Thought it would be interesting to see a consensus of everyone's hunting style here. What approach do you feel kills more gobblers consistently? Soft calling, yelping every five to ten minutes with soft purrs and clucks, etc. or getting loud and aggressive, calling a bird hard to the gun and cranking on the call? Personally I lean these days more toward softer and more seldom calling, except in certain situations. What are your thoughts?
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All of the above
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start low and slow, pick it up from there! Sometimes though later in the day I like to get loud with a box first.
For me it depends on the turkeys mood more than anything and location to a smaller extent.
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Knowing what to say , when to say it and how to say it. What doesnt work today on a certain bird may work tomorrow. You have to feel the bird out. Does not matter if you start hard and fast or soft and slow , you have to listen to the bird or watch the bird to see what he likes. Sometimes just a strong dose of silence is the best call.
For me if the birds are pressured (like after first day public in florida) i go quite. I will do a couple clucks and purs ever twenty or thirty minutes watching my watch to make sure of time. And in open country western states loud and wild, has worked best for me.
I play to the bird. If he's a loudmouth I'm going to feed it to him. If he barely responds I'm going to slack off. Public or private.
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Quote from: Spitten and drummen on January 26, 2020, 07:07:49 PM
Knowing what to say , when to say it and how to say it. What doesnt work today on a certain bird may work tomorrow. You have to feel the bird out. Does not matter if you start hard and fast or soft and slow , you have to listen to the bird or watch the bird to see what he likes. Sometimes just a strong dose of silence is the best call.
What he said.
Slow and steady, up and down as needed. Usually not much is needed. But some birds prefer the intensity cranked up, just have to figure out which one your dealing with.
Quote from: NC pine chicken on January 26, 2020, 07:24:08 PM
I play to the bird. If he's a loudmouth I'm going to feed it to him. If he barely responds I'm going to slack off. Public or private
Exactly! I always referred to it as taking their temperature, if they like it I talk to them if they prefer soft and slow I fine them that...
Quote from: drenalinld on January 26, 2020, 06:36:48 PM
All of the above
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I didn't need to read any further. The man hit the nail on the head. Too many variables and the same bird wants dif calling on dif days. It's not one technique thank God
Quote from: tal on January 26, 2020, 07:29:04 PM
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on January 26, 2020, 07:07:49 PM
Knowing what to say , when to say it and how to say it. What doesnt work today on a certain bird may work tomorrow. You have to feel the bird out. Does not matter if you start hard and fast or soft and slow , you have to listen to the bird or watch the bird to see what he likes. Sometimes just a strong dose of silence is the best call.
What he said.
X3
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on January 26, 2020, 07:07:49 PM
Knowing what to say , when to say it and how to say it. What doesnt work today on a certain bird may work tomorrow. You have to feel the bird out. Does not matter if you start hard and fast or soft and slow , you have to listen to the bird or watch the bird to see what he likes. Sometimes just a strong dose of silence is the best call.
X4 .. the above ....
Whichever works, but I probably lean toward too much. :)
However, I hunt different birds than most of you do. I don't call as much back East.
Quote from: Happy on January 26, 2020, 06:45:46 PM
For me it depends on the turkeys mood more than anything and location to a smaller extent.
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x2
Depends on the bird, the mood he is in and how you feel he will respond. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don't and sometimes neither will work!
2 yelps and put the call away. Heavy pressured florida birds are tough. Dont want the bird to gobble if he doesnt have to. Draws the people in fast.
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9/10 times it's going to be soft and slow in my neck of the woods. Every once in a while you will find a loudmouth bird you can call hard to but it's not really common for me. Couple soft yelps and some scratching in the leaves can get you a long way
Depends on the situation, I hunt super high pressure Louisiana gobblers and usually have to be pretty gentle with them. But if you catch him in the right mood you can get aggressive and really get down on him. I struggle sometimes in other states making myself get more aggressive.
Interestingly enough, I know the rule of thumb on Osceolas is soft and seldom calling. However, when I caught my first Osceola strutting in a pasture, I had to call that bird more aggressively than any turkey I have every killed. Loud, fast yelps and cuts, and plenty of them too. Took him forever to strut into shooting range. On the flip side, when I went to Texas to hunt Rios it was the opposite. Always heard Rios were easier to hunt than the Easterns on my home ground, and were responsive to aggressive calling. Finally a guide taught me to call way softer, and much less, which resulted in two dead gobblers in two days.
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Listen to the birds and how they are talkin that day then join the conversation . If nothings being said try and strike one up. If the conversation is boring try and rile it up a bit.
I would agree with the general consensus on this thread that 'it depends'. Because that is the correct answer.
But I would also suggest this: don't assume it to be strictly an either/or option as you've framed it. I've had good success on public lands calling assertively, but maybe only every 10-15+ minutes. And if a bird is clearly headed my way, MAYBE calling in response to his gobbles, otherwise, I shut up. I guess you might call that a strategy of high intensity, low frequency calling.
Anyway, just something I've experience on occasion.
Whatever it takes. Like most I start quiet, but I am not afraid to crank it up if need be. Last year my buddy and I found a bird that would only respond to two hens. That was on the second to last day of the season on hard hunted public land.
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All depends on what the gobbler likes.
Pretty much agree with the general consensus that it depends on the mood of the next gobbler you encounter. One thing I might add is that too many of us tend to "pigeon-hole" ourselves into thinking that "our" birds will only behave a certain way and will only respond to a certain type of calling. ...Ain't necessarily so, folks.
Turkeys are turkeys,,,,and THEY are the ones that decide what they like and what they don't at any given moment. Over the years, I have seen LOTS of gobblers get killed responding to some of the most awful calling and odd-ball calling tactics imaginable.
