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Henned Up Gobblers

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BHC

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You locate a gobbler sneak in set up 100 yards from him, he's still on the roost. He answers pretty much every call you make, but then hens start cluckin and tree callin up there with him! There may be a dozen hens with him. How do you kill this bird, without crawling up on him?
 
Shoot him out of the tree hahaha (kidding)

Get as close as possible and give him 1 yelp to let him know I am there then nothing till he hits the ground. If he goes the other way then I try and get to where he is going before he does. If that don't work I go to Hardee's till 9ish and try again
 
Depends. If I'm fairly confident they will move my direction after they pitch down, I won't make a sound. I try to call as little as possible if I know there are several hens. More times than not, the hens will pitch down and take the gobbler away if I call too much.

If I'm going to call, I'll focus more on the lead hen than the gobbler. If I can bring her in, the gobbler will be right behind her.

However, if you are setup within 100 yards on the uphill side of where the gobbler is roosted, you may be able to lure him away depending on where the hens are roosted.

As with every area of turkey hunting, every situation is different. As a general rule, I try to keep my calling to a minimum until I have a better grasp on the situation.
 
I've had it go both ways; hens drag tommy away or hens come over to see who the new chick is in the neghborhood trying to take her man (with tommy in tow).

Sometimes, I'll forget about trying to call the gobbler and call the hen. If you're non-threatening with soft purrs, clucks, and scratching in the leaves and she responds the same way...sometimes they'll all just mosey over to join you for breakfast. If you've got a hen with an attitude...have an attitude back. Sometimes you can make her irate enough that she'll march right over as well.

Like REN said though; sometimes the best thing you can do it just wait. Take a nap and hang out till his hens goto nest or wander off and leave him.
 
I can tell you from my experience last spring with a gobbler.... I got in well before daylight... knew a favorite roosting area and set up some decoys about 20 yards in front of me... set back and waited for him to gobble first... then after he made the first noise, I was the first "hen" that he heard... starting off with some light tree yelps. He answered back and I gave him a little more bed talk....

It started getting enough light I could see him in the tree against the sky... gave him a couple more light yelps and he would answer.... finally I gave him 3 different series of flydown wing flaps within a minute or two.... he gobbled at ever series. Then I gave some louder yelps and he again answered back. He knew where that hen was by now and so I just set back and listened to him gobble in desperation.

It was just him and I.... or so I thought... then the real hens started waking up.... he didn't seem to respond to them as he did me... After about 10 minutes, 30+ hens and a dozen jakes descended around my decoys... ole Mr. Longbeard swooped down and waltzed right towards my Woody decoy from 50 yards out....

He caught the Hevi train at 20 yards as he was about to jump on Woody.


Tip.... Make him gobble before daylight if possible, then get on him quick... make sure you are the first hen he hears when he wakes up.
 
After flydown, Get in front of where you think he's going, CROW call, or woodpecker, or locator to get a bead on his direction. Sit down 150 yds in front of his pattern, get a stick, rake the leaves, and sound like scratching turkeys at a buffet. The hens will come to you, won't get jealous, and that white-headed son of a gun will be right behind him. Remember - you're calling the hens, so sound like feeding.
If that doesn't work, I agree with REN. Call a little bit to let him know you're there, listen to him leave, get a sausage biscuit and come back mid-morning. He'll come back to investigate.
 
Set up where you think he will hit the ground.
Very soft purr and MAYBE a yelp and then shut up, get ready and sit still.
 
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but I've killed a couple where I thought it was just me and him until the hens started going crazy in the tree. I mean she was ticked off raising cane so I tried to mimick everything she did and she dang near flew in my lap with him in tow. Had to wait for them to turn and start away from me to move but I killed him. Had it happen the other way too where they go away from me. If I can get in front of them I'll try. Otherwise I'll just sit still until he hopefully gobbles on his own later and then try to get back on him.
 

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