What Do you guys do in this situation

[crappieangler]

When you find a strut zone do you call at all or just sit quietly and hope they follow the routine from the day before.

Also what do you do when you have a hen who is yelping more than usual after you call on the roost?  Do you try to pick a fight, or just shut up and hope they follow the routine and come back to that food source bringing the strutter.  I know you risk of them leading teh gobblers away, but was curious what you'd do in this situation.

[redarrow]

I call. I fight the hen every time. She gets pissed and comes looking for a fight and usually brings her suitor with her.

[redleg06]

situation one, I'd call and wait for a little while before moving on if nothing was happening.

Situation 2 - I dont call much, if at all when they are still in the tree.  But how I would handle the situation with the hen would depend on how good I felt about my set up, relative to where they would likely head after flydown, if I wasnt in the woods. If I felt like I was between them and where they want to be after they get off the roost then I might just sit tight and see what happens without calling because you're chances of calling him away from a hen are slim and your chances of calling the hen to you arent that great either. In fact, I've seen hens lead the gobblers away from other hens intentionally, as often as I've seen them get fired up and come to "the other hen".   If they got off the roost and went the other direction and I thought I knew where they were headed then I still might rather get up and head that direction rather than try to call to the hen.

I like my odds pretty good if I can get an idea of where a turkey is heading and make it there before they do, without being noticed.  I dont like my odds very much if I have to rely on calling a hen to me, in order to kill a gobbler she's with. 

[crappieangler]

I guess I'm asking from a specific situation that I've encountered in the past.  The birds on this property don't seem to follow a regular routine, especially with weather changes but i felt pretty comfident that they would come to the field the next morning since they did the prior am and pm.  I called softly after I thought all birds were on the ground and 1 hen (still roosted) started chiming in quite a bit.  I took a chance at picking a fight and they never came to the strut zone/corn field for breakfast.  So after a while i shut up, and they started going away and i called again, they got closer but did'nt come in.  I can't hunt where they roost, just the field they were coming to.  Wasn't sure if I should've just waited, or did 1 series of yelps and sat.  Hindsight is 20/20, but am trying to learn from my mistakes and wondering if I should be less aggressive more often tahn not. Thanks for the thoughts.

[Hookhunter]

I can't necessarily tell you the right choice but I can tell you what I do. More often than not I call aggresively and try to bring in the hen. With that said about 7-8 times out of 10 that don't work. (for me) the hardest thing that I have learned and I still fight it every time is.. If you know where he should be, meaning you have seen him there multiple times recently, just sit and wait calling often hurts more than helps. Like I said really hard to do. I guess it's because we all love that thunder chicken song so much. Hope this helps.

Justin

[crappieangler]

Obviously no situation is the same, but after this occurance i think I'd have to agree with you.  Less is more in the turkey woods usually.  If I had shut up I'm guessing they'd have done the normal routine most likely but what made me nervous is the birds in that area rarely follow a daily pattern b/c of the terrain and daily weather changes.  that's also my opinion.  Guess I'll have to struggle to do the same and try to stay quiet.  Thanks for teh input.

[open door]

I call. I fight the hen every time. She gets pissed and comes looking for a fight and usually brings her suitor with her.

This is exactly how my son got his first turkey. We got the boss hen so worked up, she got up & flew 70 yards across a small cutover and came down about 10 yards from me, and walked away. In a few minutes......boom.

[Duke0002]

Sometimes they'll strut in different areas.   If one area seems to be popular, perhaps later on in the morning or early afternoon they'll be in that well known strut zone.

[jakebird]

Stick with him. One day very soon they will come back to that field, or that gobbler will be alone finally and vulnerable. One of the hardest things to really learn and understand is that even the best hunters and callers cant always make a turkey come in. The bird has to want to come and sometimes they will and sometimes they wont. Sometimes they are gonna take a very long time when we would rather they run to us. Turkeys will be turkeys. Persistence will eventually pay off. Thats why most wise old turkey hunting masters preach patience above all else, or i would translate that into persistence. The best hunters i know dont get worked up when a gobbler wont come in. They just go back and kill him the next day or next week. They have the patience of an oak tree, and they just dont let failure bother them.