How do YOU play it?

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This is the scenario I most often find myself in, especially early season. In fact, it happened last weekend.

You get setup on a gobbling bird (there were three actually, together), and then hear the hens that are roosted with them.

I didn't make a peep for the longest while. Then when the hens started their soft tree talk, I did as well, but only a couple of very soft tree yelps. They never answered me. We were actually set up between them and the field I thought they would go to, so I stayed silent even after hearing them flydown. And of course, they went away.

Give me your play book, please, in that situation.
 
I would have done exactly what you did to be honest. Sounds like if you can get the hens to come to you the gobblers will follow. The same thing happened to us last weekend. They were hened up bad.
 
depends really. Most of time in that instance i will not call at all until they fly down. once they are on the ground i will try a few yelps or purrs and see if they will answer. Generally for me if they have a few hens and they all fly down together i will try and get bit more aggressive in calling in hopes to get the hens to come my way. IF they are already moving my way though obviously ill just sit tight.

its a catch 22, if you call then a lot of the times the hens will take them the other way. If you don't call at all then your kicking yourself when they go the other way lol. The main thing for me on those type of set ups is i don't push really hard on them. If they go the other way then i will try and get around them but take the long way around making sure i don't get caught. I want to keep the impact low so worst case i can try them again the next day while they are still on their normal patterns.
 
Every time out is a learning experience

next time they will do just the opposite

I try to never call to a bird while its still in the tree especially with hens
I always try to wait until they hit the ground before I make my call
 
Public land or private land? I'm no expert but I like to think I've learned a lot since last season which was my first attempt with turkeys. On private land and if you know you're alone, it's stalking time.

On public land I would take my best guess as to where they are headed and make a very wide loop through the woods to get in front of them. This way they don't see you moving and you don't risk goofing up another hunter's setup.

I'm hunting public land and I've got two good spots scouted. One is in the woods on the edge of a field and one is in the woods. I'll try the fields approach at flydown but aftef those fields have been trampled through by the crowds of hunters, those birds will stay in the woods and that's where I'll be waiting patiently!
 
If I hear hens I don't make a peep until they hit the ground. It seems anytime I try and get in the middle of tree time they either go away or shut up completely. Where as if I let them hit the ground the hens will usually talk and sometimes come to investigate

There's nothing harder then dealing with henned up gobblers. There's no rules and you need to be in their "spot" to be successful in my opinion

Getting aggressive with the calling is a huge mistake imo and will cost you most of the time. Be patient and just call as if you're part of the group that seems to work best
 
I tend to take a far-sighted view when the morning starts out like this and often choose to simply keep tabs on the group throughout as the day goes on. Might be 9, 10, 11 before he's bred the hens, they may leave to go lay, or he sometimes just takes a notion to go looking for another girlfriend. I just try to stay close...many times he'll just up and decide to come find you later in the day.
 
If you can catch a gobbler/s on roost without hens you stand a chance at calling him to you once he leaves the roost. If he's with hens chances are you won't. If I hear hens and a gobbler before fly down I may call softly once or twice just to let him know I'm already there but that's it. More often than not if he's with hens and those hens hear competition they'll lead him away from it when they fly down or once they're on the ground. If you can catch them on roost in the same spot on successive days take note of where those hens are pitching down and be there before fly down the next morning.
 
I hate calling when hens are roosted with gobblers. Seems like 9 times out of 10 they go the opposite direction. Maybe it's just in the area I hunt.

If they have hens, it's more about your setup that it is about calling them. As already mentioned, if I call at all it will be once they hit the ground. I haven't had much luck with getting aggressive at hens. The times I have has been at the beginning of the season. This strategy gets less effective as the season progresses when the hens are more concerned with nesting than breeding.
 
Beard Buster":3kkr1600 said:
I try to never call to a bird while its still in the tree especially with hens
I always try to wait until they hit the ground before I make my call
Click to expand...

It took me a long time to make myself do this. I still feel compelled to yelp, just a little, softly, maybe on a wingbone when I'm set up on a roosted bird. But I make myself refrain. I think it has improved my early morning success. I now view my first setup as an observation mission. I will call when he flys down, and if he comes in, sweeet. But I expect to move at least once before it's over.
 
Depends on the situation. I might try to make a wide loop around to try and get ahead of the birds, or I might just find a good listening spot, take a nap and hope one fires up later.


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I will not call to a bird on the roost that has hens. It has cost me too many times as they almost always go the other way. I feel like my chances are much better to not say a word until they are on the ground, especially if I've been able to get into a spot where I think they want to go.
 
I'd never call to them on the limb, let them hit the ground and hopefully they'll give up their location and the general direction they're headed. At that point, I'll circle as far out as I have to in an attempt to get in front of them and setup. When I feel like I'm in front of them so to speak, I will call minimally in hopes of coercing them my way. I'll adjust my calling based on his/their response, or lack thereof. In short, it's a lot easier to call one to where he wants to go, compared to where he don't want to go, which can be said for a flock of hens too. My order of attack is listening first, strategy second, positioning third and calling lastly, once I feel I am setup right. I never call if I don't think I'm in a killing spot so to speak. This approach is not fail proof, but I've found it to be a pretty good tactic over the years. YMMV
 
I try not to call to any bird on the roost. It does get me in trouble sometimes though when the gobbler flies clear across a holler to the next ridge.


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I have a little different opinion/thought. I don't really put any stock in the idea that if the hens hear you calling they actually consciously think..."I'm taking my man the other way". I just don't think there's any ability for a turkey to think and react like that. They may go the other way, but not by making a conscious decision to keep their man away from that sleezy other hen. I also think it HIGHLY unlikely to call a gobbler away from his hens. It is their natural instinct to stay with what they've got. So, in this situation, I agree that trying to call the flock to you if it's not where they want to go is futile. Try your best to figure out their direction of travel and get in front of them...difficult this time of year with no foliage.
 
I have very little success when trying to call to the hens aggressively. Obviously, I'm no real turkey, but I don't suck at calling either, but usually the hens take tho gobbler the other way. Imo, they are taking thier mate away from a competitor.

I'd try to circle around them, but that's tough too.

My approach would be to sit tight as long as possible until he starts gobbling again, if he even does. If not, o well he won the battle that day.

If I can just not scare him, I'll have a chance of getting him, so that's always my number one rule, just don't scare him.

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I let them hit the ground and then start calling I start soft and see how they act I'd that doesn't work then I get aggressive and it has worked for me in the past. But like said above its a catch 22 and probably the hardest part of turkey hunting. We were successful in calling a bird away from hens this past weekend just got him at 40 yards and with the kid we had we were only.comfortable in 30 yards and in. Every situation is different. We soft called and out patience the bird away from the hens this past weekend. Who knows this coming weekend though. But I have had dozens of times where calling to hens and long beards on the limb has ruined my hunt i won't do it no more.
 

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