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Your routine??

Poleaxe

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Like to hear some input on people's early morning calling routines. How do you call if you have multiple gobblers around you? I'm definitely on the birds but still making greenie mistakes. If I could use a mouth call I could've filled my tags a week ago, but I'm having trouble closing those last 40yrds. I always start off with some light tree yelps and getting harder before fly down and after fly down I add some Cutts and purrs with my yelps. I will admit I have over called a couple birds but I still having a hard time figuring out how much is enough.
 
I rarely call to a bird on the limb if I do its just real soft. I mainly just soft call anyways unless a bird is answering me but won't budge then I'll get a little aggressive or if he has hens and they are vocal I'll get aggressive with them and try to get them fired up and to come check me out with the gobbler in tow, that's worked for me several times. If I'm calling to a bird and he's answering and I know he's coming i won't make another peep and make him come looking for me.
 
I usually only give a few soft calls and if he responds I will hush because he knows where you are.. When it gets close to fly down, I will grab my hat and hit it against my leg like the hen just flew down. Usually works pretty good. Set up on one last Saturday and did this, as soon as he heard the fly down of my hat, he flew down immediately and pretty much in my lap! He didn't have his feet on the ground maybe less than 10 sec and I rolled him!
 
I have started calling less on roost and wait till I hear one gobbling on the ground and then go after him. If there's no gobbling on the ground I go towards a likely candidate that was gobbling on the limb. I don't get to hunt many mornings anymore, and haven't roosters bird in a long time, so I prefer to listen from a high point and then chase them after fly down. Then I will either call to locate one, or set up on a gobbling bird and then start calling.


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Try to set up to where he will be in range before he can see where you are calling from. Also try scratching in the leaves.
 
I try not to call when they're still roosted other than softly a few times to let him know there's a "hen" close by. If a boss hen gets pissed off and starts raising cane then I mock everything she does hoping that she's so pissed off that she'll fly down and find that loud mouth hen ultimately pulling the gobbler with her.
 
i honestly don't have a real routine, i just take each day on how they are sounding. some days i don't call at all if i know I'm where they want to go, some days i call a lot. I tend to call soft most days but there are days where i try to get aggressive to get the hens with them angry so she will come my way. every day is different day it seems.
 
Yea no set routine. I call more than most. I want him to think I'm the first and best hen on the ground. A lot of times they pitch down and walk straight to me. Now if that don't work I scale it back. See what the bird like. I once called 2 across a 100 acre field. I could see them most of the time and when I quit calling they would turn and go the other way so I basically called non stop for 30 minutes and shot one of them at 25 yards. There is no set routine.
 
Everyone has always told me to talk sweet to em on the limb. Maybe that's hurting me. I heard a couple hens early in the season that really got tore up. They were anything but soft. Close friend of mine calls to em and cuts hard on the roost and most always gets em in front of him on fly down. Guess I ease up on my calling a bit. I just always worry they ain't hearing what I'm sending. How can 2 guy's whisper in the woods and have turkeys come to them but calling to hard can hurt you? How good can they hear?
 
I know one thing. It took alot of practice to use that crystal mistress softly. I am almost certain a couple of my mistakes have come from trying to call that bird that's 200yrds away in like he was quarter mile away. They've always answered back but that's it. Then again the ones I have blind called in and couldn't close the distance I probably shouldve called softer or quit calling.
 
Glad you asked this question. As a novice I have wondered the same thing. Thanks.
 
IMO, the most important thing to try to figure out is whether that bird is roosted close to hens. If he doesn't have hens, and especially if he hasn't been peppered with shot coming to a call a few times already this season, you can pretty much do anything you want with a call and he'll come if he's gobbling on the roost.

I try to get at least within 150 yards of him in the tree. Definetly as close as possible as long as I can identify which tree he's in and I know he won't see me approach. I universally start out with just a few soft tree yelps. I will then get a bit louder until he answers (so I KNOW he heard me). Once he answers, that's it... I don't call again until I think he's about to flydown. I use this time to listen for other hens in the area. If no hens are heard, I'll usually start clucking and yelping off and on until he's on the ground. Then it's just some purrs, clucks, and very soft social yelps until he's in range.

If he has hens but they are separated by 100 yards or more, I still have hope. I'll usually try to mimic the most vocal hen, but call back about half as much as she is calling. I ignore the gobbler and his responses, as I'm trying to get that hen to pitch out of the trees first and come to me. Have to be careful here... in my experience, too much calling will just push the boss hen and they rest of the crew 180 degrees away in the opposite direction and the hunt is over unless there is another silent gobbler around. Have to also be careful to watch out for the dreaded tree-hopping hen... the one that won't pitch down, but jumps from limb to limb till she gets over you.

If the gobbler and hens are roosted together, I don't have high expectations. The first time I set up on a roosted gobbler with hens close, I'll usually kee-kee more than anything to try to pull the hens to me. That usually fails and I leave to find other birds. The second time I set up on that same bird another morning, I'll throw the entire book calling to the gobbler hoping to pull him off the limb and onto the ground. I mean, literally, I will call nonstop for 2-3 minutes straight when I think it's just light enough for him to be able to see to flydown. I've killed several doing that, but we're talking 4 or 5 times out of over 100 tries. Usually the boss hen just takes the crew in the opposite direction with the gobbler nonstop gobbling farther and farther and farther away. It's just tough to get a LB to actually leave a real hen who he has successfully mated with before when she's in sight.

