Short vs long yelps

[ThunderChickenGetter]

I have always used a longer sequence of 7-8 yelps when I call. The past week or so I've been getting close to a group of birds that I plan to hunt when season comes in to figure them out. One thing I have noticed is that most of the hens only Yelp between 3 and 4 times. They real birds yelps are much shorter than what I have always done while calling. Should I be trying to imitate those hens and shorten my sequences when calling?

[mwr]

I do exactly what they are doing. Then if nothing happens I get a little more aggressive and try to piss them off! It worked great for me last year! She came in and flocked my hen decoy and dragged a longbeard in with her!!

[BowBendr]

Turkeys are the best teachers. Do exactly what they do.


2015 Old Gobbler contest Champions

[Marc]

I just posted on a different thread in this forum...  But 7-8 yelp sequences seems like too much for most of my hunting.  Remember, the more eager you sound, the more the tom expects the hen to come to him...

Here is what I just posted on a different thread:

My first choice in choosing the sounds I will be making is to listen to the hens that morning...  If the hens are clucking and cutting more than yelping, that is what I do, if they are mostly yelping, that is what I do.

I think that often we get so caught up in hearing birds gobble, that we forget to listen for the hens.  I have hunted with several people who never even heard the hens talking cause they were so keyed on the gobbling at first light.  As soon as I hear that first gobble, I listen for the hen that made them gobble (unfortunately, sometimes I never do hear them).  Listen to the cadence, the tone/pitch, as well as the sounds they are making (clucks/cuts verses yelping).

I have heard hens repeat the same sequence over and over in repetitive manners...  Sometimes they mix it up...  If what I am doing is not getting a response, I try something else (that might mean a different call, or switching from yelping to clucking or cutting or purring).

I think that one of the most important things is not calling though.  Once I have a bird coming closer, I try to call as little as possible...  A watch is a very important turkey hunting tool for me, cause 5 minutes seems like an hour when Ireally want to call again.  As long as a bird is making forward motion towards me, I do not call anymore.  Ten minutes go by without an answer, and I might try to call again.

And once again, do not ignore the hens...  Sometimes a hen is easier to call in than the tom...  If a tom is henned up, and you can get the dominant hen riled up to come in and fight, the tom will follow.  The most successful method for this is to emulate the hen as soon as she starts talking...  Cut her off in mid-sentence a couple times as well (apparently women of all species hate this).  The one time I usually call aggressively is when I am calling to the hen.

[GobbleNut]

I agree that imitating what you hear from the hen turkeys is a good way to start out calling.  Sometimes that is all that is needed,...sometimes not.  My overall experience over the years suggests that presenting a lively, urgent, pleading tone in your yelping is often more effective than short, uninterested-sounding yelping, regardless of the length of the call. 

The problem with very short yelp series is that a lot of callers take three or four notes to really build momentum into their calling. About the time they are really starting to put some emotion into their yelps, they stop.  Adding a few more enthusiastic yelps to a calling sequence is often all it takes to turn an uninterested or mildly interested gobbler into a really interested one.

The counter-point to that theory, though, is that some turkeys get called to so much during the season that they can get easily spooked by "too-much-like-a-hunter"-sounding calling.  There is often a very fine line between making a gobbler enthusiastic to your calling as opposed to making him suspicious.  Finding that balance is one of the keys to success. 

Again, my past experience suggests that if you can key in on a particular sound or calling strategy that is successful on one gobbler, that same strategy seems to often work well on other birds in that same vicinity.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen one guy call in gobbler after gobbler while others were struggling, and most often he did it with one call and by being very consistent in how he called.  ...And more often than not, that calling consisted of nothing more than yelping with a consistent sound and cadence, and with a certain "feeling" he was putting into his calling. 

Finding that sound can be an elusive and frustrating process,....but when you do find it, man, turkey hunting can be a lot of fun!

[Dr Juice]

I do exactly what they are doing. Then if nothing happens I get a little more aggressive and try to piss them off! It worked great for me last year! She came in and flocked my hen decoy and dragged a longbeard in with her!!

Perfect tactics. I would just add to mix it up as well until you get a positive response. We just never know what triggers a gobbler every time. Good luck.

[hotspur]

Imitate the hens sound , hens call with shorter yelps. Now excited calling will fire him up then lay a  dose of silence on him if he starts gobbling more and urgent you have a good chance to see him.

[Spitten and drummen]

I always listen for hens while I'm hunting a gobbler. The majority of hunters hear gobbles and focus on him. Calling in hens is definately productive. I have had actual hens call up birds for me. If I hear a certain hen that a Gobbler shows intrest in , then I pick a call as close to her voice that I can get. I listen to her cadence and sequences and that's what I replicate. It has worked well for me. Not only for that day , but falling days as well when hunting that particular area. At certain times a rusty nail on a piece of tin will call a gobbler to you but it's those other days that your realism can really make or break a hunt. Short choppy yelps or drawn out whinny yelps doesn't matter. It's the kind of yelping that a particular hen is making that works best for me.