No gobbling, what are you doing?

[ClayR089]

I was watching a YouTube video earlier and a comment was made how this person doesn't put the cluck in his Yelp sequence until he is responding to a gobbler. Made me think about what I do and question if I was hurting myself in how I call or act in those quiet mornings. What are y'all's actions or what call sounds are you relying on with success when the woods are quiet and you're searching for Mr. Tom?


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[Paulmyr]

What am I doing with no gobbling? Wiping my tears!

In all seriousness, am hunting a property I'm familiar with?

[ClayR089]

It ain't the back of your hand. But you have some familiarity with it.


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[guesswho]

I take a nap, eat a snack, bobcat around, repeat.

[Paulmyr]

If I'm somewhat familiar with it and I'm back there again it's because I know the area holds gobblers. If it's quiet I'll be slowly moving between  places I feel are prime for turkeys to hang. Mostly I'm just listening on the way. A few steps here and listen, a few steps there and listen. I may pause for few  secs to a couple mins depending on what I'm hearing around me.

If I feel and area might be a decent location to call from I'll pull up a tree for a few. Mostly again I'm just listening with some light calling. I'm listening for anything that might indicate turkeys are nearby. Could be as simple as a quiet gobble or as insignificant as crows returning to the same area and cawing. What ever I do, I try not to spook anything including other animals like deer and squirrels.

When I get to my locations I choose a set up wisely. I'm in no rush. There's no hurry to start calling. I'll let everything around me calm down for a bit before I begin with some softer lost type yelping. I'll hang around for maybe an hour, calling sporadically before moving off to the next location in the same manner as the previous location. Take a few steps and listen. I'll play this out until I run out of locations to check than I'm off to a new area.

And like guess who says. Prolly throw a couple naps in the mix.

[silvestris]

Sometimes I sits and think; sometimes I just sits.

[Uncle Tom]

I set up on an area that I know well, have had success before, know turkeys frequent the area, and most of the time I am there before first light and waiting for that first gobble. If I hear a gobble I will try to cut him off with a cluck, hoping he responds back. I sit there and listen for any sounds of a Tom or a hen for a while, throwing in some soft clucks and purrs. Many times I have killed a bird mid morning doing this and sometimes he comes sneaking in. I do not move around much because he can see and hear me a lot better than I can him....getting busted not what I want to do.

[Kylongspur88]

No gobbling.... I'll burn that boot leather and go find one that will.

[GobbleNut]

My first inclination is to keep covering ground trying to strike a gobbler,...IF I am hunting somewhere that has enough acreage that I can keep doing that.  The call combinations I have had the most consistent success in striking gobblers are either aggressive cutting and yelping sequences or just plain yelping.

If I am hunting a small property where that is not feasible, I will assess the terrain and habitat on the property I am restricted to, the visible sign, and all of the surrounding properties that I can evaluate from the one I am restricted to, and make my best judgement as to where the best place is to set up.  That will likely be a combination of where I have seen birds or fresh sign, where I can hear distant turkey calling as far as possible (and where turkeys will be able to hear my calling), and/or where I think turkeys are most likely to travel through. 

As far as calling goes in the case of the above, I usually mix in both soft/passive calling and loud/aggressive stuff at intervals.  As to which of those has been the most successful for me personally, I have found that I have more often been able to strike distant gobblers with the louder, more aggressive stuff than I am sticking to soft stuff.  I would assume that is the result of turkeys wandering within earshot of that calling and responding to it. 

I am also not one to spend much time sitting around waiting for a silent gobbler to show up.  Not that I think that is not a productive way to kill one at times, but I just do not enjoy hunting turkeys that way.  My mantra from day one has always been,..if they don't want to have a conversation with me, they can just stay in the woods.  ...And I will readily admit that there have been a few times and places where, much to my dismay, they have just stayed in the woods!   

[ScottTaulbee]

If I'm somewhat familiar with the land, I'm going to where I saw scratching in the fall and winter and I'm doing excited cutting. If I don't hear anything I'm putting miles on the boots until find one that'll gobble. If none do, I'm gonna hit another piece of National Forest and do the same thing. I'll either find one that wants to play or I'll head home and try again later or the next day. I won't deer hunt one


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[Tom007]

I have a few spots where I'll set up and call after I've exhausted my run&gun options. Turkeys have areas they like to travel to mid-morning after the initial early courting rituals. I have had success in these spots even after mornings of no gobbling......

[Candyman]

Go fishing and try again the next day.

[Greg Massey]

Keep trying in hopes one will gobble in the future. If your one of the old turkey hunts back in the day we were just glad to hear one or more gobbles during the season.

[eggshell]

Go fishing and try again the next day.

Amen brother, I am right behind you. Silence fishing means nothing except there's no other idiot in your honey hole.

[Tom007]

"A bad day of Turkey Hunting is better than a good day at work".