Imj ust starting to get serious about turkey hunting and can use your guys advice. I live in southern Indiana and our season just opened the 22nd. I went hunting the last 2 days and right at daylight the birds were gobbling like crazy, had one to my left and one to my right gobbling. My question is should i call back to these birds at this time? if so what call should i use? I assume they were on the roost but it was visible daylight. after about 30 minutes of daylight i didnt hear a gobble the rest of the morning. It was like this the last 2 mornings. I set up a blind on the edge of a field so i just stayed put. I cant go out and find where there roosted the night before do to my work schedule. Where do you guys go once you leave the truck? Do you guys just listen for that first gobble and go in that direction or do you guys call back to him once he gobbles first thing in the morning?
Depends on the situation.
I typically listen for more than one gobble trying to find the closest bird based on the terrain and where I hear the gobble.
After I make my decision how far I am going to go to the bird I choose, I may do a tree yelp as I close to where I think he may be roosted to gauge his temperature. That's the only time I call to them on the roost to get their temperature after I decide which turkey to go after.
Hope that makes sense.
The S.C.Gobbler
IG: @scgobbler
James 1:2-4
"Some men are mere hunters; others are turkey hunters."
—Archibald Rutledge
As you have probably surmised, I won't use blinds or decoys, but I use soft clucks and tree yelps very sparingly, just enough so he knows where I am and hopefully flies down in my direction. If performed correctly, the time doesn't matter as long as it is immediately after or on top of his gobble. You just want him to think he heard you, i.e.. softly.
I always feel the more I talk to them while they are roosted the more they expect the hen to come to them and they camp out in the tree. Can't count how many birds I have had end up dropping down and going to opposite direction gobbling like crazy. They always expect the hen to come to them, but when roosted I think that expectation exponentially grows. I don't think a gobbler loves anything more than chilling in the tree at dawn gobbling in some hens. I will call once or twice. Once he knows where I am, great.
Make sure you are to your spot before you start calling. I do not call and then decide to make up some distance. If you get his attention and start moving around he A) thinks you are coming to him and B) he has great eyesight and is up in the top of a tree...great way to get busted.
Quote from: silvestris on April 23, 2020, 01:39:50 PM
As you have probably surmised, I won't use blinds or decoys, but I use soft clucks and tree yelps very sparingly, just enough so he knows where I am and hopefully flies down in my direction. If performed correctly, the time doesn't matter as long as it is immediately after or on top of his gobble. You just want to think he heard you, i.e.. softly.
This is exactly what I do.
If I know he answers me, I am done calling until he is on the ground, and if he is coming I may not call again. Scratch the leaves too (I think of that as a call though).
WHEN he heads somewhere else (it will happen, it happens to all of us), depending on terrain, one old time hunter that killed a pile of them, legally and for supporting his family as much as the fun of the hunt, told me if a bird answered you at a spot, sit tight, he will be back at some point in the day. I admit, I don't have the patience to wait 4 hours for a bird to come back, but he said he did it successfully many many times. Another trick he said was to wait until you were sure he had moved off and get right under the tree you think he was in and try to call him back. makes sense that he would think the hen came to him there. A strategy that makes sense especially if he is in a place you can't get ahead of him. I have done that with some success.
Very little calling to birds on a roost, I let him know I'm there but that's about it unless there are hens talking and then will depend on what the hen(s) are doing. I hit them toms when they are on the ground, or need to work a hen and let her drag him in.
I do a lot of scouting before season to know where birds are, are going or going to be at different times. I scout through my whole season always keeping tabs on birds. From there it's boots on the ground so I know where I will need to be. From this I am figuring out field hunts, timber hunts, roosts, feeding and traveling areas as well. I hunt some farm country with broken timber and fields/pastures, a lot of road time, binoculars and listening spots all go in to this as well. Going to guess just need to apply tactics to your hunt area, once you have some of this down you look for "same" in other areas. It's what works for me, and of course more to it than just this but it's a start.
