Calling sequence?

[NYlogbeards]

I've read up on a lot of post, topics and opinions on how calling sequences should be, there is many of over whelming ways but most importantly never call too often But now i want a straight answer even if that's possible, i'll throw a couple of examples and you tell me accordingly to the situation of how you'd go by with calling,

When you first hear that Tom gobble on the limb, do you call to him and if other hens are making noise should you over call them?

If a Tom is in close do you keep calling or quiet it down and do soft cluck and purrs every so often?

He stops gobbling and hangs up 100+ yards away do you move or stay still? (will a turkey come to call from a far?).

So many questions I've never knew the answer to but if i could get an idea before the season and prepare for what to expect is what i'm aiming for...

[Mabren2]

Probably not going to help any, but those questions truly do vary hunter to hunter, bird to bird. One of the best hunters I know is dead set against calling to a bird on the limb. I've called at least a little to every bird I've killed right off the roost, mostly because I can't resist, haha. You might give a couple purrs to a bird that is closing in close, and he struts right into your lap. The next bird might break strut and run the opposite direction. Yesterday I had two Jakes coming in on a youth hunt. My hunter wanted to kill one, and we were pinned down in the middle of the field. They were probably within range, but hard for him to see because of the weeds, and they had quit closing the distance. I called a little hoping to get him a shot, although I was skeptical calling to them so close. One of them headed out, the other one walked up and got killed. So I guess I over called one bird, and did everything perfect on the other even though they were standing side by side.

Develop a game plan that works around the skills you are confident in, and stick to it. Remember what works and what doesn't, and if you notice a pattern, adjust your strategy around that. Eventually you will find a way of turkey hunting that fits you. Good luck!

[turkaholic]

From my past experience of about 30 years of asking myself those same or similar questions. The best thing I can say is ,do everything you can except call. My go to calls for this situation is #1 the wing and #2 scratching in the leaves. Nothing drives an old gobbler more crazy than when he hears the soft sounds of a wing tickling bark on a tree. Nothing else makes this noise in the woods ,and he is in tune with this. I give him the silent treatment with wing sounds followed by a real sounding fly down followed by scratching in the leaves.   DONE DEAL.  I also use a red wolf gobble tube, and with these weapons you will kill birds. I also hunt NY. We have a camp outside of Cobbleskill. I am hoping this year is better than last. The worst season in nearly 30 years for me. Good luck to you this season and give um the silent treatment.

[SteelerFan]

From the beginning: we'll assume you're standing in the area you plan to hunt. Let's say you hear him gobble on the roost, and he sounds like he is 200-300 yds away.

I would close the distance some. How much? Can't say for sure... you'll have to judge based on terrain, foilage, etc. Close enough to work him without bumping him. Once I'm set up, in a good spot - if birds are still on the roost, that's usually the time for some soft tree talk / calls.

If you hear hens, you can try to mimic their calls. They yelp, you yelp. They cluck, you cluck. A Gobbler WITH hens is not the greatest scenario for success, to say the least...

If a gobbler is coming to you, I usually try to do the least amount / type of calling I can while keeping his attention and keep him coming.

If he hangs at 100 yards and you move - he's gone! A turkey can see you think at 50 yds, he'll definitely see or hear you move at 100.

This is my short answer to your questions. Treat it as a very informal guide. THERE ARE NO SET RULES when it comes to turkey hunting. There are hundreds and hundreds of pages and books that try to answer questions like yours, written by hunters with years and years of experience.  Experience is going to be your best teacher.

Good luck, hunt safe, & have fun!

[mossyhorn2]

I will give you my two cents on the subject. Its been my experience that you shouldn't try to over call to hens. If you have a vocal one call enough to keep her interested but don't over do it. I would say that calling to birds in the trees rarely works for me. If their close scratching leaves and wing beats seem to work better than calling. Once turkeys have been on the ground a few hours more aggressive style calling has worked for me. Just remember there is nothing cast in stone and what works one day may not work the next. Enjoy the experience and good luck!!!

