Closer Call

[hunter22]

Sort of a sad time for me. It is over for the year. Started back in March in Mississippi and ended Saturday in Colorado. I hunted 5 states and filled two tags in 4 of them and got a big goose egg in Mississippi for the first time ever. While 8 birds was a great spring, I had at least that many gobblers that came to my calls only to lock up at 75 yards and not close the final distance. Some of these birds came to brass, ceramic, glass, and slate pot calls, some to box calls, and one to a nail call. They all would strut and gobble at each call I threw at them. My question for some of you bonafide turkey killers, "What is your go to call that you use on a gobbler to get him that last 20 to 30 yards you need to kill him? And what calling sequence do you use?" I had this happen in all 5 states I hunted so I know it is not just the sub-species as I hunted Easterns, Rios, and Merriam's this year. I have been doing this for a lot of years and I believe this is the most it has happened to me in a spring. I had a mountain gobbler one morning in Colorado that was going away from me turn to a box call and gobbled at every call I made and come across a meadow 600 yards to me only to lock up at 75 yards. He was by himself at that time as the hen had left him. I already had my gun up and safety off as I just knew he was coming right on in.

[Roost 1]

If I can see him, nothing. Scratching in the leaves works pretty good..

[Herb McClure]

I MYSELF, HAVE NEVER HAD THAT PROBLEM, HOWEVER I HUNT IN HIGH MOUNTAINS OF NORTH GEORGIA UP TO 3,800 FEET; AND  I NEVER  SET UP WERE A GOBBLER CAN SEE THE CALLING SPOT; UNLESS HE'S IN GUN RANGE. WE HAVE LOTS OF CONTOURS TO HIDE BEHIND. LIKE I SAID, DON'T SET UP WHERE YOU CAN SEE A GOBBLER 75 OR 100 YARDS AWAY. ONE OTHER THING, MY STYLE OF TURKEY HUNTING IS: I HAVE ALREADY PICKED MY CALLING PLACE; BEFORE I EVER CALL; THAT'S JUST MY WAY.
herb mcclure

[packmule]

I agree with Herb.  I think the setup location has a lot more to do with hangups than the calls.  I hunt mountain turkeys exclusively and I really don't like to setup where I can see more than 40 yards.  When I do my hangup % goes way up.  Conversely, mountain turkeys are used to broken up terrain and cover so they don't have any problem walking within range if they think a hen is there but can't see her calling location.  My 2 cents.

[mudhen]

That's one of the big issues for the traveling turkey hunter, you just have so many different set-ups, so many things can happen!

Like you, I traveled around this year, 25 days, 100+ set-ups, and many different results.

Clear purring on slate over glass seemed to be the closer this year.

Second choice would be going mostly silent, with maybe a mouth call yelp or two.

My real go-to this year seemed to be my AX jake, staked close to the ground, or even no stake....


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[Jbird22]

Clucks and purrs on a mouth call are my go-to calls for sealing the deal

[Onpoint]

Sort of a sad time for me. It is over for the year. Started back in March in Mississippi and ended Saturday in Colorado. I hunted 5 states and filled two tags in 4 of them and got a big goose egg in Mississippi for the first time ever. While 8 birds was a great spring, I had at least that many gobblers that came to my calls only to lock up at 75 yards and not close the final distance. Some of these birds came to brass, ceramic, glass, and slate pot calls, some to box calls, and one to a nail call. They all would strut and gobble at each call I threw at them. My question for some of you bonafide turkey killers, "What is your go to call that you use on a gobbler to get him that last 20 to 30 yards you need to kill him? And what calling sequence do you use?" I had this happen in all 5 states I hunted so I know it is not just the sub-species as I hunted Easterns, Rios, and Merriam's this year. I have been doing this for a lot of years and I believe this is the most it has happened to me in a spring. I had a mountain gobbler one morning in Colorado that was going away from me turn to a box call and gobbled at every call I made and come across a meadow 600 yards to me only to lock up at 75 yards. He was by himself at that time as the hen had left him. I already had my gun up and safety off as I just knew he was coming right on in.

sounds like you had a great season.

As others have said setup has alot to do with it, but not every situation allows for the "perfect" setup.

If I have a bird that close and insight I don't like to call to him. If you can use your body to hide your movement, scratching the leaves is a good deal closer.

the problem with calling (and scratching leaves) to one in that situation is how well they can pinpoint sound. Sometimes the best thing to do is just stay put and go on try working him from and s different set up shortly after.

This topic brings back memories of my wifes second bird. We was set up next to a huge cottonwood on a river bottom. It has some cane ad natural cover. it was a windy raining morning and only one bird was gobbling and he was hott. He was also about 400 yards over onto the neighbors property. I just happened to notice the tom that had snuck into the middle of the field silent about 100 yards in front of us. He would go into strut and then break and act like he was leaving. whenever he would lose interest and start to leave I'd talk soft to him on a high pitched ghost cut. He would come back and stay at about 80 yards going left to right and he would lose interest and start to leave again. Finally after about 20 minutes of this I done and little whining and broke into a 2 or 3 note soft yelp. About a minute later he was dead at less than 10 yards. The reason for him being so close is at this time my wife was inexperienced as it was her first year hunting. Because of u the cane she couldn't see him when I could and I couldn't when she could. I lost sight of him around 50 yards and a few seconds later she picked him up. she said he's gettin close. "How close" she said nothin "HOW close". She responds "pretty f****n close. About that time I see him at 10 yards. "Kill him" and thst was that.

