How long to wait between calling?

[BP1992]

When you get a gobbler to gobble at you, how long should you wait between each calling series when trying to call him in?

[dirt road ninja]

Depends, I would wait 3 or 4 min.

[guesswho]

They are all different.  Some will tolerate an almost constant calling, others might get nervous if they hear you again after his first gobble.  You just have to play it by ear.   I usually base it on how vocal he is. 

[drenalinld]

Tons of opinions on this subject. I think a good rule of thumb is at least 10-15 minutes. This will seem like hours. If he is gobbling a lot, I will call more. If you can tell he is coming, by closer gobbles or visual, don't call, let him come. If you have reason to believe he had hens, more calling may be warranted.

When I first get a response, I like call aggressively and fire him up with cutts and then give him the silent treatment till I can't stand it any longer.

[Shotgun]

If if he countinues to answer me I'm typically the horniest hen in the woods for the next couple of minutes and then go silent.  If he doesnt respond to me when I follow up on his gobble I will shut up until he gobbles again. At that point I will answer him or may still stay quiet.   I like to call so this is what I go in saying Im going to do, but is not always the case 

[cahaba]

They are all different.  Some will tolerate an almost constant calling, others might get nervous if they hear you again after his first gobble.  You just have to play it by ear.   I usually base it on how vocal he is. 

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[WildTigerTrout]

They are all different.  Some will tolerate an almost constant calling, others might get nervous if they hear you again after his first gobble.  You just have to play it by ear.   I usually base it on how vocal he is. 

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I agree 100%. Every gobbler is different. I let him dictate how much calling I do. No matter what you do it is almost always a Chess game!

[mfd1027]

Every answer here is the rt. answer because there is no right answer.   It's a feel  thing.   I get the feeling you may be relatively new to this and I can tell you from personal experience that you will probably not call enough for fear that you may do something wrong and all I can say to that is "Don't be afraid to call" and judge your next response by what he does.   If he wants to talk- talk and if he wants to be quiet be quiet but not silent.   Cut it back to an occasional cluck or two and maybe some soft yelping.  If you feel comfortable purring maybe throw in some soft purring.   Have fun!!!

[BP1992]

You are right.  I am a turkey hunting newbie.

[RS]

It's pretty much trial and error.  About the only instruction my Dad gave to me when I was starting out was not to call back to a gobbler every time he gobbles and give him time to do what he's going to do.  It seems I've messed up a lot more by getting too agressive and trying to rush things than by being conservative in my calling approach.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Totally situational based upon the mood of the bird and breeding phase they are in at the time.

To me, calling not only attracts birds but gives you an opportunity to assess the bird's reactions and change as necessary during the interaction. 

Bottom-line though.... I could careless whether he is on fire or gobbling intermittently; I go silent on them once they are inside 80-90 yards.

[turkeywhisperer]

To me it depends on the bird.  I have killed them by only making a few yelps of clucks and scratching in the leaves and I have killed them burning their butt up all the way in until I pull the trigger.  It really depends on the mood of the bird. 

Normally if a bird is really fired up and gobbling his head off and then shuts up.. I shut up.  9 times out of 10 he is on his way in looking for his new girlfriend.

[SWAMPFOX]

if i can see him and he is coming like said above, at 100 yds or so i am shutting it down and going silent with safety off. take his temperature. u will develop a feel for this after a while.

[zeus26]

Obviously there is not a "one-size-fits-all" answer to this one.  One thing that is true 99.9% of the time for me is (hunting in the woods, not open farm land); once I can see him, I shut up.  Gun up, safety off.  Slowly start to track him and make adjustments with gun barrel.  Hopefully the next call I need to make is a subtle putt to get him to stretch his target out.

My logic on this is: if I can see him with my wimpy human eyes, then he can surely see me with his eagle eyes.  He already knows (roughly) which tree that I am sitting next to.  I don't need to give him any more information to pin point me.

[shuey270]

When he commits I shut-up, hopefully the next sound I make is BOOM!!