Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

What are some "tricks" you guys use to kill those "tricky" birds?

I often like to "walk and talk" when striking a distant bird.  Loudly yelping as I first start towards him, and lightly clucking and soft yelps as I get to my set-up, and then shut up.  As I get closer, I also try to make my footsteps the same cadence as a turkey footsteps, and make some scratching sounds as I set up.

I often like to set up on a saddle of a hill...  If a bird comes into that saddle, he will be in range, and he has options as to which direction he wants to present.  Also, it is likely another bird will try an sneak on you while the one you are working one that is hanging up.  But, when I am on said saddle, with birds below me that will not show...  I will walk in circles with pleading calls, yelping and clucking on that saddle, and then sit back down quietly for a bit.

If that does not work, I will try walking to the edge of the saddle towards the birds quietly, and then start my pleading calling, walking away from them to back to my setup.

On more level ground, I will often make a move parallel to the birds while walking and talking...  Often, I might even walk slightly away from a bird calling loudly...  Then shut up and sit.

In other words, my most successful trick on "hung birds" is to sound like a moving bird.

My "other trick" is to set up in a likely spot to eat lunch...  Make a series of more aggressive yelps, cutts, and clucks, and then eat a leisurely lunch (maybe making a quiet cluck or purr every so often).  I try and eat behind the cover of a log or something else that is more forgiving of movement.  I have killed a few birds eating lunch...

My last trick is that when I do give up on a bird that never showed and went quiet to do a series of gobbles, followed by some attentive yelps and clucks of a hen...  Often a gobble will encourage that other bird to gobble, and he is closer than I thought.

If I have to sit in an area that has a lot of leaves or sticks that needs to be moved I will not just move them out of the way I will kind of try to sound like a turkey scratching when I get the stuff out of the way, I also yelp some while doing this. I also do the scratching to move stuff during deer season, had to get a ton of leaves one late fall or early winter and used the scratching to move the leaves so I could adjust for a shot if need be. Did this on a hill behind a forked tree and about a hour later I had a deer come straight to me and go to my right, because I moved the leaves I was able to roll to my belly to take the shot.

In addition to the scratching I will try to sound like a turkey flying down with a Wing Thing and a fly down cackle on a mouth call.

Kee kee run

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

22-250    J/K

Quote from: guesswho on April 10, 2020, 04:56:03 PM
22-250    J/K

Now that's funny. If you can't laugh at that you need to leave. Anyway to answer the question, these days I don't answer a gobbler much. In other words, when I strike one I just wait two or three minutes with no sound. If he gobbles more while I'm waiting I stay silent. After a minute or two I'll just make a plain hen yelp with a few clucks and purrs thrown in. Every time he gobbles I wait at least one to two minutes to answer him. Or I may just ignore him and make quiet clucks, purrs, and leaf scratching. Basically sending the message that I'm not overly interested in him, and he will have to come find me. Drives a lot of birds nuts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

My best tactic is to bumble and stumble around in the woods until I find a turkey so dang dumb and so dang, well, looking for love, that my calls sound good and he is willing and dumb enough to come in and die.  Just have to wear out some shoe leather to find 'em.

Quote from: g8rvet on April 10, 2020, 05:11:11 PM
My best tactic is to bumble and stumble around in the woods until I find a turkey so dang dumb and so dang, well, looking for love, that my calls sound good and he is willing and dumb enough to come in and die.  Just have to wear out some shoe leather to find 'em.

When I get desperate, I also employ the tactic of calling in such a way that I sound like a hooker on Friday night that's late on the rent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

If I told you I'd have to shoot you :fud:

Quote from: StruttinGobbler3 on April 10, 2020, 05:17:50 PM

Quote from: g8rvet on April 10, 2020, 05:11:11 PM
My best tactic is to bumble and stumble around in the woods until I find a turkey so dang dumb and so dang, well, looking for love, that my calls sound good and he is willing and dumb enough to come in and die.  Just have to wear out some shoe leather to find 'em.

