morning and I wasn't calling to the gobbler I was calling to his hens. I called quite a bit but it got the hens to head my way which brought the gobbler in. Guess it just depends on the situation
:agreed: :whip2:
i think the less is more approach works more than others,i love to hear them gobble,dont get me wrong but i dont know how many times calling and making him gobble more has backfired,alot of times it draws the attention of hens,if he doesnt have one with him and is own his way to you gobbling,alot of times a hen will come in and take him away,and like the people in the above post have said,not only does it attract hens to get him but also hunters if there is any around,had one shot out right in front of me one day on public land,i was on top a ridge and the turkey was coming,gobbling at any sound i made,he was getting bad close and when he got to the bottom of the hill below me someone shot and i could hear him flopping,i never knew they were around they never made a sound but had got between me and him and cut him off as he was coming to me.talk about a bad feeling,i could hear the shot hitting through the woods sounded like it was close to me,i got up looked over the hill and saw the guy packing the bird out at a quick pace,i learned a valuable lesson that day.