[HFultzjr]

Last year I messed up on a gobbler by being too "seductive" (I think this is what happened).
Then later on bagged one by aggressive talk with a hen that was going away. Gobbler came in to see what the fuss was. I think this year, if I hear a gobbler with hens, I'm going aggressive and tick off the hens, in hope they will come in bringing him with them. I seem to be getting a lot of answers to my seductive calling, but they won't finish coming in. I'm going to tick them off, unless I think they are coming in.
At least it sounds good in theory.......LOL

[NYlogbeards]

Thanks for all the replies, My technique has been to wait to call in a later bird after they split from other hens, never seems to work to call a roosted bird unless i am some where between where he wants to be, most of the times blind calling only seems to locate them but never bring him in but I have had a few hens come silently to my calls maybe a few Gobblers too but I probably moved too early.

[GobbleNut]

As you can see from the variety of replies,...and as others have noted,...there is no "tried and true" tactic that will work every time when setting up on roosted birds.  The best any of us can do is to not make an idiotic blunder which results in spooking birds badly enough that it changes their roosting pattern and daily routine. 

The potential responses from roosted birds fall along a wide spectrum of possibilities.  Find a two-year old gobbler (or several of them) that have no hens with them and that have not had a bad experience with a hunter or two, and that/those birds are likely to fly down and head straight for you, no matter how much you call, right off the roost.  On the other hand, find an older gobbler that has been through the ringer a time or two, and he is not likely to come to you whether you do everything right or not. 

That is compounded if you have an older gobbler with hens.  The best tactic in that case is to keep your mouth shut entirely, hope the birds fly out of the tree and that you are set up along their preferred travel route.  Hunters often discount the presence of hens in a group that have had some bad experiences going to a hunters calling and watching the gobbler they are with get mowed down.  You can bet your last nickel that, in an area that gets even a moderate amount of hunting pressure, having several older-age-class hens in a group with a gobbler will greatly reduce your odds of success.  And that is even if the gobbler is perfectly willing to come see you.  Those hens will invariably lead him away from you if you call to them.  In these cases, and depending on how much hunters in the area rely on decoys, visual aids can play a major role in whether you can pull these types of flocks into shooting range.

Of course, there are instances where you might have an old gobbler/hen group that is surrounded by some "outlier" young gobblers.  Although the main group of birds will shy away, there is always the chance that one of the young birds will be willing to come investigate, especially if those birds have a loose association with the main flock.  That is, if they associate closely with the flock, not being willing to wander too far away, they are less likely to leave the flock to come investigate calling than they are if they are more prone to wander off a bit by themselves.

My personal opinion is that I tend not to call to birds on the roost until I get a pretty good idea of what I am dealing with.  If I hear one or more gobblers gobbling, and as it gets lighter I am not hearing hens yelping, I am more inclined to call sparingly on the roost (perhaps one or two soft yelp sequences right before flydown), then imitate a hen flying down,...and then hit them with a more aggressive yelp sequence right away.  Their response to that will often tell me if I am in the game or not.  If they gobble right back, I will yelp back at them once and wait to see what they do.  If they respond again and are closer, the deal is almost done,...get the gun up and get ready, they are coming. 

Now if I hear a single gobbler on the roost and then hear hens start up as it gets near flydown, I am more inclined to keep quiet and let them come out of the trees without calling to them.  This is invariably the hardest situation to be in.  I have rarely called in a group like this.  However, if you are set up in the right spot, they may wander by you,...and if you, again, are using visual aids, if they get within sight of you, those aids can be the difference in whether they move on by, or come take a closer look.  However, my experience has been that calling to a group of birds like this while they are out of sight from you almost always results in them moving away from the calling (again, this is based on hunting turkeys that have some level of hunting pressure on them).

Perhaps more later.... 

