Bird hangs up?

[Deputy 14]

What do you guys do when a bird hangs up on you at 80 yds and refuses to do anything except strut and gobble. Meaning the bird is by himself not with a hen. I'm the worst in the world the world to stay quiet for a while usually to no avail and I end up trying to stalk the bird which is almost always unsuccessful. Any tips or advice is appreciated. Thanks.

[Turkeyslayer 101]

A visible decoy will sometimes work, he is expecting the hen to come to him with all that gobbling and strutting, you can also have someone with you calling to him while walking away..I had the same situation happened to me the last 3 days this morning he saw my dsd decoy and now he is in turkey heaven!

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Question for you, are you hunting an open field where the bird can see you or your decoy from a long distance?
If you've ever had the chance to watch hens in a field, and a Tom comes into it, when they go to the Tom they never yelp, they will most times just go clucking or purring once eye contact has been made. If that Tom can see you and you start yelping at him you will lock him up bigger than Dallas!! If you have a bird that is coming into your set up and you can see him QUIT YELPING, just use clucks and purrs or whines and scratch in the leaves, but if you continue to yelp at him you will lock him up and he'll stay there waiting for you to come to him!!!

[chatterbox]

Question for you, are you hunting an open field where the bird can see you or your decoy from a long distance?
If you've ever had the chance to watch hens in a field, and a Tom comes into it, when they go to the Tom they never yelp, they will most times just go clucking or purring once eye contact has been made. If that Tom can see you and you start yelping at him you will lock him up bigger than Dallas!! If you have a bird that is coming into your set up and you can see him QUIT YELPING, just use clucks and purrs or whines and scratch in the leaves, but if you continue to yelp at him you will lock him up and he'll stay there waiting for you to come to him!!!

This.

[handcannon]

If he is alone and is hung up.....shut up. I know it is hard to do especially if he shuts up too. If he really wants you, he will gobble occasionally just to let you know where he is. This happened to me this past weekend. I had some gobblers hammering at everything I threw at them but would not come in to my setup. I tried soft, loud, gobbling back at them...nothing worked. Finally as I gave them the silent treatment and after about 15 minutes two of the gobblers broke off and came out of the timber and into the cut over that we were hunting in. My mother ended up harvesting one of the birds. Silent treatment is a deadly call.

[Lenny870]

Question for you, are you hunting an open field where the bird can see you or your decoy from a long distance?
If you've ever had the chance to watch hens in a field, and a Tom comes into it, when they go to the Tom they never yelp, they will most times just go clucking or purring once eye contact has been made. If that Tom can see you and you start yelping at him you will lock him up bigger than Dallas!! If you have a bird that is coming into your set up and you can see him QUIT YELPING, just use clucks and purrs or whines and scratch in the leaves, but if you continue to yelp at him you will lock him up and he'll stay there waiting for you to come to him!!!

all the above

[WillowRidgeCalls]

If he is alone and is hung up.....shut up. I know it is hard to do especially if he shuts up too. If he really wants you, he will gobble occasionally just to let you know where he is. This happened to me this past weekend. I had some gobblers hammering at everything I threw at them but would not come in to my setup. I tried soft, loud, gobbling back at them...nothing worked. Finally as I gave them the silent treatment and after about 15 minutes two of the gobblers broke off and came out of the timber and into the cut over that we were hunting in. My mother ended up harvesting one of the birds. Silent treatment is a deadly call.

Another good thing to use is a kee kee. That tells the Tom why your not running to him like a hen should. If you mix it up with some adult hen talk and kee kees any aduilt bird, hens and Toms will come looking for a lost poult.

[kruk]

If I am in the woods and I can move, I'll get up and walk away from him slowly while soft calling. When he realized the hen is leaving, he will usually break the bubble of his comfort zone. It's worked several times for me.

[gtrjames]

the silent call is still hard to beat.

[Beard Buster]

Another thing that you can try is to gobble at him.  While toms will sometimes resist the call of a hen, they will almost always respond to another gobbler that they do not know.  Turkeys have a pecking order and this is very important to them.  This pecking order is in place all year long.  By hearing an unfamiliar gobbler, this tom will want to know why the heck this other tom thinks that he can encroach on his territory.  I think it is important to note, that if you are hunting on public land, it may not be that wise to use a gobble due to other hunters.  Instead, try yelping like a tom.  The sound is a little different than a hen and can vary.  I am big into using slate calls and to produce the lower, rougher sound of a tom yelping, I use the middle of the call instead of the outside.  Also, a tom's yelp is more drawn out on each yelp as well there being a slightly longer pause between each yelp.  If you prefer a diaphragm call, try one with a thicker reed.  On a box call, one side of the box typically produces a lower sound.

[VAHUNTER]

when possible i will back out 40 or 50 yards calling as i go.then sneak back in a setup. if the Tom is convinced that the hen is leaving sometimes he will close the distance.

[n2deer]

Alot of great points, I do the silent treatment. Or the walk/crawl away calling lightly.

Drives em nuts.

[WyoHunter]

This happened to me this year and I did the exact opposite of the silent treatment. I had been calling to this bird and could see him strutting back and forth and gobbling at each call I made. I watched his reaction when I called and saw he would get more excited when I end my call series aggressively on my box call (Warbird's Wormy Chestnut). I would give a couple of passive yelps and follow these up with a couple of hard aggressive yelps. After a couple of series of this he started to me strutting and gobbling as he came. My grandson shot him with my 20 ga. Beretta and a load of Hev-13 7's at 25 yds. I know this won't work all the time but I had the advantage of seeing how he was reacting to the call and that made the difference IMO.

[Oconeeguy]

great info here guys. I had a similar frustrating experience in 2010. Me & a gobbler exchanged noises at 75 yds in sight of each other, and it left me exhausted and confused. Thanks for the info.

[goblr77]

There are several things to do depending on the bird's mood. I will normally try and set up back inside the woodline a little ways and still be able to see the bird. If you're right on the edge he will expect to see a hen. Throw a series of yelps at him and go silent. I've waited them out as long as 45 minutes to an hour before they break and come. If he turns and starts heading away cluck and purr at him to see if you can turn him back. If that doesn't work start calling agressively. Slipping off in the other direction and calling like the hen is leaving will make them come at times as well. There is no set method for killing these type birds but usually less calling works best.