When I get desperate, I also employ the tactic of calling in such a way that I sound like a hooker on Friday night that's late on the rent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Ha ha my gosh that's good

Sent from my ASUS_P00J using Tapatalk

Early season I'll throw out a fighting purr sequence as a last ditch

I "mock" hens that yelp back often they will show up with gobbler in tow

Hung birds I will stop yelping and start purring and scratching

I will gobble and hit some excited yelps and cuts if on private land if I get gobbles I'm roost and then nothing after daylight


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When all else fails, put an amplifier on the feeder motor...  :)  :)

Quote from: guesswho on April 10, 2020, 04:56:03 PM
22-250    J/K

:TooFunny: :TooFunny: 22 Hornet too!

Had a BIG gobbler hang up on me one time and would not come any further.  I reached down with my left hand and started scratching in the dry leaves.  He walked right in spitting and drumming ready to die.  The heaviest gobbler I have killed to date in Pennsylvania.  23 pounds!

I know we suppose to stay out all day but today I wasnt hearing anything, I was hungry and I have other work to do so  my trick? Know when to fold em and try again another day.

Purr gobble

Quit calling!

Quote from: StruttinGobbler3 on April 10, 2020, 05:02:38 PM

Quote from: guesswho on April 10, 2020, 04:56:03 PM
22-250    J/K

Now that's funny. If you can't laugh at that you need to leave. Anyway to answer the question, these days I don't answer a gobbler much. In other words, when I strike one I just wait two or three minutes with no sound. If he gobbles more while I'm waiting I stay silent. After a minute or two I'll just make a plain hen yelp with a few clucks and purrs thrown in. Every time he gobbles I wait at least one to two minutes to answer him. Or I may just ignore him and make quiet clucks, purrs, and leaf scratching. Basically sending the message that I'm not overly interested in him, and he will have to come find me. Drives a lot of birds nuts. Exactly spot on there, that is all that it takes...clucks and purrs....killed one last year that came all way across a huge pasture to few clucks purrs...first saw him at 200+ yds and he came directly to me with no more calls once I saw him....they can hear a cluck at several hundred yards and scratching in leaves also. That hearing is amazing. I like to make a cluck trying to cut him off at the end of his gobble...believe he can't tell exactly where it came from if timed just right...especially if he coming in and like a ways off....hit him at very end of the gobble...then go quiet....gun up and ready...deadly tactic.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

It`s not a " trick " I suppose in the purest sense of the word, but PATIENCE. Even if they don`t come in, they know where you are if you`ve had any kind of conversation with them. They might wander off with hens, for example. Often, not always, but often they`ll be back. Took about an hour  and a half this past Friday.

Quote from: guesswho on April 10, 2020, 04:56:03 PM
22-250    J/K

I'm more of a 5.56 with a 30 round mag guy myself, but to each their own.

I really don't use ANY "tricks".

  It ain't a "trick" if it's something you've found to be an effective method through decades of trying different things.  I have a bag FULL of "effective methods".  But, like someone else said........... If I told you........well...........you know............

;D

I stay seated for at least 30 minutes after my last calling sequence. Been bust more than one time by a Tom coming in silent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Quote from: eddie234 on April 12, 2020, 08:40:11 PM
I stay seated for at least 30 minutes after my last calling sequence. Been bust more than one time by a Tom coming in silent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

i always do this.  if i decide to move or quit i stop and look at watch and wait 30 minutes

Quote from: eddie234 on April 12, 2020, 08:40:11 PM
I stay seated for at least 30 minutes after my last calling sequence. Been bust more than one time by a Tom coming in silent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That`s a good thing to do. Last Friday I`d been conversing with a bird that shut up and moved off with hens. About an hour to an hour and a half later I heard what I`m pretty sure was him gobble quite a ways off ( had to be well over 100 yards ). I yelped to him to let him know I was still there. Not a sound, or at least if he answered, I didn`t hear him. About 10 minutes or so later he gobbled again. About 30 yards behind me! He came all that way as quiet as a mouse. It worked out that he went home with me. Lesson: Patience kills ( at least sometimes! ).

