Is it the call or the caller?

[Hawk]

The better caller will kill more birds. That is if he knows when and how much too call.

 

[deerhunter10]

The caller of course but good calls helps the caller. You put someone that doesn't know what he is doing with the top of the line call of course they will struggle. You put someone that does know what they are doing with a call that isn't top of the line of course he will make things happen. A call is a tool to help you but ultimately you gotta be able to use it properly to have success. There isn't a magic call out there.

 

[Roost 1]

Just being at the right place at the right time is the key. However heavily pressured gobblers sometimes are just not callable. That's when good woodsmanship can make all the difference in the world.

this i have never agreed with. Toms get called at daily by real hens, IMO there is no such thing as an uncallable bird. You just have to work harder to get him to cover more ground then normal.

Ever hunted LBL much towards the end of season?

 

[REN]

No but the idea that people calling causes a bird to be "call shy" I just don't buy. If you ever have been around a bunch of hens any time of they year they are never ever quit. He is around that all day long. Sure he gets weary of roaming far for lone hens but I personally just don't buy into call shy theory's


Joshua 24:15
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."


Sent from my phone sucka

 

[elknturkey]

I agree with ren. The public I hunt is pressured every single day of the season. If your not in one of the spots a good bit by daylight and you count on someone being there. Whether it's a Saturday or a Wednesday. Not saying pressure doesn't change them but they are not going to stop breeding. You either adapt or get skunked. If I could pick only 2 weeks of the season to hunt it would be the last 2 without a doubt. I think guys also blame pressure on not hearing many birds towards the end but most of your dumb loud mouth 2 year olds are shot out by then and now you're dealing with more mature birds that tend to not gobble as much

 

[Boll Weevil]

REN nailed it. Turkeys aren't call shy, they're hunter (with a call) shy.

From the moment they peck out of a shell...even before that as mama talks to them during incubation...they've heard hen talk. Every day of their life. The moment they associate hen talk with human is when the skepticism begins. On public land they get the human-yelp treatment almost daily. Throw in a couple of near misses with #6s or their buddy flopping next to them; lesson learned.

Hen talk = go the other way (unless she comes me so I can see her and validate she's not toting a 12ga).

 

[Roost 1]

If yall are implying that you can indeed call in every gobbler in the woods, I'm not buying it...I've hunted too much highly pressured public land to believe this. Now whether the birds are call shy or hunter shy or whatever you want to call it, I don't know the answer. I have watched lone birds turn and run as soon as you call at them so I know they were certainly scared of the call.

 

[Setterman]

I think it's primarily the caller but the right call in the hands of an experienced caller and woodsman who understands turkeys is beyond lethal.

I do think that many cheap calls especially friction calls are less apt to elicit gobbles then higher end calls with proper tones. Specifically when dealing with henned up birds

 

[REN]

If yall are implying that you can indeed call in every gobbler in the woods, I'm not buying it...I've hunted too much highly pressured public land to believe this. Now whether the birds are call shy or hunter shy or whatever you want to call it, I don't know the answer. I have watched lone birds turn and run as soon as you call at them so I know they were certainly scared of the call.

not exactly what i was getting at. All i was saying is i don't buy into the theory of gobblers getting "call shy" more in the term then anything else. Same as i don't care for the excuse hunters ALWAYS use when they are not hearing or seeing birds is they are "Hen'd up bad". Yes high pressure gobblers are much more weary then low pressure areas, yes they will start to associate louder more aggressive type of calling with added weariness. Having said that i do believe most any gobbler can be called on any given day regardless of pressure. You will have to totally change your calling style for higher pressure birds but to say they flat out can't be called is silly. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow but he can be called on any given day if he is in the mood to be called.

 

[Layne]

...sometimes the best thing a hunter can do with a call is put it in their pocket.

Agreed. Setting up properly, calling sparingly and scratching in the leaves while staying attune to one's surroundings (focused and listening) will kill more birds than toting a dozen custom calls in the woods and squawking on them incessantly.

Only a dozen calls? You need more calls son and try and squawk on two of them at a time incessantly, you will kill more birds that way. If you can ever get good at working a mouth call and a trumpet at the same time you will have the magic combo, works every time...

 

[Andy S.]

Only a dozen calls? You need more calls son and try and squawk on two of them at a time incessantly, you will kill more birds that way.

