What's that popping sound?

[Cut N Run]

I can't produce that cluck consistently myself.  A little soft purring & leaf scratching helps settle their nerves some.  I keep thinking I'll get there one day, but I hasn't happened yet.  It has driven my wife to a borderline fit of rage whenever she hears me practice though.  There's something about the pitch of a turkey call that affects female DNA in a bad way.

Jim

[Zobo]

Had a bird do it last week.  My impression, is that it is a nervous call.  I do not think you have to "bubble-cluck" back though.  Any quiet contented turkey sound seems to work (most times) for me if the terrain is broken up enough.  I purred and it worked.  I have made quiet yelps or clucks for success as well.
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Yes Marc I agree, many times hens will bubble cluck, purr, bubble cluck, purr and so on. So if you can't bubble cluck, just purr or you can approximate the sequence on a good slate with the right striker or a pushpin too.  I see it as more of an inquisitive call more so than a nervous call. But, gobblers and jakes and hens do make hollow sounding bubble putts as they nervously flee from danger, but that sound is somewhat different.

[Uncle Tom]

When you using your mouth call and doing a cluck blow a bubble with your lips is how I do it. Practice blowing that bubble without your mouth call until you get it, then put your mouth in and try to do that bubble....slowly it will come to you. Just takes practice, but it will eventually come around.

[Lcmacd 58]

It's not that hard .....

[YoungGobbler]

I have heard this call this season and the way it sounded was as if the tom was starting to be suspicious about my calls... I hunted this area for a few days straight and one morning as i was yelping he was answering at first with gobbles and than he started doing pops... pop, pop, pop... like 15 times straight. It sounded like he wanted to verify if I was a real turkey... I was not confident enough to try to replicate his call but maybe I will try it if some times it happens to me again.

[GobbleNut]

I have heard this call this season and the way it sounded was as if the tom was starting to be suspicious about my calls... I hunted this area for a few days straight and one morning as i was yelping he was answering at first with gobbles and than he started doing pops... pop, pop, pop... like 15 times straight. It sounded like he wanted to verify if I was a real turkey... I was not confident enough to try to replicate his call but maybe I will try it if some times it happens to me again.

Anybody that has hunted turkeys for very long has had what you describe happen to them.  That repeated popping sound you started hearing had probably gone from the "bubble cluck" where-are-you stage to the "alarm putt" stage in your encounter.  That gobbler either probably saw something he didn't like...or he did not see something that he thought he ought to be able to see.  Regardless, if he started making that sound repeatedly (and moving away from you), there was probably nothing you could do to change his mind at that point.  Maybe....but probably not. 

The use of the bubble cluck (where-are-you cluck) can work wonders in certain situations, but once a gobbler gets into the alarm putting stage, your chances  are generally fading fast.  Those repeated sharp putts are sounds that none of us want to hear...   

[YoungGobbler]

I have heard this call this season and the way it sounded was as if the tom was starting to be suspicious about my calls... I hunted this area for a few days straight and one morning as i was yelping he was answering at first with gobbles and than he started doing pops... pop, pop, pop... like 15 times straight. It sounded like he wanted to verify if I was a real turkey... I was not confident enough to try to replicate his call but maybe I will try it if some times it happens to me again.

Anybody that has hunted turkeys for very long has had what you describe happen to them.  That repeated popping sound you started hearing had probably gone from the "bubble cluck" where-are-you stage to the "alarm putt" stage in your encounter.  That gobbler either probably saw something he didn't like...or he did not see something that he thought he ought to be able to see.  Regardless, if he started making that sound repeatedly (and moving away from you), there was probably nothing you could do to change his mind at that point.  Maybe....but probably not. 

The use of the bubble cluck (where-are-you cluck) can work wonders in certain situations, but once a gobbler gets into the alarm putting stage, your chances  are generally fading fast.  Those repeated sharp putts are sounds that none of us want to hear...   

I started hearing this pop pop and the gobbler was still roosted. Felt like it was also a bit of an alarm call also... And it was late season, had hunted the area a bit.

[GobbleNut]

I started hearing this pop pop and the gobbler was still roosted. Felt like it was also a bit of an alarm call also... And it was late season, had hunted the area a bit.

Interesting.  It does sound like alarm putting, which would make me think the gobbler probably saw or perhaps heard something he got suspicious about.  In those cases, turkeys will sometimes stay on the roost longer than anticipated, and/or when they fly down, they will fly away from the source causing their suspicion. 

Turkeys do often cluck when getting ready to fly down, and fly-down cackles often include fast clucking.  However, what you indicate you heard does not seem to fit that description to me. 

In addition, turkeys that have been hunted hard can get to a point where they become suspicious about just about everything that happens around them...   

[YoungGobbler]

I started hearing this pop pop and the gobbler was still roosted. Felt like it was also a bit of an alarm call also... And it was late season, had hunted the area a bit.

Interesting.  It does sound like alarm putting, which would make me think the gobbler probably saw or perhaps heard something he got suspicious about.  In those cases, turkeys will sometimes stay on the roost longer than anticipated, and/or when they fly down, they will fly away from the source causing their suspicion. 

Turkeys do often cluck when getting ready to fly down, and fly-down cackles often include fast clucking.  However, what you indicate you heard does not seem to fit that description to me. 

In addition, turkeys that have been hunted hard can get to a point where they become suspicious about just about everything that happens around them...   

I did had the feeling that it was a mix of an alarm call and a 'are you a real turkey? Cause i'm a real turkey and I'm a bit nervous right now'   

He did got off the roost and went away from me... and that was close to last day of the season so I was in a mood where I had nothing to loose...    So i went and tryed to get closer to him since i could ear him gobble... And one time I was so close to him... He gobbled frankly, than got silent... and left the area with the soft rain drop sound... And throughout the morning I could ear him rain drop... That was a fun morning...

But your last sentence truly sums it up: He was suspsicious.

[GobbleGitr]

Years ago Ray Eye referred to this same call as popping. First time I heard it, I knew immediately what he meant as he had explained gobblers doing it in close proximity. Had 3 gobblers under 30 yards away just over crest of ridge and they all 3 started popping after my last series of calls.

[Sir-diealot]

Found this on facebroke on it. Actually sounds like something I have just always done, though not near this well. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=5485810588185620