no hard and fast rule i know, but any opinions?

[FLTXhunter]

Hunting Northern Illinois.  Before the season opener, I scouted my area and was in birds big time.  And they were gobbling there heads off.  Its an area that probably sees no humans during the winter and I saw no one else scouting, ever.  I'm sure that's why they were so noisy and willing to gobble and strut with no worries.  I didn't have a 1st season tag for this wma so I missed the first 5 day season.  I have a 2nd season tag and hunted hard from 4am (walk in) to 1pm (rules say that is quitting time) Saturday, sunday and Monday.  Now I know the birds were hunted Monday-Friday during season 1 but this area does not get a lot of pressure so shouldn't have been a big deal.  Saturday there were roughly 4 gobblers gobbling fairly regularly at owls, hens, and my calls.  Come flydown they shut up, like they always seem to.  Worked a bird in to 60 yards at 11am after he fired up looking for some late morning love but he hung up there and never gave me a shot.  Still cool.  Sunday, 1 gobble all morning until 9am when I struck up a bird that came in hot to 100 yards and hung up for 20 minutes before leaving.  Yesterday, not a single gobble all morning from shooting time to 1pm, not one single gobble, period.  I had 6 hens roosted around me and we talked for a half an hour before they flew down and went elsewhere.  Again, not 1 single gobble.  These birds are NOT pressured hard.  The only thing I can think of is, 2 scenarios and please let me know your thoughts.  1; it is 2nd season and the birds are henned up so no need to really gobble much.  2; the weather each day was upper 50's in the morning and warming to 75-80 degress by the afternoon.  No rain, no wind.  Beautiful days, but much, much warmer than normal for this time of year.  So I am GUESSING it is the combination of the birds being henned up and the unusually warm weather.  Any input or advise?  Thanks!

[Marc]

The last couple seasons, I am hunting far more mature birds due to 4 years of poor hatches.

Last season and this season, I have noted that the birds do not gobble nearly as much.  I have watched birds from a distance, and seen them go into strutt with my calling.  Last season and this season, I called in birds off the road on my way home (areas I could not hunt or shoot)...  These birds both came in quiet, not making so much as a sound.  Kinda' disheartening, cause I never know what to do or where to go or how long to sit when I do not hear gobbling.

I rarely get a bird to respond to locator calls in my area, so I generally do some loud cutting or yelping to get a response... 

Now, one thing I noticed is that if I do get one bird to gobble, all the sudden there will be other birds gobbling behind me from whence I just came.  I think that the gobble of another bird sometimes gets the blood flowing, and makes them more eager to gobble at that hen call.

So, when the birds are quiet, I will often start off with a series of gobbles before I even start walking or hunting from the truck if I do not know where any birds are or where I am going to hunt...  I then do my walking and hen calling, and every so often give a series of gobbles...  I have noticed that this does seem to help in getting a bird to respond (but not necessarily to come in to me).

In public land, I would make sure you do not set up near where you gobbled, and a good gobble call will likely attract more hunters than turkeys...  If you know someone is sharing the woods with you, and do not know where they are, I would avoid this tactic.

I am curious to hear other responses...  Good luck!

[Bill Cooksey]

It's a rare season here if there isn't a week to ten day lull when the woods are quiet and you'd swear all the turkeys crawled in a hole and died. Sometimes you can "feel" it coming over the course of a couple of days (sounds like maybe you did). Other times it's just suddenly quiet. It just means the breeding gobblers have plenty of company, and the other gobblers are either shot or have been beaten up enough by the bosses to stay quiet. It'll come back around.

Obviously there could be about a million explanations for a one day lull.

[Happy]

During the breeding season turkeys still have high points and lows as far as their moods go. There are so many elements that factor in that it just would make my head hurt to analyze it. Therefore I just hunt. As long as I am into birds I know things will eventually swing in my favore. I just need one dumb one.

[g8rvet]

It's a rare season here if there isn't a week to ten day lull when the woods are quiet and you'd swear all the turkeys crawled in a hole and died. Sometimes you can "feel" it coming over the course of a couple of days (sounds like maybe you did). Other times it's just suddenly quiet. It just means the breeding gobblers have plenty of company, and the other gobblers are either shot or have been beaten up enough by the bosses to stay quiet. It'll come back around.

Obviously there could be about a million explanations for a one day lull.

THIS!   Every year where I hunt.  When they get more quiet, I get more patient.  On seasons where I kill one early, it seems like my next one is usually in the last week.  In seasons where I only kill one, it seems like it is usually late in the season. I have killed a bird 3 different years on the last day I could hunt or the last day of the season, whichever is later.  You found the birds, stick with em. 

[renegade19]

Guys probably get tired of reading this but one thing that has worked time and again for me on hung up birds is to move on them.  After they hang up and wonder off, quietly move on them.  50, maybe 100 yards.  Set up and hit them again.  It's worked for me a lot.  Also, if you've got a 2nd, later season tag I've found that birds in Southern Illinois are often very eager to come find a lady late in the year.  Often times, running in on a rail.  Good luck!

[howl]

The only time the weather is a factor is if it gets hot early in the day, causing them to run low on hormones earlier.

If you've got a bird by itself that hangs up at sixty yards, it's usually you set up wrong. Just sounds like classic henned up behavior. They don't have to have a hen right by to related to hens. They'll drift between them and you like they're on an elastic leash.