Quote from: GobbleNut on April 11, 2020, 12:02:25 AM
When all else fails, put an amplifier on the feeder motor...  :)  :)

:agreed: LOL

Quote from: eddie234 on April 12, 2020, 08:40:11 PM
I stay seated for at least 30 minutes after my last calling sequence. Been bust more than one time by a Tom coming in silent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Works good when calling predators too.

If I've been sitting and blind calling for a while and get ready to go I tell myself "15more minutes" then whenever I get ready to get up I usually do a short soft Yelp then follow it with a quick short cut just to test the area in case a bird had heard my calls and was coming in silent to maybe solicite a gobble from him that way I don't stand up with a bird somewhere close.

if you have to rip your own underwear off to wipe your azz make sure to put the waistband on some barbed wire fence for a good laugh

Go with your first thought or gut instinct. Two many times I've over analyzed or over thought things and talked myself out of doing the right thing.

When shooting 12 gauge, 3.5" shells, make sure yer pinch of Copenhagen is in your left cheek. For you right handed fellows anyways.

Scratch....scratch, scratch.  In the leaves that is.  Lol.

Couple of things...I can run my diaphragm and natural mouth calling while running a box call to imitate a small flock of hens which works well.

Another is throw in some jake yelps on a bird with hens and you just might get him to get a little jealous.

Too many people will just yell at a gobbler when he's close...I will switch to whines and purrs with both the diaphragm and natural mouth to really work em in close.

Lastly, too many people do the mechanical yelps or competition yelps...listen to a real hen and she will break her yelps up in sequence and have a delayed note or two...makes it wayyy more realistic and really will drive an old southern bird wild if you break up your yelps with clucks or delays etc

Quote from: StruttinGobbler3 on April 10, 2020, 05:17:50 PM

Quote from: g8rvet on April 10, 2020, 05:11:11 PM
My best tactic is to bumble and stumble around in the woods until I find a turkey so dang dumb and so dang, well, looking for love, that my calls sound good and he is willing and dumb enough to come in and die.  Just have to wear out some shoe leather to find 'em.

When I get desperate, I also employ the tactic of calling in such a way that I sound like a hooker on Friday night that's late on the rent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This thread and this hooker comment made me think of this video.... it's called the Nikki Minaj....  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3fKQSCmrY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3fKQSCmrY)

I suppose too, you are talking solo, because if I am with someone, I will start crawling on all 4 away calling as I go if he's hung up out of site. Play hard to get ya know.

The silent treatment has produced a lot of the stubborn turkeys for me over the years like many other hunters.  I also employ some hen conversations.  I have had good success with running multiple calls at once.  A mouth call and slate or box in a conversation, not just noise.  Start out with some clucks/purrs between a couple ladies conversing about life, maybe eventually get into a raspy trash talking jerry springer "I take care of my man better than you take care of my man" type deal, and then go into "we don't need no stinking man" quiet silence.  It has been a real producer on the knuckleheads.  :)

Quote from: btomlin on February 16, 2021, 09:46:25 AMStart out with some clucks/purrs between a couple ladies conversing about life, maybe eventually get into a raspy trash talking jerry springer "I take care of my man better than you care of my man" type deal, and then go into "we don't need no stinking man" quiet silence.  It has been a real producer on the knuckleheads.  :)

Wonderful analogy!

I don't think this is much of a trick, but if I have had a chance to pattern and roost birds here, I set up between where they are and where they "have been" wanting to go.

Soft quavers and whistles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The best trick I have ever found is simply finding a gobbler that wants to die.  Find one of those and you usually don't have to worry about any other tricks.   ;D

Switch calls , is a good  trick

My biggest trick is to bring a book on the slow days.  I'll call maybe every 15 minutes. A dead morning at flydown can suddenly get hot at 9 or 10.

Another trick is a version of that. When it is windy in the afternoon, I'll go out and work a loud box call every 15 minutes or so and throw the call as far as I can.  Sometimes it takes 3-4 hours for a gobbler to come in, but one often does.

