Calling time?

[RiverRoost]

If a gobbler fires off in the morning from the roost and you either move in and set up or are set up and he fires off after you've set up when do you start calling other than a few soft tree yelps to let him know you're there?

[Bowguy]

Once he's on the ground

[MK M GOBL]

I guess I would go by what I am hearing, are hens around and tree talking or other calls. I will mimic a talking hen and add a little more, when it come to flydown time I am either calling to him or matching wits with her (boss hen) and trying to drag the gobbler in with her. Last thing is if this is not working go quiet sit for a while and see what shows up. I have picked up and left to try another bird, and maybe then 3-4 hours later I'm back at him.

MK M GOBL

[Rzrbac]

Normally not until I hear him get down. 

Certain times during the season/year they get henned up bad I may try a few tricks while he's still on the limb.

[Happy]

Depends on the situation. If I know he is alone I won't mess with him till he hits the ground. If he is surrounded by hens then I will sometimes try to get him on the ground and headed my way before the hens pitch out. I only try this if I am tight to the tom though. If he has to travel a ways then it more than likely your slim chance has dissapeared. Often times I only have a small time frame to hunt so I tend to be more aggressive on the call. Later in the day they are typically more vulnerable if the were roosted with hens. After they leave to nest is a good time to make your move.

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[WNCTracker]

In my experience a roosted bird flys down pretty close to where he's at if you call once and stop or not at all. It's when I called to them too much before flydown that they soared off.


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[ilbucksndux]

99.99995% of the time I will NOT call to a turkey that is in a tree. If the same one has gave me the slip for several days I may give him a soft short tree yelp but only one or two and I shut up.

[TauntoHawk]

The hardest thing to do but most of the times its the best is to stay quiet while he's up there.. Especially a lone bird if he has hens you can jump in when they do but that can be tricky business taking the temp of the hens mood and whether calling to them will push away or draw them in.

If you can see him in the tree sometimes you can watch his body language when he's about to pitch and give a nice fly down cackle. I especially like this if I can see he is facing the other way on the limb 

[Marc]

Try not to call when they are in the tree...  Maybe a tree yelp or two.

As mentioned above, if hens are near I might try to get that tom on the ground with a fly-down cackle, or call to the hens in hopes of aggravating the dominant hen to come in...

I have also set up on one bird (that fly down with hens early) and done a fly-down to a further bird (still in the tree), and had success previously.  That was the only time I have had a bird actually fly into me (and he was some distance away).

Normally, once on the ground, if they are coming my direction on their own, I stay quiet until they change coarse...  If they are headed a different direction, right off, I will get a bit more aggressive, and maybe even try gobbling with some aggressive hen cutting.