MK M GOBL
I agree with the call sparingly or not until he's on the ground strategy. I'm starting to rethink this when it comes to calling to group of Tom's roosted together. Generally I find the hens quite close. Within eyesight of the Tom's. There's no waiting for the hens to show up because they are already there. When the hens fly down the Tom's go with them.
I have Cutt and cackled to birds on the roost from a distance to get their attention with success. I've even had success when cackling up close. I don't see why playing on the competetive nature of a group of Tom's by beating the local girls to the punch wouldn't work. Letting them know I'm the 1st hen on the ground and I'm ready. Not sure how it would work with birds insight. Might draw to much attention to myself and get picked off. I suppose ground cover would be a big factor in this strategy working or not. I guess there's only one way to find out.
I agree. I do one or two tree yelps. Just to let him know I'm there until I feel pretty sure he's on ground. Otherwise he will just gobble in tree
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I think the general consensus of most folks that have hunted turkeys a lot is that, for early-morning, roosted gobblers, less calling is better than more calling. In addition, for new hunters especially, there is the tendency to believe that, because a gobbler is answering their calling by gobbling, that doing more calling (and getting more gobbles) is a good thing. Not so, my friend.
The best thing a hunter can do is to understand the dynamic of what takes place at the roost site in the morning,...and then try to fit naturally into that dynamic. Imagine what sounds you hear,...and when you hear them,...and try to fit in as naturally as you can with them. Vary too far away from that roost dynamic in the morning and you can/will put the real turkeys there on the alert.
Even if you fit right in naturally, however, there is a pretty good chance that those turkeys are going to go about their daily business in the same manner they do every day. If you happen to have put yourself in a position that you end up being where they regularly do their business, and do not do something "unnatural", you have a good chance for success. Conversely, be in the right place,...and do something unnatural, and you have most likely "screwed the pooch", as they say.
The "saving grace" for everybody on occasion is that there are those relatively rare gobblers that are just wanting to get themselves killed,...and will come to pretty poorly executed roost hunting tactics because their breeding instincts just overcome their "common sense", so to speak.
...Those are the gobblers all of us look to stumble onto as often as possible.... :)
In general (roost or not), as little as possible, as much as needed... Sometimes (especially when other hens are involved) as little as possible is pretty aggressive.... Most times on the roost, as much as needed is not very much....
Once more I agree with MARC. On the roost I will let him know I am there with a soft cluck or two to see if he is interested. If he gobbles I shut up until I am pretty sure he is down. Once on the ground I do the clucks again maybe 6-8 and wait until he gobbles closer and then I purr on my "secret call" and soft cluck and don't say anything else. Just look for him. I do very few yelps anymore.
Quote from: MK M GOBL on April 23, 2020, 04:42:21 PM
Very little calling to birds on a roost, I let him know I'm there but that's about it unless there are hens talking and then will depend on what the hen(s) are doing. I hit them toms when they are on the ground, or need to work a hen and let her drag him in.
I do a lot of scouting before season to know where birds are, are going or going to be at different times. I scout through my whole season always keeping tabs on birds. From there it's boots on the ground so I know where I will need to be. From this I am figuring out field hunts, timber hunts, roosts, feeding and traveling areas as well. I hunt some farm country with broken timber and fields/pastures, a lot of road time, binoculars and listening spots all go in to this as well. Going to guess just need to apply tactics to your hunt area, once you have some of this down you look for "same" in other areas. It's what works for me, and of course more to it than just this but it's a start.
MK M GOBL
X2 so agree , it's about putting in the time ...persistence
I will echo what mist have said, sneak in close, give a few soft tree yelps, then shut up until fly down...most of the time.
However, if there are hens nearby and they start talking, I'll match them. They typically start with some soft yelps and clucks, but if they get louder, into full yelps, then I'll match that. In that case the toms are usually gobbling, but I ignore that and call just to the hens, calling over the top of them. I had one hen get fired up in the tree last week, ended up cutting back and forth with her for 15 minutes before fly down, and she flew right to me. Kept her in the decoys for 25 minutes until the largely silent tom came in and filled my 2nd tag for the season. The week before that in a similar set up the dominant tom pitched down first, right to me, after calling back to hens on the roost.