Other tricks I have used successfully:

I have gotten up and halfed the distance between me and a recalcitrant gob.  He came in like his life depended on it.

I regularly use a pushpin call and give an angry purr to a hen that comes in on me.  It usually does not scare off the gob that's coming in, but it makes the hen go away.

I've done end-arounds where I move out and around a gob and hens and set up ahead of them.

I have used my deer blinds to hunt turkeys in the rain. This is a heck of a lot better than staying home.

Silence is Golden on the finicky ones. I call very little on a regular day. If I know a tough one is in my area, I will do soft tree yelps right at daybreak, fly down cackle in leaves with real wing. If he gobbles once, I am done. I will scratch leaves, fluff wings, and sit pretty much silent. Tough birds have been hunted, and know the game. Natural scratching, wing fluffs, and silence have brought these guys in for me. I have sat for 3 or more hours to get one, but it does pay off......great thread....

Quote from: hotspur on February 16, 2021, 05:31:00 PM
Switch calls , is a good  trick

^ This.  I killed one of my best gobblers with this trick.  Oh yeah I also moved three times on him.  Took about 2 1/2 hours from first gobble to gun shot!  What a blast!

The best tricks are really no tricks at all.  Sit still.  No I mean REALLY sit still!  Also Patience, turkeys don't wear watches.  They are in no hurry they have all day to do whatever it is they do.  I messed up more in my early years turkey hunting by not doing either one of these things very well.   One very effective trick I did learn though was scratching in the leaves!  Pulled my heaviest(23 pounds) Pa. gobbler in the last 75 yards with that one. That was the first time I heard the Spit and Drum, WOW!!

This thread and this hooker comment made me think of this video.... it's called the Nikki Minaj....  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3fKQSCmrY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3fKQSCmrY)

I suppose too, you are talking solo, because if I am with someone, I will start crawling on all 4 away calling as I go if he's hung up out of site. Play hard to get ya know.
[/quote]
:TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny:

Quote from: GobbleNut on February 16, 2021, 12:36:24 PM
The best trick I have ever found is simply finding a gobbler that wants to die.  Find one of those and you usually don't have to worry about any other tricks.   ;D

I agree 100%.  I was just reading the responses,  and I only have one trick.   And, it is walk and call until you finally find a bird that wants to run in and die quickly.   

This thread and this hooker comment made me think of this video.... it's called the Nikki Minaj....  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3fKQSCmrY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3fKQSCmrY)

I suppose too, you are talking solo, because if I am with someone, I will start crawling on all 4 away calling as I go if he's hung up out of site. Play hard to get ya know.
[/quote]


Us O-HI-a boys know how to be sexy. If it hain't comin you hain't being sexy nouf

There are times to be patient and call less...but if I can get a hen talking to me, I call to her and try and get her fired up. I figure if I can get a hen fired up and in my decoys cutting and making a lot of racket, and I'm matching that,  well, that's a lot of excited turkey sounds filling the air. And I've shot gobblers doing it enough that I'll keep doing it.

I actually had a hen gobble at me doing that last year, and then I shot a silent gobbler that had given me the slip several times.

Tricks - tell the guy that just pulled in that you heard a bunch of birds down the road yesterday.

As for the rest it's all hunting strategies.

Quote from: eggshell on February 27, 2021, 06:25:08 AM

I suppose too, you are talking solo, because if I am with someone, I will start crawling on all 4 away calling as I go if he's hung up out of site. Play hard to get ya know.

^^This works great on a hung up gobbler if you can get away with it.  I've had gobblers that flat out refused to commit and stayed hung up over an hour.  Tag team him by leaving the shooter in the original position and having the caller drift off away like the hen is tired of wasting her time on the gobbler's foolishness & is ready for action.  More often than not it forces his hand and breaks him out of being hung up and into range.

Not really a trick, but I like to turn my watch face to the inside of my wrist.  It is easier to just glance down to check time than to turn your arm over and try to move jacket, shirt, or gloves unnoticed.

Carry a few dark colored zip ties or strands of wire in your vest to help hold branches out of the way or quickly add some cover exactly where you need it.  Either can also be used to secure a tag in place or as an emergency boot lace.

