Mid mornings, when nothing has been talking and you run and gun to get another to talk, what's your call(box/pot/mouth) and how do you use it(yelp/cutting)?
I like a box call for drumming up a gobble...
But I hunt an area in a canyon, with a deep cut... If I hug the side, birds cannot see me from above or below, and I tend to cluck (and occasionally yelp) as I walk along, and a mouth call works better for this...
Interestingly, I have been surprised at how often, I walk down that canyon calling with no responses, and then get responses on the way back up??? Maybe they think that the hen walked away, and they don't want her to walk away again???
Wayne Carlton's "The Copper Pot" with HS Strut's "Wire Stik" striker. This call is loud,nasty, raspy and will get a gobbler to sound off when nothing else will. It is always in my turkey vest.
Pot to start, just a few light clucks in case a bird is real close then if not response turn it up with a few cuts. Be surprised how if you walk really slow how many times you get in tight and don't know it. I even get next to a tree or bush before I call in case a bird gobbles right close to me, just drop down and go to work.
Give me a box in hand and a diaphragm in the cheek.
I just use my hook hunter mouth call it is loud enough for the area I hunt and seems to have the rasp they can't resist
When I am on the move looking for an active gobbler, I usually go with a raspy mouth call that I can make sharp, snappy yelps and good, crisp cutts with. Once I start moving, I am mostly calling loudly because I am trying to get a response from gobblers a long way off as I move into earshot of those birds.
Once I get a long-distance response, I will move towards the bird and start toning down the calling as I close the distance. I want that gobbler to think I am a hen that is moving to him,...and I want him to continue to let me know where he is. Often, as I move toward a gobbler, he will begin to move toward me. If that happens, then I will keep moving toward him until I think I may be risking being detected, at which time I will choose a set-up and tailor my calling based on how he continues to respond and move on in.
The closer he gets, generally the less I will call and the softer my calling will become. However, this is the time you really have to judge a gobbler and "take his temperature". Some birds are going to come to you regardless of what you do,...and some are going to get antsy and play hard to get.
When they get stubborn, there may be many tactics that will get them to commit,...either passive or aggressive,....or there may be no tactic that will work. Each gobbler is different,...and all a guy can do is play his best cards and hope that he hits on the right button. Some days you win,...and some days you lose....
I've had good luck cutting with a WoodHaven Copperhead mouth call. Next would be a glass or aluminum pot.
Cutting on a tube call, maybe a mouth call once in a while. I use a wingbone to call them in most of the time
Sent from the talk of tap
Long box or aluminum pot. I think they reach out there the best when trying to get a response.
Quote from: 10gaugemag on March 22, 2015, 08:40:37 PM
Pot to start, just a few light clucks in case a bird is real close then if not response turn it up with a few cuts. Be surprised how if you walk really slow how many times you get in tight and don't know it. I even get next to a tree or bush before I call in case a bird gobbles right close to me, just drop down and go to work.
:agreed:
Power Crystal for distance, when they answer I'll half the distance and switch up to a slate and just sporadically purr and cluck.
Quote from: Gooserbat on March 22, 2015, 09:38:12 PM
Give me a box in hand and a diaphragm in the cheek.
Me too. :icon_thumright:
I almost never start out running and gunning. Even less seldom carry a box call. Can't stand the noise/maintenance factor but if I was planning to run n gun I'd prob do exactly the same. If it's a strike out on a roost hunt it'll prob be a crystal or diaphragm cutting if locators didn't work
Woodhaven Raspy Red Reactor. It has sent two birds to the freezer this spring. Same scenario of birds doing little gobbling off the roost.