I hear ya Layne, LOL

If you can ever get good at working a mouth call and a trumpet at the same time you will have the magic combo, works every time...

My turkey hunting buddy is excellent on both, thus why those are the only two calls he totes each spring. He doesn't even wear a vest, and hasn't for some time now, which is really nice on those hotter days.

 

[Mike Belt]

Fighting Purrs. I've called in multiples using this technique but they always seem to be juvenile birds. Kind of comical watching 5 or 6 of them racing in while fighting each other trying to be first.

 

[Woodsman10]

Definitely the user of the calls. But Woodsmanship, patience, and knowing the way of the land and wild turkey tendencies while calling probably kills the most birds.

The most important thing to have thought is a good place, a good job, and a good wife.


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[Andy S.]

If you can ever get good at working a mouth call and a trumpet at the same time you will have the magic combo, works every time...

Darnit Layne, you got me. I was thinking about your reply last night and I realized I had misinterpreted your post as a sincere reply, when in fact it was a facetious one. Once I re-read it this morning I realized you sent that one right over my head. I owe you on!

 

[Layne]

I was just funnin with ya, your answer was better anyway... That's ok, you don't owe me, that ones on me...

 

[fairchaser]

If you can ever get good at working a mouth call and a trumpet at the same time you will have the magic combo, works every time...

Darnit Layne, you got me. I was thinking about your reply last night and I realized I had misinterpreted your post as a sincere reply, when in fact it was a facetious one. Once I re-read it this morning I realized you sent that one right over my head. I owe you on!

Andy, please refrain from using vocabulary over my head, OK! Lol, I'm only being facetious! :tu:

 

[Huntaholic]

90% location, 10% calling ability.

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

If yall are implying that you can indeed call in every gobbler in the woods, I'm not buying it...I've hunted too much highly pressured public land to believe this. Now whether the birds are call shy or hunter shy or whatever you want to call it, I don't know the answer. I have watched lone birds turn and run as soon as you call at them so I know they were certainly scared of the call.

AT anytime no, but I'd say that every gobbler in the woods is jake stupid killable at some point during the season. It may be opening morning or it may be 2 hours before roost time closing day. But at some point during the season that bird is killable

 

[Roost 1]

If yall are implying that you can indeed call in every gobbler in the woods, I'm not buying it...I've hunted too much highly pressured public land to believe this. Now whether the birds are call shy or hunter shy or whatever you want to call it, I don't know the answer. I have watched lone birds turn and run as soon as you call at them so I know they were certainly scared of the call.

AT anytime no, but I'd say that every gobbler in the woods is jake stupid killable at some point during the season. It may be opening morning or it may be 2 hours before roost time closing day. But at some point during the season that bird is killable

Why do you think this? I seen gobblers have 30 hens on opening day and still have 10 in June, try calling one of these up. Try calling up a bird that has been hunted every day for 6 weeks at fort campbell by a 100 different hunters.
I'm not saying they are unkillable, but its not likely you will call them in....We hunted the same bird for 4yrs in GA on public land, he would gobble like crazy until you called that first time then he was done. We even surrounded him one day with 4 guys and no one called he disappeared like a ghost. I just dont believe every gobbler is capable of being called in, for whatever the reason.

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

If yall are implying that you can indeed call in every gobbler in the woods, I'm not buying it...I've hunted too much highly pressured public land to believe this. Now whether the birds are call shy or hunter shy or whatever you want to call it, I don't know the answer. I have watched lone birds turn and run as soon as you call at them so I know they were certainly scared of the call.

AT anytime no, but I'd say that every gobbler in the woods is jake stupid killable at some point during the season. It may be opening morning or it may be 2 hours before roost time closing day. But at some point during the season that bird is killable

Why do you think this? I seen gobblers have 30 hens on opening day and still have 10 in June, try calling one of these up. Try calling up a bird that has been hunted every day for 6 weeks at fort campbell by a 100 different hunters.
I'm not saying they are unkillable, but its not likely you will call them in....We hunted the same bird for 4yrs in GA on public land, he would gobble like crazy until you called that first time then he was done. We even surrounded him one day with 4 guys and no one called he disappeared like a ghost. I just dont believe every gobbler is capable of being called in, for whatever the reason.

Just my opinion, hens or no hens 1 or 50 you just have to be there at the right time to catch him/them in the right mood