Bad Calling - Advantage or Disadvantage

[Old Gobbler]

A question I pose to hunters all the time is this...

When was the last time a gobbler hung up on a real hen ?  Probably never ...unless that gobbler allready had hen(s)

Why do gobblers hang up , or simply don't come to a hunters calling ...there is multiple reasons in too numerous scenarios but most common

1) loud walker in the woods spooked the birds before the sun even came up..or your dealing with paranoid schizophrenic gobblers

2) too much movement...etc...visable movement..or just plain visable ,

3) calling ...books can and have been made on this , I try to be as NATURAL  ...DO what the hens like to do ...play the role ...IMO most hunters rely on yelps as the bulk of their calling repertoire...over....and...over...

When was the last time you heard a hunter that sounded so naturally good you thought they were the real deal , many guys stylize their calling too much ..

there are some very good callers out there with good workmanship...those are the deadly ones

[Wigsplitter]

No advantage to poor calling in my book. Mimic what you hear from the real ones and you will do just fine in the woods!!

[Yoder409]

I can't think of a single turkey hunting scenario where.....all other things being equal.......accuracy in calling will NOT be superior/advantageous to mediocre or poor calling.

P.S.  MOST of the guys I know that say "Some of the worst calling I've ever heard came from a real hen" are either crappy callers trying to justify it and/or they never heard very many real hens.

[Paulmyr]

Being good in all of the above definitely sets the odds in your favor. The importance of each of the skill sets  a  hunters posseses depends on the situation at hand. I'm definitely not relying on Woodsmanship if I need to pull a gobbler over a property line or across a river. Good calling in this situation trump's everything but Luck.

Would poor calling work in this situation? Possibly, but I'm putting my odds on the guy whose been around the block a few times. He has a better grasp on the situation and as EZ eluded too, the calling comes out as a reflex with out thinking.

I progressed fairly quickly in my ability with a diaphragm call. After a few years there was not many sounds I couldn't make on a mouth call. I killed some gobblers but it wasn't until I stopped calling at gobblers and started calling too them and with them did I start having more consistent success. What I mean by that is when I was younger I was calling to get a reaction. The calling was good but it was the standard yelp yelp yelp, cutt, cutt, cutt, and hope for a response. It was stuff I had practiced. It had a set cadence and a set tone.

As I grew as a hunter learned to start conversations with gobblers. There was a timing to my calling  or my not calling based on how the gobbler was acting. If my soft calling gets him to pop off most likely he's hot to trot and it won't take much to get him to come on over.

A  longbeard who's gobbling but not responding is gonna need some finesse. Wait for him to gobble and hit him right away. Let him know you heard him. Couple yelps is all you need. Be ready, if he cuts you off hit him a again. If he don't respond be ready when he gobbles again hit him right away with a little more excitement in your calling letting him know you hearing him once again. Stroke his ego a little, he likes it! After doing this a couple times let him gobble a couple times than be ready and cut his gobble again, wait a bit and test him with some uncoerced yelps. If he responds you've just started a conversation.

Calling to a group of long beards goes on the same order. I'll pick with closest or gobbling the most and I'll try to start a conversation with him all while being on the ready for any gobbler that responds to my attempts at starting the conversation so I can immediately respond when a satellite tells me he likes what he hears. I want him to know that I'm kinda impressed as well.

When I'm calling or responding to a gobbler I'm not thinking I need to do that 5 note yelp I been practicing, I'm think I need to sound content with maybe a little pleading and the sound comes out. It might be a 3 note, it might be 7 . I think contented and let it flow out in a smooth even cadence, don't matter how many notes it has.


If I need to add excitement to my calling the smooth flowing cadence starts to go out the window. My yelp strings will get broken up. The cadence will be there but it will be broken.There will be brief pauses with changes in pitch and tone and even possible changes in cadence's between pauses. I'll start to add cutts and the and cadence of the cutts will get choppy with changes in pitch and tone as well, as raise I my excitement level.