Jim

Quote from: eggshell on February 28, 2021, 08:01:40 AM
Tricks - tell the guy that just pulled in that you heard a bunch of birds down the road yesterday.

As for the rest it's all hunting strategies.

^This.
Then the guy asks "Hear'n any turkey's in here?" and you reply "Nope." followed shortly after by birds gobbling.

Guess you could call it a shock gobble trick for preseason scouting since it almost always seems to "work"...

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

If I'm gonna set up one during the day I'll click cutt and purr while kicking leaves trying to get him amped up and then just shut up. I especially like to do that when he might be on an opposite ridge or hillside I can't access. Hard to beat just scratching leaves too

Learn to shoot with your off hand, lucky for me I am ambidextrous so it comes easy.  Have killed a few birds over the years that snuck in quiet on the wrong side!

Hunt all day if you can.  Don't leave mid-morning like a lot of folks do.  Pack a sandwich and candy bar in your vest and hunt til dark if your state allows it.  I've tagged a good number of birds later in the day.  Can't kill em from the house!

Quote from: g8rvet on April 10, 2020, 05:11:11 PM
My best tactic is to bumble and stumble around in the woods until I find a turkey so dang dumb and so dang, well, looking for love, that my calls sound good and he is willing and dumb enough to come in and die.  Just have to wear out some shoe leather to find 'em.

There id no need to be vulgar.

If you're walking along on public and you hear a couple unseen guys coming along behind you shake a gobble call at them then continue on your way. That will plant them for awhile.

Quote from: High plains drifter on March 16, 2021, 10:54:05 PM

Quote from: g8rvet on April 10, 2020, 05:11:11 PM
My best tactic is to bumble and stumble around in the woods until I find a turkey so dang dumb and so dang, well, looking for love, that my calls sound good and he is willing and dumb enough to come in and die.  Just have to wear out some shoe leather to find 'em.

There id no need to be vulgar.

?????????????????????....     ::) :z-dizzy:  I suppose I should just let this pass,...but sorry, I just don't get it.....Is there a joke there that I am missing?....

Hunting small wood lots often requires that I set up early and stay for several hours, waiting for a gobbler to make his way to me. Needing to move my legs, take a leak, etc. is all hidden due to the 3'x10' camo screen that I set up in front of me. I've even set up the screen next to a fence where there's no other cover and it works fine as the gobbler is concentrating on my decoys. The camo screen, plus a comfortable ground chair, are the tickets for me in my way of hunting.

Quote from: GobbleNut on March 18, 2021, 08:30:42 AM

Quote from: High plains drifter on March 16, 2021, 10:54:05 PM

Quote from: g8rvet on April 10, 2020, 05:11:11 PM
My best tactic is to bumble and stumble around in the woods until I find a turkey so dang dumb and so dang, well, looking for love, that my calls sound good and he is willing and dumb enough to come in and die.  Just have to wear out some shoe leather to find 'em.

There id no need to be vulgar.

?????????????????????....     ::) :z-dizzy:  I suppose I should just let this pass,...but sorry, I just don't get it.....Is there a joke there that I am missing?....

I don't get it either!!???!!!????!??!?!?!?!

Quote from: StruttinGobbler3 on April 10, 2020, 05:02:38 PM

Quote from: guesswho on April 10, 2020, 04:56:03 PM
22-250    J/K

Now that's funny. If you can't laugh at that you need to leave. Anyway to answer the question, these days I don't answer a gobbler much. In other words, when I strike one I just wait two or three minutes with no sound. If he gobbles more while I'm waiting I stay silent. After a minute or two I'll just make a plain hen yelp with a few clucks and purrs thrown in. Every time he gobbles I wait at least one to two minutes to answer him. Or I may just ignore him and make quiet clucks, purrs, and leaf scratching. Basically sending the message that I'm not overly interested in him, and he will have to come find me. Drives a lot of birds nuts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I work birds much the same way. I call more frequently when calling blind than when I am working a bird.