calling skills

[catdaddy]

A willing gobboler will make you an expert caller (in your head)

[zelmo1]

  If you have fooled birds in the past, then you will again. Practice and stay sharp. Sometimes nothing will work, other times they run you over.

[Dr Juice]

Calling contest winner I'm not ... As long as I kill birds, I'm golden!

[I hate turkeys]

I'm in the woods one morning an hear this terrible calling. Now I'm thinking some ones has come in on me and he really needs to practice before he spooks every tom on the place. About 5 minutes later I see the caller waking by still calling, thing is it had feathers. Broke me of judging.

[Clif Owen]

I'm in the middle of one of those streaks right now where I question everything. I was hearing a couple of birds nearly every morning...until the season opened. Have yet to hear a gobbler and only seen 1 hen. My only excuse is the wind has screamed nearly every day since last Saturday. May not have that many birds either. I've wondered if it might be the same couple of birds changing roost locations every night.

[stinkpickle]

No.  Turkeys are terrible callers.

[trackerbucky]

Agreed!  I listened to a small group of hens calling yesterday and in a half hour they made six calling mistakes. 

[Honolua]

Has anyone ever had a bad day/season and started to doubt their calling abilities?

No way...have you ever listened to all the racket hens make in the morning? I call better than that lol

[Snoodsniper]

Henned up gobblers will make you feel pitiful and useless. Throw a bunch of hunting pressure in the mix and it can make for some tough hunting. If you can yelp and cluck you can/will kill a bird. Might have to mix up a little but it'll happen if you're hungry enough.

[Bowguy]

I've heard live hens throw out some seriously awful sounding calls and still manage to draw gobblers.  I also know a guy who the extent of his calling skills is being able to tap the plunger of a push button call against his leg. That's it.  It doesn't sound all that good to me, yet he kills grown gobblers because he hunts the right places, doesn't over-do the calling, and sticks to it.

To me, calling is just one part of the process, and not the most important part either.  It doesn't take world class, competition-winning-type calling to successfully kill turkeys.  You just need to make him believe there is an available hen nearby and let his curiosity and desire to breed help draw him towards you.  Scale back on the frequency and volume you call to keep him guessing.  Let him gobble several times back to your calls without answering him immediately,  Tease him along & sound believable.  Put some passion in your calls, like you're a horny hen ready to do the deed.

This time of season, you may be dealing with a gobbler that already has hens with him. Think of it like this, if you were about about to hook up with the object of your desires, how likely would you be to leave her to go chasing after another honey who is just sweet talking & should be coming to you anyway?

Be patient. Phases of the season can change quickly.  What had been an uncallable Tom a few days ago, may just about run you over to find the hot hen he hears tomorrow, because all his hens are suddenly nesting. Don't doubt yourself or your calling abilities.  You just haven't gotten a gobbler in the right mood yet, or found where he's comfortable hanging out.  One of these days pretty soon, he won't be so distracted and will be more willing to play along.  Impatience saves more turkey's lives than you can imagine.  When you think nothing is happening, force yourself to stay an extra 30 or 45 minutes.  It can make the difference between tag soup and turkey nuggets.  I've killed several of my biggest gobblers mid-morning when it had been fairly quiet at dawn.  Good luck & hang in there. Hunt like you mean it. Enjoy the turkey season.

Jim

I agree very well put

[strum]

I'm in the woods one morning an hear this terrible calling. Now I'm thinking some ones has come in on me and he really needs to practice before he spooks every tom on the place. About 5 minutes later I see the caller waking by still calling, thing is it had feathers. Broke me of judging.

same thing happened to me.. was in between a gobbler and a hen who was making the worst most awfull calls I ever heard..like she was screaming at the Tom. next thing I know he goes by me so fast I had no chance to get my gun up. paid my purrs clucks yelps and decoys no attention. I watched him meet up with the hen about 80 yards out and they walked arm in arm up the mountain together. I sat there with my mouth hanging open thinking what the you know what just happened?
any way  about 5 days later in the same spot I hear a gobble first thing in the morn... I started yelping as loud and as high pitched as I could.i decided ill run him off or kill him...I killed him..

[Gooserbat]

If you want to feel good about you calling, go listen to a real hen.  They sound bad, but listen good and you will learn its not about the quality of the tone or note but the cadance which the call.  Get that down and let everything else come second.