So I guess with that long winded blowhard of a reply what I'm trying to say, and some have already eluded to is, being a great caller is a matter of context. When I was younger I could have been considered a great caller by the turkey hunters sitting around camp, in the turkey woods not so much. Not because my calls didn't sound good but because I had no idea what I was saying or why I was saying it. I'm getting better at it and still learning most everytime out.

3 clucks could be considered great calling as much as the guy tearing down the woods. What's makes it great? The fact that the guy most likely has a decent grasp on the situation going on around him and calls accordingly to get the desired results.

[appalachianassassin]

bad calling is a disadvantage unless you are trying NOT to kill a turkey.

[Howie g]

Good woody skills will kill more gobblers then calling skills imo ,
Saying that ,,, you don't want to suck at calling either . Knowing when and "what " to say to a gobbler is key .
   

[eggshell]

There's one more thing in all this strategy talk that should be said. Learn to read a gobbler's mood. One of my two top hunting buddy's is really good at this. He will hear a bird and say, "that's a kill bird, let's get on him". Some birds will just gobble because it's what they do or they just want more hens to come to them. It's different when they turn and gobble right at you. Learn when it's time to go find another bird before you spend an entire hunt on a bird that's never coming.

We all have our strengths and weakness. I consider myself a good caller, but there are many out there who can humble me. I never think much about it. I recently saw the buddy I mentioned above in a sporting goods store talking to an associate we both know. He didn't know I was around the corner. He was looking at turkey calls and he told the associate, I wish I knew what call Dana uses, he sounds more like a turkey than anyone I ever heard. I was flabbergasted, as this guys is a turkey assassin. I think that's why we make a good team, our mixed skills mean a gobbler is in trouble. 

I have learned most of my turkey language from fall hunting and listening to flocks communicate in a social manner. Show me a good fall hunter and I'll show you a great spring hunter.

To keep on topic, yes good calling is an advantage, but great calling will not cover poor hunting skills.

[Tom007]

A thread like this is the reason why I hang in there on this forum. The information above from turkey hunters around the country is priceless. The recent popularity in our sport has forced me to change my calling approach with gobblers for sure. Crowded woods, pressured Tom's and technology advances have definitely changed the game for all of us. Calling, (good or bad) IMO is more important now than it was when there was a gobbler every 200 yards in woods with very few hunters. We all know woodsman-ship/set-up is extremely important. With regard to calling, I changed my style using calls that most hunters don't use. Screaming away on box calls, loud frequent pot calling, day-time owl screeching are all things I avoid. Please realize that this is just my opinion here, I'm only sharing this because it changed the game for me. I use calls that require very little movement, if you can see the Tom, he will surely see you "Blink" at 60 yards. Once I see the approaching Tom, it's all down to the mouth call. Yes, you can use friction, Trumpets and other calls that require more movement when he's behind a tree, but I have found that the mouth call assures you he won't catch you with any call movement. Again, this is strictly what I have find  is working for me harvesting more gobblers now than I have in the past. I am by no means an expert caller, I am comfortable with a mouth call, I have been using them from day one. Hened  up Tom's can be tough, what I do here is engage the hen. Get her angry, basically concentrate on calling her in and her guy will follow. Multiple gobblers, I challenge them with the fighting Purr. Does not work all the time, but when it does it's exciting. Thanks for sharing your ideas/experiences here. I guarantee I take notice on all these great responses knowing full-well one of your tactics WILL help me harvest a stubborn Tom in the near future......

