When do you...

[wisconsinteacher]

Make your first call of the day???

You slide into an area and a bird fires off a gobble 80-150 yards from you and if you move you will be seen.  Do you call back right away, if you hear hens, wait until you think they are close to flying down or wait until they fly out naturally before calling???

I get excited and make a few calls and if he gobbles back, I stop and wait until they fly down to make my next call. 

Any tips or hints on the first set up of the morning?

[catman529]

Wait till they fly down and hope I have enough cover to reposition


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[honker22]

I may give him 2 soft tree yelps.  If he responds or not, that is all I do.  Game on when his feet hit the ground though.

[trash2]

When he's down.

[guesswho]

Once I find what I think is the killing spot. 

[Greg Massey]

After he fly's down and like the others said game on...

[Farmboy27]

80-150 yards is a pretty big big span!  If a bird is 80 yards he might be able to see me(depending on terrain and time of year). At 150, I'm alittle farther away than I want to be. A lot of variables in this question but over all, if I can see him in the tree I'm calling soft(if at all). If I can't see him then I'm playing it by ear.

[Spurs]

I always call while they are in the tree.  Then, when he hits the ground, I cut at his first couple of gobbles.  Then I play it by ear.  I may stay excited, I may dial it down.  I just like to work a bird up and get them gobbling.  That always seems to work for me.


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[Kylongspur88]

A few soft yelps to get his attention then play it by ear.

[ilbucksndux]

If he is still in the tree,I'm moving. I will not call until he is on the ground

[MK M GOBL]

I play birds differently, depends on hens, him and what else I am hearing... by himself let him know I'm there and that's it until flydown time. A hen speaks up, I will copy and out do everything she says if he's talking to her. My mornings are really a mix of what's going on.

MK M GOBL

[silvestris]

I am usually going to cluck a couple of times and give him a short series of tree yelps.  360 degrees is a big circle and I want him to know that what he desires is in my direction.

[Mabren2]

I like to cluck and purr very softly, and possibly a few tree yelps. Once I feel sure he has heard me, I usually shut up from there. For me it does two things: 1.) it lets me know my setup was good and I didn't shut him down by trying to get too close, and 2.) it's just too dang fun to call and hear those gobbles. Once some time passes, I like to try to be the first "hen" on the ground by mimicking a fly down. From there, I play it by ear on how aggressive I think I need to be. I'm not trying to say this is the best way to do things, it's just what I like to do. I love feeling like I'm working a bird, and this strategy has worked several times for me.

[g8rvet]

A few soft tree yelps is my general rule.  I like to hear him gobble once I have set up. If he is hammering on his own, I may not call at all until he hits the ground.  Kind of depends on where I am sitting, how close he is, etc.  If I am looking at a thick head, but out in the open woods, I usually do not tree call as it would be less likely a bird would roost where I am.  Last year I walked in to a spot I had found strut marks well before daylight and sat down right there. He gobbled about 200 yards away. I got up and repositioned closer.  I gave one tree yelp and he gobbled.  I shut up until he hit the ground and was gobbling, heading away. I clucked and purred and he gobbled.  He came back and passed by so dang close I could hear that throaty sound in his gobble that you hear when they are in your lap. He then proceeded to strut and gobble - right where I had started the morning and would not come back to me for love nor money.   

[J-Shaped]

Once I find what I think is the killing spot.

A lot of content in those 10 words, and something that took me many years of frustration and hard knocks before I figured it out. Once I did.......things started to work out much better.