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Gobbler stands on one end of limb. Gobbles. You yelp. Gobbler walks to other end. You cluck. Gobbles letting you know it has triangulated your position.
Flies down and circles you to high ground and gobbles "get up here." You call. Gobbles "still here." "Waiting." You call. Gobbles "come on dummy." You call. This goes on a while. Gobbles "bye, headed this way." Personally I feel the last gobble is more like laughing as it walks away, but that's probably just in my head. Anyhow, I don't let them do it.
You didn't have good odds on the roost hunt, to begin with. Now you have zero odds. Despite the amazing experience you can have pulling one down off the limb, it hardly ever works. Let the sonofagun fly down first. Then employ a higher odds tactic.
Just before I anticipate him flying down I lightly call to him, if he responds I respond to him then I'm done. If I'm not sure if he heard me or if he responded I will call again with a bit more into it.
If I hear him fly down I call to him as soon as he hits the ground as well.
Sometimes like this morning that all goes exactly how I'd script it and he still walks off the other direction but that's the whole reason I'll be back tomorrow.
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This morning was cold. 32 degrees out, sunny, dead calm. I heard more gobbles this morning than 10 days hunting combined. 4 birds were on the ridge and hopefully workable. I called quietly twice. I think they stayed on roost longer cuz of the cold and I'm still a novice at telling when they're on the ground. Our topography is so rugged it can be hard to tell.
At about 630 a hen came within 10 yards and eventually spooked and flew off.
Do you guys think the toms heard this and equate it with danger? Nothing developed hunting wise. I saw another hen so maybe they're just henned up? Thought I could at least work one of the birds
I always do a flydown cackle and beat a wing for the roost hunt. very subtle calling once he hits the ground.
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I've always subscribed to the theory of using soft tree yelps until he flies down. Unfortunately that never works for me. Every time I do this, I never hear or see the Tom fly down until after 8:30 or so. Since my results couldn't be worse I had nothing to loose I started doing a fly down cackle and started cutting. I then shut up and hope for the best. It hasn't worked every time but is better for me than waiting until he flies down. This year I'm thinking I might throw in a jake Yelp and see what happens.
Quote from: Bobby5 on April 23, 2020, 01:14:51 PM
Imj ust starting to get serious about turkey hunting and can use your guys advice. I live in southern Indiana and our season just opened the 22nd. I went hunting the last 2 days and right at daylight the birds were gobbling like crazy, had one to my left and one to my right gobbling. My question is should i call back to these birds at this time? if so what call should i use? I assume they were on the roost but it was visible daylight. after about 30 minutes of daylight i didnt hear a gobble the rest of the morning. It was like this the last 2 mornings. I set up a blind on the edge of a field so i just stayed put. I cant go out and find where there roosted the night before do to my work schedule. Where do you guys go once you leave the truck? Do you guys just listen for that first gobble and go in that direction or do you guys call back to him once he gobbles first thing in the morning?
This is an old thread, but it's a good one. I'll put my oar in.
Gobblers are going to do this, whether they're serious about breeding or not.
I'm never the first to call. I usually wait until a hen or two has sounded off. When I call, I try and make it as innocuous as possible. I ratchet it up over a bit. I'm taking the gobblers' temperature. Mostly, I'm letting whatever hens are in the vicinity do the work for me. Mostly, all I am doing is letting the gobbler(s) know I'm out there.
The best way to gauge a gobbler's interest is whether he interrupts my call. If he "walks" on my call, that usually means he has turned his attention to my call and is telling me he is interested. At that point, I want to dial things back. I may also hear him turn directly towards me to gobble. When the gobbler focuses on you, the quality of the gobble changes, much like a gunshot pointed directly at you sounds different.