[KYHeadhunter02]

There's a lot more knowledge on here than I probably have. Most of my kills have been at least an hour after fly down. I have killed a few that were text book hunts. They gobbled on the roost, I did some soft calling and they came strutting to the gun right after they flew down. MOST of the time they fly the opposite way, probably to hens or their strut zones where they gather hens. A farm I used to hunt there would always be a gobbler rooster 100 yards or so over the property line. He would gobble like crazy on the roost. Every single time he was there he flew the opposite way staying over the fence. He did that for a couple years.

I don't over call hens, I mimic them and try to ruffle their feathers.

If a bird is hung up there's a lot you can do, and you will get a ton of different answers. Sometimes I will ignore him and leaf scratch only. Moving on a bird is risky and hard for myself to do. If the terrain is right and you have a buddy to keep him gobbling you have a better chance.

[sixbird]

For what it's worth, I usually won't call to birds on the roost. MAYBE one or two soft yelps to let them know I'm there, no more.
If a gobbler is close but out of sight, I usually give him one excited cackle, then I shut up...
I rarely, if ever, move on a gobbler that's hung up. Usually a gobble tube or wing flapping or dragging in the leaves helps. Sometimes I'll use fighting purrs and wing beating...
If hens are yaking on the ground, I try to be rude to them and talk over them...
To me, it's all about setting up a scenario. Think of what would make you anxious or jealous if you could only hear what was going on. If you thought another guy was messing with your gal...If you heard her laughing, would that do it (excited cackle)? If you heard a guy showing off for her (Gobble tube, wing dragging)? How about if there was a fight (fighting purrs)? How about if there were a few gals seeming like they were having fun (mouth call and pot...You excited yet?)? And from hen perspective...Say you were minding your own business and some rude little tramp started talking over you every time you tried to say something. That make you mad?
I think just thinking along those lines has gotten me more tough gobblers than any real do this, then do that formula...
It's kind of an experiment but I try to work on making him feel insecure...

[g8rvet]

Just echoing prior posts.  Last year I had one sound off at about 250 yards.  I closed the distance.  Made no calls while he was roosted.  I heard him fly down and in a minute or two, I "flew down" with my hat.  He gobbled.  Started walking away and I gave him a few soft clucks and he came back.  I scratched leaves at about 75 yards or so and he came right in.  Or almost.  had the gun up and safety off and he proceeded to pass just out of range and headed over and strutted right where I had started out the morning!  Gobbled his head off, but would not come back. I should have just say him out at that spot, but I got frustrated and went and found another bird.  Did not kill him either - that day. 

Sometimes they are just being turkeys. Random, wary and unpredictable.  When I was first starting out, I was dumb enough to think "Well, that was easy.  He came right in.  I'll just do that again". 

[HogBiologist]

The worst calling I ever heard was from a real hen. She yelped straight for a minute or two. Then threw in some purrs. I am no where near as good as professional callers. But I kill turkeys.

[Farmboy27]

The worst calling I ever heard was from a real hen. She yelped straight for a minute or two. Then threw in some purrs. I am no where near as good as professional callers. But I kill turkeys.

Yup. Spend time listening to real hens in the woods and you'll realize that no two sound the same or have the same sequence. I truly believe that the most important part in turkey hunting is woodsman ship. Then calling.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

The key to killing turkeys right off the roost is being within 75 yards is them.

You have to have ultra-tight proximity to the gobbler or the flock before you can worry about what you're going to say.  Calling to them on the tree vs staying silent is a calculated decision based on a plethora of variables but none of it matters unless you've put yourself so close to a henned up or solo gobbler that they decide to engage you instead of flee from the sound of a foreign hen.

[TrackeySauresRex]

I've taken one bird off a roost in my life and it was on state land. I've always gave very little. Soft tree call. Just let him know a hen was there. Maybe a soft yelp if he answered. That would be all for me. If I heard them come down I'd sometimes give a fly down cackle and see how it plays out.

The worst calling I ever heard was from a real hen. She yelped straight for a minute or two. Then threw in some purrs. I am no where near as good as professional callers. But I kill turkeys.

^ This is funny! One time on a fall hunt I stumbled into a lost flock. This hen was going off it sounded like she smoked two packs a day.