I agree with some of what has been said, but think more about the set up than just uphill or downhill. Im mostly talking about a roosted bird in the next few sentences.
I've called them downhill but I hate that set up unless I'm somehow stuck with it, but it had more to do with how uncomfortable it is to look straight up a steep hill and I can't see the tom. Think about where the tom is willing to go. He can or may go around, up, down, or over anything but is a tom with hens going to work that hard unless he's following a hen? Getting ahead of where you think hes going is great but I've seen big timber birds randomly go from one direction to the next for no apparent reason. They don't always have a set pattern to their travels. So, Unless you've got a good reason to believe they are headed one direction or the other, just be sure to set up on the same ridge as the bird to make getting to you easy. He may well pitch down to the bottom, across to the next ridge, or up to the top. However, unless you know that he makes that a habit your guessing with that set up.
If the initial set up doesn't pan out, that is when you can start moving on him if the circumstances will allow. I understand the whole patience is a virtue thing, but hanging out on a ridge clucking and purring every 30 minutes because old timer wisdom says he'll always come back looking for you mid morning, "just be patient", absolutely does not always pan out. Learn when patience is called for and when it will give you nothing more than a sore rear end and a nap. If I had limited area to move and limited birds to hunt then that plan may sound ok, but it's not the sure fired method of killing turkeys that it's proclaimed to be, not to mention it's boring as heck. Keep him gobbling and move around him.
However, unless you can keep tabs on the multiple small flocks by their gobbling, this may be a case where moving too much is too risky. Youve got a lot of birds running around, so the circumstances may well call for sitting right for a while.
Turkeys, especially Easterns, like sweet talk...sweet seductive yelping. Clucks, purrs, whines, scratching, all are effective at convincing a tom you are the real thing, use them all, but learn to yelp covincingly from soft naisly tree yelps to loud obnoxious yelps and you'll be fine. A tom isn't counting the ratio of yelps to clucks. With that said, I typically start all eastern birds off a little on the quiet and reserved side, but that is a whole lot more than yelp a couple times every 20 minutes. When a hen wants something she lets the whole woods know it, so picking it up is not out of the ordinary. If soft seductive isn't getting it done, don't hesitate to give him more and more excited.
Typically for a roosted bird, I'll give him a few tree yelps and shut up whether he responds or not. He heard them. On occasion I'll call a little more if hens start talking a lot, but I'm calling to them for the most part and I dont want to get any more carried away than them. Too much call I g to a roosted tom may get plenty of response but I find that it keeps him in the tree longer and he waits for me to show up. When I think it's time to fly down, I imitate a fly down with my hat. If the tom is gobbling a lot I'll cackle as I do it. If he seems real reserved I won't cackle. I'll throw in a couple clucks and wait. I've had hens almost land on me and the toms follow, and I've had them ignore everything. After a while I may help a little, but I pretty much wait to see what the tom is going to do and work him as necessary.
There is no silver bullet. To become effective at killing turkeys, you have to read the situation and act accordingly.