[appalachianassassin]

A thread like this is the reason why I hang in there on this forum. The information above from turkey hunters around the country is priceless. The recent popularity in our sport has forced me to change my calling approach with gobblers for sure. Crowded woods, pressured Tom's and technology advances have definitely changed the game for all of us. Calling, (good or bad) IMO is more important now than it was when there was a gobbler every 200 yards in woods with very few hunters. We all know woodsman-ship/set-up is extremely important. With regard to calling, I changed my style using calls that most hunters don't use. Screaming away on box calls, loud frequent pot calling, day-time owl screeching are all things I avoid. Please realize that this is just my opinion here, I'm only sharing this because it changed the game for me. I use calls that require very little movement, if you can see the Tom, he will surely see you "Blink" at 60 yards. Once I see the approaching Tom, it's all down to the mouth call. Yes, you can use friction, Trumpets and other calls that require more movement when he's behind a tree, but I have found that the mouth call assures you he won't catch you with any call movement. Again, this is strictly what I have find  is working for me harvesting more gobblers now than I have in the past. I am by no means an expert caller, I am comfortable with a mouth call, I have been using them from day one. Hened  up Tom's can be tough, what I do here is engage the hen. Get her angry, basically concentrate on calling her in and her guy will follow. Multiple gobblers, I challenge them with the fighting Purr. Does not work all the time, but when it does it's exciting. Thanks for sharing your ideas/experiences here. I guarantee I take notice on all these great responses knowing full-well one of your tactics WILL help me harvest a stubborn Tom in the near future......

Dont overlook gobbler yelping. Its extremely deadly and not used by many. Point of fact, Ive never heard another hunter use gobbler yelping and its rare that it dosent work for me in the situations that I choose to use it.

[GobbleNut]

Thanks for sharing your ideas/experiences here. I guarantee I take notice on all these great responses knowing full-well one of your tactics WILL help me harvest a stubborn Tom in the near future......

Dont overlook gobbler yelping. Its extremely deadly and not used by many. Point of fact, Ive never heard another hunter use gobbler yelping and its rare that it dosent work for me in the situations that I choose to use it.

Prime example of your point Tom007.  Although I have been chasing them for nearly sixty years now, I have rarely resorted to trying gobbler yelps as a spring hunting strategy for those tough gobblers that would not come to my calling.  Rest assured I will be trying it more often now...   

[bbcoach]

I've been reading all this wisdom and knowledge from each of you.  One thing I can absolutely say about this group of dedicated turkey hunters is each of us aren't SELFISH and are willing to share some of our secrets, so the rest of us can be MORE successful.  It is truly a PLEASURE to be associated with such a GREAT group!!!!  To each of you, Have a GREAT Spring Season!

[Tomtom97]

I've been reading all this wisdom and knowledge from each of you.  One thing I can absolutely say about this group of dedicated turkey hunters is each of us aren't SELFISH and are willing to share some of our secrets, so the rest of us can be MORE successful.  It is truly a PLEASURE to be associated with such a GREAT group!!!!  To each of you, Have a GREAT Spring Season!

Couldn't agree more, I have absolutely loved and learned a lot reading this thread!


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[Greg Massey]

Thanks for sharing your ideas/experiences here. I guarantee I take notice on all these great responses knowing full-well one of your tactics WILL help me harvest a stubborn Tom in the near future......

Dont overlook gobbler yelping. Its extremely deadly and not used by many. Point of fact, Ive never heard another hunter use gobbler yelping and its rare that it dosent work for me in the situations that I choose to use it.

Prime example of your point Tom007.  Although I have been chasing them for nearly sixty years now, I have rarely resorted to trying gobbler yelps as a spring hunting strategy for those tough gobblers that would not come to my calling.  Rest assured I will be trying it more often now...   

I agree, lots of great posts about this topic... I do use gobbler yelps in the spring as part of my calling arsenal of calls i carry... I will put a plug in for Roger Parks, he is an expert in using gobbler yelps in the Spring and fall....  His Unicoi 2023 Seminar is worth watching on YouTube about using gobbler yelps... His gobbler yelp pot call is well worth the money .. IMO

I agree,Tom and I've learned a lot in the last couple of days reading this thread also... The wealth of knowledge in these threads is priceless .. Just look at the overall number of years we have all chased these gobblers and what we all have experienced and are willing to share information to help others be a better hunter.

[Tom007]

Too many great quotes to copy, I know we all appreciate the expertise shared here! Be safe....

[Old Swamper]

I have found that most really good callers, don't have much patience. I have used this to my advantage, several times over the years, by coming in and hunting behind them.