When to gobble

[OldSchool]

I meant to add that as far as birds heading in the other direction, it seems to me that jakes will sometimes come to a gobble and birds other than the boss tom may, but I've seen subdominant birds head for a friendlier neighborhood on more than one occasion after making a gobble.

Bob

[Happy]

Personally I have never attempted to gobble at at a turkey. It's not that I don't think it could work occasionally, it's just that I worry about over eager hunters.

[Crawl79]

Only worked once for me in my early turkey hunting days. Gobbled at 3 birds that were on other side of field I did not have permission to hunt. They came running to my setup 50 yards in woods and went into strut as soon as they got to me. No decoy, just a gobble tube.

[Powerwagon]

Here is a story about gobbling that I learned and will stick with me forever.... I was setup on the edge of a meadow with a fairly steep ridge behind me and I had 1 feeding hen out along the edge. I wasnt there for more than 20 minutes and here come 2 gobblers across the field moving right to my decoy. At about 60 yards they flare off and stand out there looking at the hen decoy and then move off to the edge of the field staying out of range while move up the hill onto the ridge behind me about 150 yards away. So now I'm going to get up and move straight up the hill and cut them off as they move across the ridge behind me. As I am getting ready to move I look up and the are 2 more birds coming right at me from the field so I look through the binos and its a gobbler and a hen. I get ready because they are coming right at me and the hen starts feeding with my decoy, but the gobbler stays 70 yards out and will not come any closer. I can still hear the 2 gobblers behind me gobbling on and off slowly working there way behind me. Now I am kinda pinned down and trying to decide my next move, should I get up and bump the 2 birds below me and try to take the birds above or wait the gobbler out below me hoping he gets close enough.

Then a brainstorm came to me to try a tool I have never had luck with before the quakerboy gobble shaker. I slowly get it out and gobble 1 time and the gobbler out in the field gobbles and then the 2 on the ridge behind me double gobble and I wait about 1 minute waiting for the gobbler below me to turn while he is strutting and let them have it again. Everyone gobbles again and I can tell the birds above me are moving in fast. I get my shotgun aiming up the hill in the direction they are coming and I can see the bird working there way to the edge and they see the other gobbler below in the field and the hen feeding with my decoy. They go crazy gobbling like mad and I can tell the gobblers are pissed and they are coming right at me. The gobblers walk right into range and I take the front bird. It was one of the best hunts I have ever had, using 1 gobbler against the others to bring them in.

[wvmntnhick]

Would've liked to have been part of that for sure. Sounds like an adrenalin filled hunt there.

[ChiefBubba]

Funny this comes up today because just this past Friday I see a couple hens with a Jake trailing cross my field about 200 yards down from me. They move into some trees out of my sight. I'm yelping, clucking and purring. He starts to gobble pretty good. I can tell from the sound they're in an area I can't get to them so I'm stuck. I pull out the gobble shaker and he gobbles at it every time. Too funny couldn't get him away from the hens which was good for me, took the temptation away from me having to shoot a Jake.  Chief 

[TRG3]

Before I started using my Primos gobble tube, I was taking a gobbler about once every three years by only sounding like a hen. Now, I generally fill all three of my Illinois turkey permits by calling like a hen as well as gobbling. Typically, I try to set up in a grass or open field where I think the flock will move to after fly down. This can be a couple of hundred yards or more from their roost site. In the distance, after the gobblers start sounding off on the morning roost, I answer with some hen yelps and often get a gobbler to reply. After 5-10 minutes of this, I respond to one of my own hen yelps with a gobble which usually gets one of the real toms to respond. I continue this routine at intervals for several more minutes, sometimes double gobbling to my own yelps, trying to give the impression that there is not only a new hen in the area but an intruder gobbler which challenges the gobbler's peck order. If the gobbler quits responding or is moving closer, I quit yelping and gobbling because this usually means that he is coming in silently to size up the situation. When he sees my Pretty Boy or Funky Chicken, it's very common for him to come running in and attack the gobbler decoy, making it necessary for me to give a putt to get his head up for the shot which is usually only 20-25 yards away. On several occasions, I've seen a couple of gobblers several hundred yards away following real hens across an open field when one of them will stop while the other continues to follow the hens. The one that stops will often come on in to challenge my gobbler decoy, sometimes taking several minutes as he displays and works his way closer, generally speeding up as he gets closer. I've probably taken 25+ gobblers with this technique, often on the first time I use it during a given Illinois turkey season from early April to early May. Also, if a hen answers in a loud manner, call back to her in an equally loud manner to challenge her peck order because she may come in and drag the gobbler with her. (By-the-way, this will be my ninth year to use the same mouth diaphragm calls, storing them in the refrigerator in a Ziplock-type bag after the season, soaking them in water/mouth wash before the season, and using a couple of tooth picks to separate the latex layers. I also purchase my permethrin at the local ag chemical store in concentrate form, mix it with water, and spray my clothes a few days before hunting to repel/kill ticks which has worked well for the past 7-8 years. Hint: If you use Roundup instead of permethrin to spray your clothes, it will definitely kill all of the grass under the clothes line!!)

[Marc]

I enjoyed TRD3's post.

When I gobble it is usually following or preceding a hen call.  As soon as I get a response, I quit calling for a bit.  My one successful encounter doing this, I had gotten a response from a long ways off...  I gobbled and did a bit more hen calling and paused for some time...   Waited about 20 minutes, did a couple yelps and clucks, and tried to talk myself into walking back up the canyon to my truck (a long walk)...  Instead, I pulled out a snack and was relaxing, when all the sudden, there is a gobble about 100 yards away (this is about an hour after the initial response)...

Two toms come strolling in (heads up), looking for the birds that had been calling.  I just let them keep walking towards me till they were in good range, and picked my bird.

It was not so much that I was patient, it was more that I was too darned lazy to walk back just yet...

[WNCTracker]

I killed two birds today and gobbled them both in mixed with some soft hen yelps and a full strut Jake decoy so I think I answered my own question.

[Cutt]

Only as last resort, did get a real nice Tom on the last day with a gobble. Worked him for a couple hours and a couple different positions and he wouldn't commit. As last resort threw in a gobble after my hen calls and he finally showed himself.