When do you start calling?

[brimmyfish]

Thanks for the replies so far guys. So what should I have done differently to bring in the hens?

[Farmboy27]

I like to let them gobble on their own in case I want to move or reposition a bit. But I almost never wait for them to fly down. Around here beating the hens is the name of the game and I've seen gobblers that weren't called to at all stay in the tree forever trying to call in a hen. Usually if I wait till he's on the ground, it's already to late.

[brimmyfish]

So should I have been more aggressive with my yelps, hoping to strike a nerve with the hens?

[Farmboy27]

So should I have been more aggressive with my yelps, hoping to strike a nerve with the hens?

Not always. Nothing is really simple in this game!  I play things by what the gobbler sounds like, the hens sound like, the time of year, and the terrain.  And once in a while I play it right and get results!! Lol!  It's really just personal preferance and experience in learning what works for you!  If you ever get it all figured out then you are doing better than me!!

[Happy]

Farmboy is right. You have to feel them out. Some days aggressive yelps and cutting gets them riled up and headed your way. Other days it sends them packing the other direction. I always start soft and see if they respond the way I want and when it gets to the point I know I have nothing to loose I get more agressive. In your case about the time they were about to pass you I would have started cranking it up a notch.

[101st501]

I will usually call once or twice very softly just to let him know I am there on the off chance he does not have a hen with him.

[Marc]

Thanks for the replies so far guys. So what should I have done differently to bring in the hens?

Here is my experience when toms are with hens...

You are not going to steal a tom from hens he already has.
With another hen in the woods, the hens with the toms will either come looking to fight off the intruder, or take the tom away from her.  More often than not, it would seem they try to steal him away in my experience.

Plan "A" is to try to get that hen worked up and territorial.  I emulate the hen (if she yelps twice so do I, if she cuts three times, so do I).  I also tend to call maybe a tad louder than the hen...  And most importantly, it would seem that hen turkeys (just like women) hate to be cut off in mid sentence...  I cut the hens off (interupt them) in their sequence.

Very often, that hen will be way ahead of the tom or toms when she comes in.  This is one situation where a hen decoy can be beneficial, cause she will likely pick a fight.  With no decoy, you have to keep that hen around until the tom comes in...  If she walks past you, LET her and STOP calling.  That tom will likely be shortly behind and will follow the same general path.

Now, if the hen takes off with the tom in the opposite direction, the last hope for me is to make the tom mad...  That is when I might try to do a bit of gobbling mixed in with some excited hen calls.  It has only worked once, but nothing else has worked for me at this point (although I am open to suggestions myself).

Frankly, I have not killed many birds right off the roost, but when I have, it is cause I called in the hen, or made the tom mad.

I still love being out there in the morning, cause...  Well the GOBBLE!  Gives me an idea of how many birds and where they are.

[TauntoHawk]

So should I have been more aggressive with my yelps, hoping to strike a nerve with the hens?

I struggle to stay completely silent in the tree, I feel that once he flies down he knows wheres he's going and im behind the curve I'd rather be in his head before he comes down unless I think he's physically gonna pitch into gun range. I usually do at least 3 tree calls to let him know where I'm at.


If Hens are talking on the ground I play Simmon says plus some... what that is whatever the hen says I try to do exactly that and then add a little something, usually aggressive at the end  if she come back a little hotter than before I see and raise a little.

Hen: 3 plain yelps
Me: 3 plain yelps and two fast clucks
Hen: 7 more excited yeps
Me: excited yelp series plus a few cuts
Hen: Cutting and Yelping
Me: Interrupt her before she stops with cutts and yelps (woman HATE being interrupted)

During this I dont care if he's gobbling his brains out, going silent, gobbling at only her or only me.. If he wants to leave her thats fine but I'm trying to bring the hens with him in tow

[brimmyfish]

Thanks for the response. When you say 3 tree calls, do you mean three series of tree yelps? I have heard a lot of different sound that people call tree yelps. Do you use 3-4 note shorter quieter yelps for your tree call?