What I learned from this is if you are well concealed then it's believable a hen could've been hiding in the cane. In a wide open set up, only the horniest of birds is going to fall for that. 

[tomstopper]

Clucks and purrs on a mouth call are my go-to calls for sealing the deal

I do the same but with my glass/ceramic/slate calls (I love using these all and just use them based on what the bird seems to prefer that day).

Congrats on a great season.....

[kyturkeyhunter4]

 Scratching in the leaves and some soft purring works for me.

[mgm1955]

I MYSELF, HAVE NEVER HAD THAT PROBLEM, HOWEVER I HUNT IN HIGH MOUNTAINS OF NORTH GEORGIA UP TO 3,800 FEET; AND  I NEVER  SET UP WERE A GOBBLER CAN SEE THE CALLING SPOT; UNLESS HE'S IN GUN RANGE. WE HAVE LOTS OF CONTOURS TO HIDE BEHIND. LIKE I SAID, DON'T SET UP WHERE YOU CAN SEE A GOBBLER 75 OR 100 YARDS AWAY. ONE OTHER THING, MY STYLE OF TURKEY HUNTING IS: I HAVE ALREADY PICKED MY CALLING PLACE; BEFORE I EVER CALL; THAT'S JUST MY WAY.
herb mcclure

I think this is the best advice!

[sixbird]

I try soft calling, picking and leaf scratching. If that doesn't work, silence...If they don't work I wait until he's losing interest and turns to walk, then give him a jake gobble and a couple of cackles. That seems to pee them off or make them uncertain, I'm not sure which. Had quite a few hung up birds come to that...

[drenalinld]

I MYSELF, HAVE NEVER HAD THAT PROBLEM, HOWEVER I HUNT IN HIGH MOUNTAINS OF NORTH GEORGIA UP TO 3,800 FEET; AND  I NEVER  SET UP WERE A GOBBLER CAN SEE THE CALLING SPOT; UNLESS HE'S IN GUN RANGE. WE HAVE LOTS OF CONTOURS TO HIDE BEHIND. LIKE I SAID, DON'T SET UP WHERE YOU CAN SEE A GOBBLER 75 OR 100 YARDS AWAY. ONE OTHER THING, MY STYLE OF TURKEY HUNTING IS: I HAVE ALREADY PICKED MY CALLING PLACE; BEFORE I EVER CALL; THAT'S JUST MY WAY.
herb mcclure

Maybe someday I will be that good. Doubt it. I set up more times than not in locations where if a gobbler can see me or I can see him he is in range. They still tend to close in to the 60 - 80 yard range and strut there waiting on hen to come. Many times I do something to coax him into sight/range but more times I don't. Many times a bigger challenge for me is finding a spot in pine plantation you can see a gobbler 30 yards away.

[hunter22]

I MYSELF, HAVE NEVER HAD THAT PROBLEM, HOWEVER I HUNT IN HIGH MOUNTAINS OF NORTH GEORGIA UP TO 3,800 FEET; AND  I NEVER  SET UP WERE A GOBBLER CAN SEE THE CALLING SPOT; UNLESS HE'S IN GUN RANGE. WE HAVE LOTS OF CONTOURS TO HIDE BEHIND. LIKE I SAID, DON'T SET UP WHERE YOU CAN SEE A GOBBLER 75 OR 100 YARDS AWAY. ONE OTHER THING, MY STYLE OF TURKEY HUNTING IS: I HAVE ALREADY PICKED MY CALLING PLACE; BEFORE I EVER CALL; THAT'S JUST MY WAY.
herb mcclure

Maybe someday I will be that good. Doubt it. I set up more times than not in locations where if a gobbler can see me or I can see him he is in range. They still tend to close in to the 60 - 80 yard range and strut there waiting on hen to come. Many times I do something to coax him into sight/range but more times I don't. Many times a bigger challenge for me is finding a spot in pine plantation you can see a gobbler 30 yards away.

The first gobbler this year Drenalinld and I were set up on in Mississippi back in March. Gobbler and hen flew down off the roost and came to us an circled. David called the live hen right passed us and she stopped about 20 yards behind us and started yelping and cutting. She ended up flying into a tree and cackled several times. The gobbler was about 70 yards away gobbling the whole time. If there ever was a slam dunk it was that morning and we never got a shot at that gobbler. When a live hen will not call one I am not sure what you should do. That gobbler was within 100 yards of us for three hours that morning gobbling and drumming. Talk about an adrenaline rush.

[howl]

I'm with Mr. Herb on this. Even if I'm runnin' and gunnin' I am going from set up to set up as I find them good spots rather than just stopping every 100 yards to call. It took too many bumped silent birds and hot ones I had to run away from before I learned it, but I learned it. Well, probably not, but I try!

[Turkeyman]

If I have a bird hang up it's not so much what call as the call volume. If he's at 75 or 100 yards you can't call too soft. Personally, I can't call as softly with a mouth call as I can a friction call, and not many guys can. So I'll generally use my glass or slate. Have your spouse or kid stand 50-60 yards away with their back to you. When you call, if they can hear you, you're calling too loud. Many birds I hunt are pressured and they won't put up with loud calling...they hear it all season.