Gobbling experiences

[redwad]

I listened to the gamekeeper podcast with Marlin Watkins. He mentioned that he targets the dominant bird with hens and will gobble to call in his hens. The idea has me fascinated and I will be trying that tactic this spring. I'd like to hear others experiences with gobbling at hens or challenging toms.

[Will]

Deadly! I don't gobble as much as I Jake yelp. I have noticed if a bird is hung up that nothing will piss him off like a Jake yelp and he will come in, sometimes running.       

[Tom007]

Last few years I have been using gobbling and fighting purrs in certain instances with great success. Both work well with multiple gobblers that are reluctant to commit. I've added a Gobbler box and Gobbler pot call to my arsenal for this spring. I really believe that gobbler vocalization is under utilized and can in the right circumstance be deadly....

[Dtrkyman]

I have killed a few with gobble's over the years, the fact that I rarely use it and it has worked might be telling me something!

One stubborn bird hung up on private for the third day in a row about ran me over coming to a gobble!

I think if I had a more realistic gobble I would use it more often.

Jake yelps on a wing bone have been deadly.

[Greg Massey]

yes, gobbler / Jake yelps are deadly sometimes.

I use a gobbler box call and Roger Parks gobbler yelp pot call in the Spring time ...

You never know what you might need to convince them your way....

[bbcoach]

When you talk about Targeting the Dominant Gobbler what does that actually mean?  Does it pertain to distance to the flock, a particular time of day or just playing that Jealousy card up close and personal?  Examples would help to clarify.

[Treerooster]

I have used gobbles and gobbler yelps to call in stubborn toms. I do use a gobble judiciously for safety reasons. Got to think about that when using one.

I can't say I only use it for the dominant tom, just when I think it is needed.

I use a box call to gobble. I just hold it vertically and have the paddle between my index & middle fingers then mover it across the rails rapidly to the cadence of a gobble. Sounds good to me and the turkeys...no special call or rubber bands needed. It is easier if the box call is relatively narrow across the rails. Like 1" to 1 1/8".

I use the same box to gobbler/jake yelp and "jake gobble". Many times when a jake gobbles he doesn't quite have it down yet. The gobble will be a note or 2 shorter and he will yelp a couple of times immediately after his gobble. To do that I gobble on the box and gobbler yelp with a mouth diaphragm (ready to go in my mouth) twice right after. I can't maneuver the box quickly enough to yelp right after the gobble.

[tal]

 Sometimes a gobble is magic, and like a lot of turkey hunting sometimes nothing works. I've seen young birds turn around and leave after a deep throaty gobble. Gobbler yelps are nice to have in your bag of tricks. The adolescent cut off jake gobble can work too behind hen talk that got his attention. I've called a bird away from a hen or two that wasn't paying him any attention but never had much luck calling a boss bird away from his hens. He tells me to come join'em.  A subdominant gobbler with the flock is who you want to talk to.

[Dougas]

See my post on best carrer birds and memories for my gobble call experience.

[Gooserbat]

I Jake yelp on s very loose V cut Diaphragm.  Deadly tactic

[g8rvet]

I have called in with a gobble tube:

 two gobblers (at the same time, only could kill one) for my nephew

One poacher

[Kylongspur88]

Jake yelps for the win. Don't be afraid to pick a fight with a hen too. They'll drag the gobbler in

[tal]

Jake yelps for the win. Don't be afraid to pick a fight with a hen too. They'll drag the gobbler in

I also thought about a fall time gobbler break up, talking with the boss a good bet there. Spring I've always had better luck ticking off a bossy hen.

[Paulmyr]

I have killed a few with gobble's over the years, the fact that I rarely use it and it has worked might be telling me something!

One stubborn bird hung up on private for the third day in a row about ran me over coming to a gobble!

I think if I had a more realistic gobble I would use it more often.

Jake yelps on a wing bone have been deadly.

Tightening your gobble up might not be as important as you think. If I remember correctly on the wild turkey science podcast they had an interview with an animal behaviorist or something to that order.

 When talking about setting out decoys the guy said he'd set out the rattiest decoy he could find. The ratty nature of the decoy was supposed to emit an unhealthiness and portray the decoy as vulnerable and an easy mark for a beat down. Not sure if they got into gobbling or not but I would think a lacking gobble would come off as juvenile or sickly and possibly work better at pulling gobblers in than a nice sweet booming gobble.


In a more recent episode they were talking gobble studies and the subject came up about adult gobblers response to a Jake gobbling. Apparently Jake gobbling causes adults to gobble at a higher rate. Anecdotal evidence in one case showed a gobbler gobbling some 20 odd times after a Jake gobbled if I remember correctly.

[Bowguy]

I about never gobble. Not all that safe  Gobbler/jake yelping gets the same results. As Tom mentioned purrs are deadly at times too. The most exciting hunts are when birds are responding to gobbler sounds, especially purrs. Sometimes they run in and I've had them hurdling logs trying to get there quickly enough.
Now just random gobbler sounds aren't as effective as using them when the time is right. I've posted this before but you can almost hear when a gobbler has that sorta angry gobble. Purr at em than he's coming. Another for instance is if seen this gobbler the night before roosting birds. He was bullying 3 other longbeards.
Morning comes, longbeards fly down but won't come. Here comes the boss with his hens. He's going another way too and won't even look at us. I jake yelp at him. He runs around his hens and beelines straight to us.
Like all turkey hunting its best to gauge the techniques used instead of calling by just throwing sounds out in the woods