Bird hangs up?

[Turkey Call Maker]

Go with a friend, you are the point person and have your friend set up 25 to 50 yards into the woods and have your friend call.... this should pull the tom in close enough to shoot... 

[perrytrails]

Keep your gun up on one knee and hands on the gun. Lay your other leg flat and use your leg and foot to scratch in the leaves. They can't stand it, he will give in with time.

Just don't call and be patient. Patience kills old birds. Sit still and scan with your eyes, listen for his foot steps.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Stop calling when you know the bird has begun closing distance.  

Have you ever watched a turkey hunt in a field where a bird is called to while enroute?  He stops, gobbles, struts, and meanders around before resuming his approach.

You should NOT be calling to a bird you can see. No clucks, no purrs, no scratching because this allows him to isolate the area where the hen is located.  He is no longer hunting you at that point and you have lost your tactical advantage by revealing yourself.

I give a hung up bird the silent treatment; sometimes it takes 10 minutes or sometimes it takes 40 but he will most often do one of two things.  

Often, if you have chosen the right set-up, he will shut up (everytime a bird shuts up you should pay attention to it because it is a behavioral change that means something) and he will show up within range shortly after.  

Or, he will leave you and head in a new direction while gobbling.  This is fantastic because it means you haven't spooked him (like it sounds like you often do) and he is telling YOU where HE WANTS to go.  You then reposition and kill him.

Stop thinking about the kill as something that has to happen immediately, back of your calling and
force your mind to become more process oriented and less impulsive.

 Calling is a tool but you have to let the bird let react to it before you can decide what you do next.  A lot of guys call their way out of a kill....

[FloppinTom]

On hang ups I quit calling and wait. If he takes more than an hour to show up I sneak out and circle and try to locate him with a hawk or crow call and setup from another direction and switch calls.

I think alot of hang ups come from calling too much. Do you wanna make em gobble or do you wanna kill em? If you call to a close gobbler one time he knows where you are within 50 yards, the second time you call he's got you pinned to within 20 yards. The third time he knows what tree your leaning against. Once a gobbler shows he's coming your way shut up. I was at a seminar in the 80's that Jim Clay from Perfection calls gave, a question was asked "What call do you use when when a gobblers answered you and he's coming your way?" Jim replied I use the click call. The questioner seemed puzzled so Jim explained I click the safety off, shut up and let him come find me. Its worked for me over the years.  

If you dont think its true try it some time call twice and see how close that bird can pin point you.  

[MarkJM]

On hang ups I quit calling and wait. If he takes more than an hour to show up I sneak out and circle and try to locate him with a hawk or crow call and setup from another direction and switch calls.

I think alot of hang ups come from calling too much. Do you wanna make em gobble or do you wanna kill em? If you call to a close gobbler one time he knows where you are within 50 yards, the second time you call he's got you pinned to within 20 yards. The third time he knows what tree your leaning against. Once a gobbler shows he's coming your way shut up. I was at a seminar in the 80's that Jim Clay from Perfection calls gaveand a question was asked "What call do you use when when a gobblers answered you and he's coming your way?" Jim replied I use the click call. The questioner seemed puzzled so Jim explained I click the safety off, shut up and let him come find me. Its worked for me over the years. 

If you dont think its true try it some time call twice and see how close that bird can pin point you. 

I shot a bird last saturday that knew exactly where I was sitting. My decoy was out in the field but it was brushy and he didnt see it. He came STRAIGHT to my tree. I hang up once I know hes heard me talking to him.

[tomanyturkeycalls]

I called to a bird with the sneed hot hen slate... he gobbled  to it and he hung up about 75 yards away and I  tried to do  some soft talk to him clucks and purrs and he still wouldn't commit, but he would gobble... so I did the exact opposite of what you are suppose to do.... I got my jerry zebro bubinga/hickory box out and I yelped like crazy to him loudly... he broke strut and came right to the decoys and my buddy shot him ....this was about  2 weeks ago ... I just figured something different couldn't hurt...

[ccstruttabusta]

I have never heard of yelping hard to a hung up bird with a box call working. What I have always done is sit still and shut up, at the most i will purr and cluck very very soft. That gobbler will more than likely come looking for you eventually. The problem mose hunters have is they get up and leave.

[Ozark Ridge Runner]

In the situation that is given by the OP I will do one of two things.  I will purr softly on a slate which will often do the trick. If that doesn't get it done I give them the silent treatment which usually results in 1 of 2 things happening.  The first is the gobbler gets tired of waiting for the hen to come to him and he will come on in to the calling position for the shot.  Or he will move away from his strut zone gobbling as he goes.  If I can determine that he has moved far enough away, I will move quickly to the strut zone and let him know that the hen finally got there.  It has proven to be very effective many times on older cautious birds.

[lonnie sneed jr.]

Not all, but most hang ups are due to a bad sit up. What I mean by bad, if a turkey can see a long way, he can see were the call is coming from, he will hang up alot of times. I know you can not always do it, but I try and sit up were I can not see more than 40 yds. If I can not see more than 40 yds.  that means a gobbler can not see were the call is coming from, until he gets inside of that 40 yd. range. If one does hang up and I have had them do it to me, about all I will ever do is cluck and purr. If I can I will move. Move back, left or right sometimes just a short quick move will bring him in. Alot of times a move left or right works better than moving back. Someone behind works good but I hunt by myself 99% of the time.

[Beak]

 :newmascot:Had one walking a round top and he would not come down for anything. He never left the woods on that round top and when i went up, you can guess what happened. Gone flew away to the place i just came from. GRRRRRRR !!!! Next time.