A much more likely scenario is that the gobblers will gobble their heads off for a bit and then go silent. That does not mean you are defeated. It just means you lost the first round. My general strategy at this point is to make one loud rauckous run of cackles and then shut up. The gobblers are disinterested. They are going to fly down off the roost and go about their business. However, they still have you in mind. You can crank your call every 15 minutes or so, and when they get in the mood, they will circle back towards you. I've had this take a half hour. Mostly, I find that it may be 2-3 hours before they show up.
You may go to that same spot a week later and hear nothing. I used to think that was a sign the gobblers had been hunted, or the weather had given them lockjaw, or. . .
The truth is that even if they were hunted and spooked, those gobblers may come back within a day or so and act like nothing has happened. They may also have moved their roost to another spot close by, but they are still feeding on the same stuff. A lot of it is weather related, but I'll be deuced if I can predict from one day to the next what's going to happen. I have flocks that have been roosting in the same place for two decades. One day they're there, the next day they aren't. I find them roosting on the west side of the ridge. Two days later, they're on the east side of the ridge and it's been warm and dry throughout.
One thing that I have noticed is that if I camp out day after day in roughly the same location, I will eventually find a day where the gobblers will suddenly turn on. My first tree call will be met with thunderous approval. Another thing I'll see is that at mid-morning, after dead silence for several days, all of a sudden one or more gobblers will fire up and start coming in on a string.
One of the best learning tools you can use is to find where turkeys are roosting and go there early in the morning before daylight and just watch and listen to what happens. Get in as close as you can (without risking being detected), and then just sit there and pay attention.
Most of the time, this is what you will see/hear happen:
> At some point, the gobbler (or gobblers) will start to gobble. This will generally be long before any hens that are there will make a sound.
> If there are multiple gobblers in the area, they will gradually increase their gobbling, and in response to each other.
> At some point, you will hear hens start to yelp/cluck softly. This will generally be quite a while after the gobblers have started gobbling and at a point where it is getting light enough for the turkeys to see "things" from the roost.
> As it gets lighter, gobbling will continue and hens will gradually ramp up their calling. You will also begin to hear/see turkeys beginning to move around on the roost and position themselves for flying down. Point being that they will make assorted noises in the tree such as wing adjustments/flapping.
> When it is time for them to start flying down, if you are close enough you will very likely hear them fly down. That will be in the form of beating wings, or possibly "soaring sounds". Once that first turkey has flown to the ground, the rest of the group will also begin to fly down and start assembling on the ground. Very often, turkeys that were very vocal on the roost will quit talking when they hit the ground for a bit as they analyze their surroundings for "trouble".
> After this point, they will begin their habitual, morning routine. That may include lots of turkey talk,...or practically none at all. That all depends on a bunch of factors and circumstances.
The point of the above is that you should try to fit into that general scenario as much as possible. The more you deviate from doing so, the more likely you are going to be to put those turkeys on the alert. Once they are "on the alert", you have just made your chances of killing one of them much more difficult.
That's spot on.Good comment.
Quote from: howl on May 12, 2020, 10:37:29 AM
Gobbler stands on one end of limb. Gobbles. You yelp. Gobbler walks to other end. You cluck. Gobbles letting you know it has triangulated your position.
Flies down and circles you to high ground and gobbles "get up here." You call. Gobbles "still here." "Waiting." You call. Gobbles "come on dummy." You call. This goes on a while. Gobbles "bye, headed this way." Personally I feel the last gobble is more like laughing as it walks away, but that's probably just in my head. Anyhow, I don't let them do it.
You didn't have good odds on the roost hunt, to begin with. Now you have zero odds. Despite the amazing experience you can have pulling one down off the limb, it hardly ever works. Let the sonofagun fly down first. Then employ a higher odds tactic.
