When do "you" call agressively?

[Dougas]

I aggressively call to get a hen with one or more toms mad so she will come in and bring the toms to me. Other wise, I use softer calls.

[High plains drifter]

Call aggressive most times.Last spring I got one,and only called twice.

[deathfoot]

All day. Everyday.

Not really. But it works in certain circumstances. I've called them across multiple ridges, across creeks, across roads (a car literally had to stop to let him cross). You name it. Aggressive calling can work. It can also backfire. But I'd rather him them gobble all the way in than sit in silence.

But that's me. And it's not for every occasion. I know when to shut up too

[hawgsalot]

I was a soft, easy caller until a few years ago. I bought property in north Mississippi which has steep ridges and big white oak bottoms. More often than not, it's easy to not hear them in the bottoms or they gobble very little on the roost. Took a friend of mine who has hunted extensively in Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. After hunting with me he changed my tactics. We now call loudly and aggressively, trying not to sound like a single bird, but a flock.  We are waking the birds up in the bottoms, now it's common to have Tom's gobbling in multiple directions. I've enjoyed the learning experience.

Being an Ozark hunter myself, I also get loud and aggressive very often.  If I can get them fired up and coming, I'll go to leaf scratcher mode sometimes and if they hang up, I'm moving, if they shut up for an hour I'm gone to the next spot.  I can't stand turkey hunting in a deer hunting style.  To each there own.

[huntineveryday]

I probably call more than I need to, but calling and getting a response is the fun part! There are two situations where I call the most:

First thing when the whole flock is flying down and sounding off. I try to sound like as many birds as I can, but usually matching what the flock is doing plus a little extra. When the flock calms down, you've missed that window.

When a hen is responding. I will call aggressively at hens every chance I get. It creates a lot of turkey noise and you get a live decoy out of it! Had one hen cutting back and forth in the decoys for 45 minutes straight one morning before the silent tom I was after finally let loose a gobble and strutted in.

[ChiefBubba]

This happened to me just this past weekend, I'm hunting an open field with few trees. I have a small ground blind set up in the shade of a tree along the fence line.
Catch sight of a gobbler walking past me about 70 yards from me he's following a hen. Since they are going away from me I hit the call they both kind of look and keep walking so I really lay into the calling. Hen stops and looks back and starts to slow walk back to me. I think game over. But gobbler just stand out there walks around some struts some and watches the hen come back to me. She skirts by me and the decoys close enough to shoot if he was with her. I'm watching the gobbler and he just starts walking off into the middle of the field. Then I lose sight of him and the hen wanders back into the woods on the other side of the fence.
I guess I missed seeing another hen that the gobbler followed out into the field. Only thing I could think of was they headed to a cow pond to drink or dust in the sand. Bubba

[Marc]

I know when to shut up too

I don't...

Sometimes I call when I should shut up, and sometimes I shut up when I should call.  And sometimes everything works out, and I get to do the dead turkey dance.

Sometimes I do not think there is anything different that could be done to kill a bird...  Older bird, knows the game, and he will make that hen come to him on that particular day...

Sometimes I do not think it matters what you do after that initial call and he is coming in, and wants to die...  You could keep calling, or shut up, and he is still comin' in.  (Those are the birds that I need to find, but there seem to be less and less of them every year, and they do not last long during the season).

Me...  I tend to like to get them worked up, and then shut up...  Until that is not working, then do something else...  Then I curse, swear, and hit the steering wheel on the truck on the way home, swearing vengeance for my next trip out.

[Cut N Run]

I get aggressive if it's late morning and I know the gobblers have lost their hens.  Had a few almost run me over before I could get the gun up.  It definitely earns a rise in their interest.

On windy days, sometimes you have to hit it hard to be heard.

I normally try to match the intensity of other turkeys I hear.  If no hens are talking and he's a long ways off, I'll also lean into it more than usual.

Jim

[Jfowler82]

It's all part of the game and what makes it fun ! Sometimes it's aggressive calling that works other times it's best to tone it down and slow play it ! I do believe just about every gobbler has a window during the season in which he is susceptible to being called in . It's your job to be there waiting during that window. That gobbler will usually let you know fairly quick if today is the day .