[drenalinld]

Henned up.

[Marc]

In California, the birds generally get less and less vocal as the season progresses...  By the end of the season, the hens are on nests, and there is far less gobbling.

I have watched birds with hens gobble like crazy, and single birds run to a call witout making a sound.

I will say that there are days when you suddenly realize there were more turkeys than you thought though.

Not too long ago, I watched a single hen, and looked for the tom with her...  He was not there.  She picked her head up when I called, but otherwise went about her business walking out of site...  After a bit, I was ready to leave, and gave one more call and got a response about 200 yards away (in the opposite direction as the hen).  As soon as that bird responded to me, the hen ran back in front of me to that gobbler (at which time the gobbling picked up bit got further away).

I think sometimes there are dynamics going on that we do not realize (or in my case understand).

[FLTXhunter]

Update;
went out Wed., morning after a front pushed through and temps were about 15 degrees cooler.  I think the variation knocked them back into gear because they were gobbling again on the roost.  It was the 1st day that I've been out this season and heard them actively gobbling after flydown.  I worked 2 birds but again, both veered off and faded away before committing all the way.  1 of them I witnessed hens go to so game over.  The other was coming in HOT and then without warning, changed course and was gone.  Assuming he was intercepted by the ladies too.
Yesterday I heard more gobbling on the roost then I ever have.  It was non-stop gobbling from 5:30-6:15.  When they flew down, they shut up for good and never fired up again all day.  These birds are kicking my tail this year. 
One question, if I get a bird to fire up later in the morning just by blind calling, should I try and make a move to close the distance or sit down and shut up?  I know these are supposed to be the suicidal birds, but I have fired up about 5 so far this season after 10am, 2 have committed to coming, but none have finished.  Help!?

[Bill Cooksey]

Lay of the land is critical. Also, much depends on how vocal the bird is. If he's gobbling enough to keep tabs on him, he's easy to move on. If not, you have to be much more cautious. A good rule of thumb is, if you think you can get one tree closer...do so. When you feel you can't get a bit closer without bumping him...set up. The closer you can get, the less chance a hen or terrain feature can stop his progress to you. All that said, don't move straight at a bird if at all possible. Get closer via flanking him. Just seems to work better. A compass is your friend in this, and that's even more true if he doesn't gobble much.

[FLTXhunter]

Lay of the land is critical. Also, much depends on how vocal the bird is. If he's gobbling enough to keep tabs on him, he's easy to move on. If not, you have to be much more cautious. A good rule of thumb is, if you think you can get one tree closer...do so. When you feel you can't get a bit closer without bumping him...set up. The closer you can get, the less chance a hen or terrain feature can stop his progress to you. All that said, don't move straight at a bird if at all possible. Get closer via flanking him. Just seems to work better. A compass is your friend in this, and that's even more true if he doesn't gobble much.

This area is comprised of very heavy timber, some steep hillsides and very little straight flat land and virtually no wide open areas.  I did see one of the birds that came a long, long way to find me, make it to the next ridgetop over and strut there for 20 minutes before leaving.  Seemed like he just wasn't going to come over one more ridge to get to me because I watched him responding every time I cut, yelped and purred, but could also see that there was no way he was going to come over one more ridge to look.  It was as if he was thinking "I've come far enough now she needs to come the rest of the way".  So you think in this case I should have definitely tried to close the gap on him since I could hear him coming a long way off?

[Bill Cooksey]

Based on your description, YES. If at all possibl, you only want one ridge between you, and you want to set up within sshooting  range of the top. Removing obstacles is the goal. Can't tell you how often moving just ten more feet makes the difference. In this case, it would be much farther.

[TRG3]

While I live in Southern Illinois, I'm sure the turkeys are very similar to what you have in the northern part of our state. The amount of calling I do by sounding like a hen seems to be getting less and is primarily confined to sounding like a hen that is being approached by an intruder gobbler. As it's been explained to me, trying to call a gobbler to a hen is reversing nature since the hens are supposed to go to the gobbler. In nothing else that I hunt do I try to go against Mother Nature in my calling, not deer, waterfowl, squirrels, predators, etc., so why should I attempt to do so with turkeys? Instead, I take advantage of what Mother Nature has instilled in the turkeys to my advantage, i.e. gobbling to challenge the tom's peck order (In seven days of hunting, I filled all three of my tags this season by gobbling and placing a tom decoy over a hen in the breeding position.) or aggressive hen yelps to do the same with the females. While it sounds like you are hunting an area that is seldom visited by others, if you are concerned that someone will mistake your calling for a real gobbler, tie some flo orange ribbon around a tree where you are set up. Next season, I plan to incorporate fighting purrs into my bag of techniques since this is another natural attraction for turkeys. Good luck with your turkey hunting!

[drenalinld]

Many times a gobbler with hens will gobble at calling. I refer to it as a courtesy gobble. He has no intention of leaving hens just letting another hen know where he is and inviting her to join the party. This is the essence of the game figuring out the situation. If he is quickly cutting off your calls I would start off assuming he is coming. The distance away and terrain will dictate if you can move. I always move if possible. Striking a bird then calling from a different location a few minutes later can be a very effective technique.