Hung Up Gobbler Success

[Treerooster]

Write down every tactic for a hung up gobbler you can think of on pieces of paper and carry them with you when hunting.  When you get in a situation where you are confronted with a hung up bird, reach in your pocket and grab one of those papers and try that tactic.  Your chances are probably as good as any.   
Point:  Gobblers are the ones who decide what they are waiting to hear, or not...and often if they have hung up THEY have decided there is a very good reason they have chosen not to advance closer,...and only they know what that reason is.  Take your best shot and hope it works...   

I hope this post is in jest. I couldn't disagree with it more.

After all your  years of experience you must have learned something.

As the original post suggests, I have been working this gobbler for a while. In that time I should have learned something about him and the situation. Maybe I've seen something, maybe it's what I have heard or not heard. What phase of the breeding I think they are in....etc.

Certainly I don't KNOW exactly what call to make  but as I have become more experienced I make educated guesses. Sometimes I don't have a lot of confidence in my guess, sometimes I am pretty darn sure. Most times I am probably going to learn something from the encounter, success or failure.

I hear a lot of "don't over thin it" in turkey hunting. True enough. But don't under think it either. If you don't think about wahrs going on or what went on afterwards, then you won't learn much.

[GobbleNut]

Write down every tactic for a hung up gobbler you can think of on pieces of paper and carry them with you when hunting.  When you get in a situation where you are confronted with a hung up bird, reach in your pocket and grab one of those papers and try that tactic.  Your chances are probably as good as any.   
Point:  Gobblers are the ones who decide what they are waiting to hear, or not...and often if they have hung up THEY have decided there is a very good reason they have chosen not to advance closer,...and only they know what that reason is.  Take your best shot and hope it works...   

I hope this post is in jest. I couldn't disagree with it more.
After all your  years of experience you must have learned something.

  Yes, it was (partially) in jest...but then again, it wasn't.     ...And to your point, sometimes gobblers make me think that I have learned nothing at all over the years. 
In my admittedly too many years of experience, the fact is that I have seen gobblers balk at coming to "tried and true" tactics only to then come marching in to something that I never thought would have worked,...and was at the very bottom of my list of things to try.  The point once again being that it is the gobbler that decides what flips the switch and that is not always what WE think should flip it.

Having said that, I suppose I should have also stated that it is best to stick with those tried and true tactics first before throwing caution to the wind and reaching down into the bottom of that bag of tricks.  As we always say, you can't take something back once you've thrown it out there.   

[TrackeySauresRex]

Leaf scratch feeding clucks and purrs. Shut it down and be still.

[WV Flopper]

 I will start by saying:
Over calling by the hunter is the #1 reason a turkey hangs up.
#2 is a poor set up, on the caller, again.
#3 Pressure.

If you eliminate #1 and #2, #3 won't be a factor.

#2 can be largely dependent on what mother nature gives you, I get that. Sometimes, is wide open woods, there's only so much you can do!

A caller must find out how to conversate with a turkey, each turkey. A lot of callers kill turkeys that are ready to die. This is great, this is the turkey I hope to engage every day I go into the woods. But, in reality, you only run into this guy 3-4 times a spring. The rest, you have to communicate with a little.

As stated over and over. Don't go full blown and tell the turkey your life story in one or two non stop sentences! Let him engage, communicate.

I think if people would slow down and communicate like a couple young teenagers this wouldn't be so hard for so many to understand.

Sometimes you do have a slow boy in the mix, sometimes the girl does have to tell him what she wants all at once. But, not every boy is this dumb!

Oh, I meant turkey.

First off, don't start with a conversation with a gobbler setting on the limb.

[Marc]

All I know, is that if we did not have hung-up toms, there would be a lot less turkeys after hunting season.

Me...  I generally move.  Sometimes I move towards them, and bump them.  Sometimes I move away calling, and they lose interest...  Sometimes I move (one way or another), and they come in on a string, and I hence become a turkey hunting superhero...

[ScottTaulbee]

I've learned from YouTube that all that is needed is a load of #9 apex and anything within 100 yards should fold...


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[Dougas]

I have had success with soft calling and slowly walking (sneaking) away. I'd walk (sneak)away until I was well away and out of sight, occasionally calling softly directed away from the tom as if I, the hen of his dreams, was leaving the area. Then I would go silent and head over to the left or right depending on the situation, about 40 yards and then sneaked back down where I was within 40 yards of my first calling station and waited. As long as I could hear him and he wasn't leaving, I'd silently wait him out. If he moves out, I'd get in front of him and use call tactics that where appropriate to that situation. This has worked more than once for me, shooting them almost in the same spot I was originally calling from.

[High plains drifter]

It takes patience, and be careful about moving Sometime no matter what you do, they will not come in.Jyst move on.