Haha this pretty much it for me as well. Almost to the T haha
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Typically, I use my Primos gobble tube after all of the toms within my hearing have gobbled while still on the roost. I start off by shaking my gobble tube after the last real bird has sounded off, slowly moving up my gobbling to eventually follow the first one. To the other toms, my gobble tube is seen as an intruder, one that challenges the peck order of those still on the roost. Often after fly down, one or more gobblers/jakes will come to investigate the newcomer, presenting the opportunity to fill a tag. Once the gobbler is on the ground and his gobbling is closer, I quit my gobbling efforts and get ready for the shot. In my experience, the bird that comes in during the early season is not the boss but a subordinate two-year old. The boss has his harem of hens and usually will not risk leaving them to check out a strange gobbler. However, during the fifth and final Illinois spring season (early May) after the hens interested in mating have become few and far between, it's more likely that the larger boss gobbler will respond to a strange hen, but not after 30 minutes to 1 hour of him trying to coax the hen (my nail call) away from the intruder gobbler (Primos gobble tube). When he finally decides to come in, it's often on a dead run toward my jake decoy. Last spring, a gobbler that started barely within hearing distance finally came in around 8:30 in the morning after slowly gobbling his way to my decoys. It's an exciting way to hunt!
I think as others have already suggested, it's not very often that a bird will just fly right down to your calling from the roost.
Most often your pre season scouting will tell you where he likes to go after fly down, I.e. his strut zone. If you can put yourself in that general path it increases your chances greatly.
I will also reiterate the tactic whereby you make just a few soft calls, wait til he flys down and then move right into his roost tree. I usually go bizerk with cutting and yelping for a solid 20-30 seconds to really sound irritated that I made it to the tree and he's not there, and then I go dead silent. This is usually met with intense gobbling during my calling and very often he will come back to the roost tree, often gobbling on his own looking for me.
What most seasoned hunters will tell you is they choose wrong more than they do right and that's what keeps them coming back.
The good news is when he doesn't fly right off the limb to your gun barrel, you haven't lost just means you made it to the second inning and get to keep playing
To be honest I like calling to them a bit and usually only go the silent route if it's a bird I've tangled with before or I have a terrible set up and I just want to wait til he hit she ground so I get a plan together. Those times you slip a few sweet nothings into the air and they pitch right to you and practically hit the ground in strut make for some memorable hunts.
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get out of your truck just before first light, SLAM the door, walk about 50 yards into the woods and start calling and DO NOT stop until a gobbler runs you over or it's past legal time to hunt. Yep, that how most of the idiots do it around here on public land. PLEASE, DO NOT BE THAT GUY :-)
Quote from: sswv on March 07, 2022, 02:37:13 PM
get out of your truck just before first light, SLAM the door, walk about 50 yards into the woods and start calling and DO NOT stop until a gobbler runs you over or it's past legal time to hunt. Yep, that how most of the idiots do it around here on public land. PLEASE, DO NOT BE THAT GUY :-)
I don't believe any of that! You mean to tell me that the hunters there walk 50 yards into the woods? That's just not believable... ;D :angel9: :toothy9:
Once in my spot I coyly announce herself once and shut up.
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One problem that hasn't been mentioned here: For me, even after so many years of doing this, I will pretty regularly THINK a gobbler has flown down when, in fact, he hasn't. I will sometimes assume he has flown down by the sound of his gobbles, or hearing wing beats, or because it is light enough that he SHOULD be on the ground, or whatever,... and because of that mistaken assumption, start my typical on-the-ground calling routine.
Next thing I know, I am saying to myself,..."Darn it, I thought he had flown down! He is still in the tree and I have been calling to him like he is on the ground!" Sometimes it doesn't make any difference, but when he flies down and goes the other way, I always question whether I blew that particular encounter due to the way I approached my calling progression.
Point is, sometimes (at least for me) it is really hard to tell for sure if a gobbler is on the ground or still in the tree. That can lead to unintended consequences in a gobbler's reaction to the amount of calling done in any given encounter. I personally tend to pick up the pace of my calling when that gobbler comes out of the tree, and that is not necessarily a good thing when he is still sitting up there on that limb wondering why the hen he hears is making a bunch of racket when it is not time for that! ;D