Don't get me wrong. I don't advocate going off the rails right off the bat when initiating a conversation with a gobbler, but those of us that start off thinking that this bird I am calling will only come if I do a certain thing,...and that thing only,...is going to NOT kill some gobblers that could be killed by trying something a bit different on him.
On the other hand, there is no doubt you will shut some gobblers down by getting too creative with your calling, On those birds, there is always another encounter at another time to try something different. That is just turkey hunting....
I think every single turkey hunting tactics question can be answered in two simple words.
"It depends."
Like it was said before I tend to gauge it off of the bird. I tend to start off soft though and has the day goes on I may pick up the volume and frequency. I have had pretty good luck killing birds between 10:00 and 2:00 doing this.
If a gobbler has hens, most times you end up hunting them. That usually ends up trying to tick off the boss hen so she`ll come looking and hopefully drag him along. That will call for pretty aggressive cuts and yelps.
In the afternoon, it`s the occasional soft yelps, clucks and purrs. Whole different game in the afternoon.
I usually start with soft, subtle calling early and get more aggressive as the day goes on.
Location also makes a difference for me. Although I've killed a couple of Osceolas with aggressive calling...I have more success using soft, subtle calls. On the other hand, when hunting easterns back home in Pa, I kill as many or more with aggressive calling than I do with soft calling.
All of the above......depending on the situation. ;) You got to feel out the birds you are working. Personally, I try to mimic what's going on around me. If the birds are quiet that day, I tone it down. If the birds are ripping it up, I rip it up right along with them.
Aggressive calling will kill more birds than the soft stuff but it would be counterproductive to use that calling strategy alone. Using a mix of calls, depending on the situation, will yield the best results overall.
Quote from: simpzenith on January 29, 2020, 08:26:54 PM
Aggressive calling will kill more birds than the soft stuff but it would be counterproductive to use that calling strategy alone. Using a mix of calls, depending on the situation, will yield the best results overall.
Again, from my own experience I agree with this. I'm sure that there are times and places where this doesn't apply, but generally speaking, I agree.
One observation I will add regarding the term "aggressive calling". From my own perspective, I consider that to be mainly adding a good amount of cutting in one's calling sequences,...and from what I have seen, a lot of folks cannot cutt realistically. Yelp/cutt sequences with realistic cutting, to me, are a real key when using aggressive calling tactics. In my opinion, get that sound right and a guy will see his success rate in using aggressive calling tactics go way up. Again,...just my opinion based on my personal experience.
I've killed more birds with aggressive calling then the soft stuff, however, I don't rely on heavy calling only. I've killed a handful just scratching in the leaves and occasionally clucking
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Quote from: GobbleNut on February 01, 2020, 09:01:22 AM
Quote from: simpzenith on January 29, 2020, 08:26:54 PM
Aggressive calling will kill more birds than the soft stuff but it would be counterproductive to use that calling strategy alone. Using a mix of calls, depending on the situation, will yield the best results overall.
Again, from my own experience I agree with this. I'm sure that there are times and places where this doesn't apply, but generally speaking, I agree.
One observation I will add regarding the term "aggressive calling". From my own perspective, I consider that to be mainly adding a good amount of cutting in one's calling sequences,...and from what I have seen, a lot of folks cannot cutt realistically. Yelp/cutt sequences with realistic cutting, to me, are a real key when using aggressive calling tactics. In my opinion, get that sound right and a guy will see his success rate in using aggressive calling tactics go way up. Again,...just my opinion based on my personal experience.
This tactic has worked for me on small properties and on large highly pressured public land. There is never always in turkey hunting, but it has worked more often than not. I mostly hunt small properties where you must call birds across property lines if you want to succeed.
I cutt aggressively in response to gobbles on the ground to grab their attention. Once they're obviously moving my way I quiet down and act less interested to coax them closer. Sometimes leaf scratching is all I do after the cutts start to pull the gobbler my way.
Jim
Give them just enough to keep them coming ! Once you know they are committed and on their way I like to shut up .
Since I hunt public land, I try to call less or more than the average guy out there. I always start light, and as much as I like to hear them, I try not to make them gobble more than they would on their own. I stay out of the middle of the road as possible and will get really aggressive if I have one gobbling a lot.
One time I remember killing a bird, the place was crawling with people and with every gobble I would cringe... I had to work this bird for 45 minutes, I was sure someone was going to move in on me, so I tried not to call too much. Then he would start to drift away, then I'd crank it up some, he would drift closer. Did this several times, I finally just kept after him with my calling a bit more and killed him at 18 steps. Old bird too! I've also just clucked a couple times or given one series of yelps and kill them hard hunted public ground birds. Its my favorite thing to call public timber birds.
Whatever he tells me he wants to hear.
They all work when it's the right time.
Quote from: warrent423 on January 27, 2020, 10:09:08 AM
You would need to have a Gobbler's ears to be able to hear "my" style of calling.
You can always turn it up, but you cannot unring a bell.
Depends on the Gobbler,but I probably have a tendency to call louder than needed most the time.
Quote from: warrent423 on February 04, 2020, 10:02:55 AM
Quote from: silvestris on February 04, 2020, 12:42:59 AM
Quote from: warrent423 on January 27, 2020, 10:09:08 AM
You would need to have a Gobbler's ears to be able to hear "my" style of calling.
You can always turn it up, but you cannot unring a bell.
I'm grateful for all of those who call too much and call to loud, googans and competition callers alike. It is because of them, that I will always have Gobblers to hunt on the public ground I frequent.
A guy who calls more aggressively could say the same thing to a hunter who doesn't. It goes both ways.
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