Turkey Calling Frequency

[mufishgrad]

I was looking to see the insight of other turkey hunters to how often to call. The phrase is to take the temperature of the bird, but I've dealt with a bird that gobbled well this past season and didn't take well to aggressive calling. Some people swear by calling every five to twenty minutes or so. And last others have mentioned calling aggressively because real turkeys are always talking. All of this makes sense to me, and personally I've had all tactics work for me in the field, but I'm still not the most experienced hunter and have trouble reading a bird as mentioned above. I was trying to see what is the best way to determine how often or loud to call to a bird, or what strategy to use?

[ridgerunner]

Here's my advice. Go sit in the turkey woods in the Spring don't make a call and just observe. How many times do you hear hens calling, really hammering? Most days you won't hear a hen and if you do she will call sparingly. Now, that's not to say hens never call aggressively, we know they do, but most days they just do not talk a whole lot during the Spring season, at least in my experience hunting the Midwest.

I agree with the logic of calling every 20 minutes, just to let a gobbler know where you are if they're close and if you are hunting blind ( not working a bird). If i have a gobbler respond to my calls, I give him very little. I have found that being subtle, like a wild hen, kills more birds for me. Spend some time in the woods observing birds...hens don't call a whole lot. I've sat an entire morning, many days in good turkey woods, had birds around me and never hear a hen, even though there were several close.

SO, i'm not gonna hammer a bird with aggressive calling unless i have a hen who is also being aggressive also, then i would match her calling..but on most days calling just enough to let a gobbler know you're there is all that's necessary. I just rarely hear hens calling much after fly down in the Spring. If they do it's normally just few light yelps, or some clucks in interacting with other birds..but the sequence rarely continues on for 5 -10 minutes like some hunters call. Some of these turkey hunters will start hammering a bird on the limb as soon as they hit the woods and won't quit for 2-3hrs..just not natural in my opinion.

[Turkeyman62]

I agree with ridgerunner

[outdoors]

I agree also
Where I hunt. Very little calling is to much
About every 20 min.
Loud or soft that's hard to answer , I go by my gut feelings on that one

[Divenut2]

Same here. I found that the less I call, the more successful I am. Often time I'll go 30-40 minutes between calls. I try to really focus on watching the woods for movement. Many of the birds I've killed did not make a sound when coming in.

[g8rvet]

I don't really have any hard and fast rules.  When I call ducks, I call to arses and elbows.  When they are coming, I let them come.  Maybe a landing call before I reach for my gun.  When I call geese, I call until my lungs bleed, right up until the shot.  Both of those are changed based on what the birds want that day.  Same for turkey.  When I started out turkey hunting, as I looked back on the birds that hung up, 90% of the time I had called too much.  Now I think it happens more because I set up wrong. 

When blind calling, I call about every 10-15 minutes, depending on the weather.  More or louder if windy.  With all that being said, some days you do everything wrong and it works out.  Called one in year before last by mimicking a fired up hen.  She was going crazy, so I matched her and a gobbler showed up.  Every day is different.  Just gotta see what they respond to that day.

[EZ]

I don't really have any hard and fast rules.  When I call ducks, I call to arses and elbows.  When they are coming, I let them come.  Maybe a landing call before I reach for my gun.  When I call geese, I call until my lungs bleed, right up until the shot.  Both of those are changed based on what the birds want that day.  Same for turkey.  When I started out turkey hunting, as I looked back on the birds that hung up, 90% of the time I had called too much.  Now I think it happens more because I set up wrong. 

When blind calling, I call about every 10-15 minutes, depending on the weather.  More or louder if windy.  With all that being said, some days you do everything wrong and it works out.  Called one in year before last by mimicking a fired up hen.  She was going crazy, so I matched her and a gobbler showed up.  Every day is different.  Just gotta see what they respond to that day.

Well said. A lot has to do with how you hunt also. If you sit in a blind all morning you might want to not call to aggressive or too much. If you cover lots of ground, in big country, you probably want to call a lot more and more aggressive.

For the OP, experience will teach you what you want to know. I am, most of the time, fairly aggressive when searching. Once set up, I only give him what he wants to hear. Most of the time I do try to be the hottest hen around. If I called once every 20 minutes I don't believe I'd have killed half the birds I have, but every bird is different. There's also more to getting that bird into range than just calling. You'll figure it out. 

[MK M GOBL]

So one thing I go by is making a "contact" call, whether I am blind calling or if I have heard a gobble and from that point I do not answer a gobble, I let him answer me.


MK M GOBL

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

Same here. I found that the less I call, the more successful I am. Often time I'll go 30-40 minutes between calls. I try to really focus on watching the woods for movement. Many of the birds I've killed did not make a sound when coming in.

X2

[JonD.]

Turkeys don't call unless they have a specific reason to. They only say what needs to be said, when it needs to said. Once that reason for calling is satisfied, they don't call again. A few years ago I got to see and hear a hen calling for a gobbler, she yelped a few times and listened. She moved about 200 yards and did it again. As soon as that gobbler answered, she took off in a b-line to him and that was the last time either turkey made any sound. So learning from this, most of the time(depending on how far away he his) once a gobbler answers my calling, I don't call to him again. He knows exactly where that sound came from and when he doesn't see a hen coming after a while, he will make his way to where he can see where the calling came from. Sometimes it takes two hours or more, but he will eventually make his way to where the calling came from and run into a swarm of #5 shot.[Grin]

[Sir-diealot]

I was always told once one gobbles at you kinda go silent, if you do not hear him it is okay to do a soft yelp but if he gobbles and you can tell he is getting closer then shut up and don't make a sound because he already knows where you are at. These guys know far more than I do so listen to them more than me.

[Happy]

I have no rules. I call by feel and I live for the gobble. That being said, gobbles don't mean much other than "i am here" if they aren't getting closer. I am no master at this turkey game but in my dealings with turkeys if he gobbles readily enough than he is interested. It is up to me to put the rest of the pieces together to kill him. It all boils down to feeling the bird out and making the right moves. I am not the type to sit and wait for hours on a bird that wants to stand out there and gobble. If the silent treatment don't work I look into other options. Not saying waiting isn't effective at times. It just isn't my style. I may not move fast most times but I will be moving. If he interested and lonely and I am in his wheelhouse and in the right place it shouldn't take long. Hens are the x-factor and that screws things up more than anything for me. My advise there is to sound friendly at first but I have had better success when I tick them off. In my experience if they are feeling selfish then they are dragging the tom the other way whether your nice or mean. My best results are making them mad enough to want to fight. Always start out nice though.

[mufishgrad]

I really appreciate the input. It helps me make better sense of what I have dealt with and will deal with in the woods. The bird I harvested this past year was taken with aggressive calling, but I've never seen the birds where I hunt act like that before with my dad as a hunting partner. A few years ago on my second season hunting public land, I called every 15-20 minutes and fell asleep only to awaken to a turkey before me that I missed. This is where my confusion laid in I suppose. Anyway, thanks again to everyone who has tried to help me on here, I put in the work every season and do my best to learn as much as I can every year and every little bit on information helps me to be a better hunter, and to help others as well.