Calling practice rut

[TurkeyReaper69]

I mentioned in a post yesterday I don't pride myself on my calling ability whatsoever. I am happy with my current skill level as I have listened to some hens that sound awful. I'll be honest I wish I practiced my calling every single day or every other day of the year. Typically once mid January hits I'll be chirping on my mouth call every time I'm in truck, or annoying everyone in the house with my strikers and pot calls. This will continue until a week or two after season ends in June. Then next thing you know my focus will shift elsewhere, whether that is in preparation for deer season or other summer projects. Then the cycle will repeat the following year.

[GobbleNut]

Spend any time in the woods around turkeys, or more simply, get on "The Forbidden YouTube" and hit a bunch of videos that show real, live, hen turkeys making the various turkey sounds.  What you will find is that turkey voices vary A LOT! 

Giving credit where credit is due, those upper-echelon turkey callers in any elite contest are unbelievably good at replicating the sounds that they have all gravitated towards since they have realized those are the sounds that human judges want to hear.  But as several others here have pointed out, your average hen turkey just does not sound like that!  Sure, there are SOME that do, but for every hen turkey that makes the "box call yelp", there are a dozen others in the woods that make some other, remotely-similar, version of that sound. Same with the "bubble cluck" that is trending nowadays,...or the "flute-like purr". that seems to be popular at the moment.

Simply stated, there is "contest calling", and then there is "turkey-killin' calling".  They can be one and the same, depending on the turkey you are calling to, but very often they are not.  If you want to compare your calling skills to the "contest greats", more power to you and keep working at it.  If you want to hunt turkeys successfully, however, you should concentrate more on "when, where, and what" to say to a gobbler more-so than the specific turkey voice you use to say it with.

Bottom line is learning to sound like a real turkey is pretty easy nowadays. Learning those "Three W's" listed above is the more important part for killing gobblers.  Yeah, we all spend varying amounts of time running our turkey calls prior to the season, and if the truth be known, I'm sure a bunch of us secretly compare ourselves to those contest guys.  The fact is, though, that we are mostly just doing it because we want the season to hurry up and get here!   

[ferocious calls]

Having a personal flock of Eastern, Rio and Merriams can expose us to a myriad of sounds, tones and cadences. It is very enjoyable to watch and listen to the subtle nuances of each hen. Having to tune so many calls makes calling a frequent enjoyable chore.

One trapping season at camp, each evening I would play the same box to try and master all it had to offer. By the time spring season arrived I kinda felt bad for the Toms that heard it.

I also like to play for the turkey hunters ear and call them to my booth all summer. Fun fun fun. 

I just flat out love turkeys and their talk.

[Zobo]

I would add, if you're burnt-out take a break for a while. Your putting too much pressure on yourself. This stuff is supposed to be enjoyable. You're gonna improve in time.(And the two posts above: great advice so true, just like people turkeys have different voices)

[Cottonmouth]

When you hunt enough, you what sound will work. Don't over think it. Woodsmanship and knowing where the turkey wants to be is much more important than perfect calling. Also knowing when to shut up and make him hunt you. Patience kills more turkeys than championship calling any day.

[bbcoach]

Remind yourself that learning to call is like anything else we try to do in our life.  It takes time, practice and patience.  Most of the time we, as humans, want things right now.  Instant gratification, if you will.  We set our minds to practice and take SOME time for that but then our patience wanes.  We don't see the results we want in a month or two and we give up.  We need to realize the learning process is a Lifetime of ups and downs.  My suggestion is take some time off.  Put the calls aside.  As others have said, DON"T watch and listen to calling contests, listen to real turkeys.  Listen intently to their pitch, cadence and rhythm and learn the subtle things they are conveying.  Most of us want to Blast the airwaves with that NWTF calling contest vibe but don't take the time to learn the softer side of the hens.  Being aggressive with our calling has its place (this inflates our egos) but if you listen to REAL hens they are mostly subtle and soft in their daily walk through life.  As others have said, get on You Tube or buy a CD and listen to Real hens.  Then pick up the calls and work on LITTLE things to take your calling to the next level.  Remember it is a process and processes take time and PATIENCE!       

[Meleagris gallopavo]

I think it's important to record yourself during practice, outside and at least 10-20 yards from the recording device.  Work on one type of sound at the time.  Record a short run, listen to it, try to adjust, repeat.  Compare how you sound vs recorded sounds of wild turkeys.  Don't practice a lot rushed begrudgingly, practice at a time when you have time to focus and enjoy it.


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[Gobbler428]

Something I've always enjoyed doing was listening to Lovett Williams recordings and trying to match every sound call for call. The hens usually win, but it's fun practice and it breaks you out of your normal calling sequences.


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X2 I listen to Lovetts' CD's every day in the spring prior to opening day. It really helps
me remember what real turkeys are saying and how they say it. I also try to imitate them but they always win with me as well.

[PNWturkey]

I practice by grabbing my scratch box, opening the window, and listening/chatting with the turkeys in the front yard.

Wife doesn't appreciate it too much though :-)