After the morning hunt, I've either killed or the birds evaded me. If you don't have another place to hunt, the best thing is to just take a nap for a couple hours, quit calling, and try to move to where the flock likes to hang out during the day. I've had good success with toms that had hens in the morning catching them mid day when the hens have moved off to lay. I'll call in the general area, if I get a response, I'll move 1/4 the distance to the bird. Call a second time, and if he's coming, I'll set up and finish him off in a few minutes. If he didn't budge after the second call, I'll try my best to get close enough to see him and whether he has hens. Just one or two hens, and I'll wait him out hoping they break off. If he has more than 5, I'm off to try to locate another bird.

Since I have a fair amount of land to hunt, that's pretty much what I do for the rest of the entire day... however, I do like to glass from the roads right before flyup in the evenings to put toms on the limb for the next morning. I'd much rather get another morning hunt out of a bird than shoot him the evening before set up under a favorite roosting tree. When I added up the days of my first trips to TN, I ended up with 7 out of 7 mornings being set up on a roosted bird (only actually killed 3 out of those 7, though).
 
megalomaniac":3iz2gjnc said:
IMO, the most important thing to try to figure out is whether that bird is roosted close to hens. If he doesn't have hens, and especially if he hasn't been peppered with shot coming to a call a few times already this season, you can pretty much do anything you want with a call and he'll come if he's gobbling on the roost.

I try to get at least within 150 yards of him in the tree. Definetly as close as possible as long as I can identify which tree he's in and I know he won't see me approach. I universally start out with just a few soft tree yelps. I will then get a bit louder until he answers (so I KNOW he heard me). Once he answers, that's it... I don't call again until I think he's about to flydown. I use this time to listen for other hens in the area. If no hens are heard, I'll usually start clucking and yelping off and on until he's on the ground. Then it's just some purrs, clucks, and very soft social yelps until he's in range.

If he has hens but they are separated by 100 yards or more, I still have hope. I'll usually try to mimic the most vocal hen, but call back about half as much as she is calling. I ignore the gobbler and his responses, as I'm trying to get that hen to pitch out of the trees first and come to me. Have to be careful here... in my experience, too much calling will just push the boss hen and they rest of the crew 180 degrees away in the opposite direction and the hunt is over unless there is another silent gobbler around. Have to also be careful to watch out for the dreaded tree-hopping hen... the one that won't pitch down, but jumps from limb to limb till she gets over you.

If the gobbler and hens are roosted together, I don't have high expectations. The first time I set up on a roosted gobbler with hens close, I'll usually kee-kee more than anything to try to pull the hens to me. That usually fails and I leave to find other birds. The second time I set up on that same bird another morning, I'll throw the entire book calling to the gobbler hoping to pull him off the limb and onto the ground. I mean, literally, I will call nonstop for 2-3 minutes straight when I think it's just light enough for him to be able to see to flydown. I've killed several doing that, but we're talking 4 or 5 times out of over 100 tries. Usually the boss hen just takes the crew in the opposite direction with the gobbler nonstop gobbling farther and farther and farther away. It's just tough to get a LB to actually leave a real hen who he has successfully mated with before when she's in sight.

After the morning hunt, I've either killed or the birds evaded me. If you don't have another place to hunt, the best thing is to just take a nap for a couple hours, quit calling, and try to move to where the flock likes to hang out during the day. I've had good success with toms that had hens in the morning catching them mid day when the hens have moved off to lay. I'll call in the general area, if I get a response, I'll move 1/4 the distance to the bird. Call a second time, and if he's coming, I'll set up and finish him off in a few minutes. If he didn't budge after the second call, I'll try my best to get close enough to see him and whether he has hens. Just one or two hens, and I'll wait him out hoping they break off. If he has more than 5, I'm off to try to locate another bird.

Since I have a fair amount of land to hunt, that's pretty much what I do for the rest of the entire day... however, I do like to glass from the roads right before flyup in the evenings to put toms on the limb for the next morning. I'd much rather get another morning hunt out of a bird than shoot him the evening before set up under a favorite roosting tree. When I added up the days of my first trips to TN, I ended up with 7 out of 7 mornings being set up on a roosted bird (only actually killed 3 out of those 7, though).


I'm so over these birds. I can't figure out where I messed up. I was setup so perfect this morning. Knowing where two gobblers normally roost inside the field corner on the end of a ridge I cut up about 300yrds below them walking 3/4 to the top and then cut towards them. About 150yrds away I hear them sound off. I get within 100yrds not even breaking a twig and sit down. I let them fire off for 30min. I didn't hear the first hen so I figured it would be a done deal quick. Their gobbles sounded like they were on the ground pacing like they usually are. So I started soft yelping and they answered back. I made some soft cuts and a fly down cackle. Then to my amazement I got a glimpse of them flying down and they hit the ground and walked over the ridge. Maybe their was a hen they saw or heard that I didn't. I would've bet the bank they were already on the ground. Guess they musta been turning around on the limb. I heard another bird a long ways behind me so I picked up to make a play on him. Being so green with the spring foliage emerging those what sounded like 400yrds away wasn't but 100yrds away and I bumped him. That happened twice today. But I still can't figure out what happened at daylight. I'm sure he was 100yrds because I know the trees they roost in. Whoever said hunting turkeys gets easier further in the season I just don't see it. I heard probably 10 different birds today and I came home empty handed again. Grrrr.
 
Poleaxe":3ku6g8dw said:
Everyone has always told me to talk sweet to em on the limb. Maybe that's hurting me. I heard a couple hens early in the season that really got tore up. They were anything but soft. Close friend of mine calls to em and cuts hard on the roost and most always gets em in front of him on fly down. Guess I ease up on my calling a bit. I just always worry they ain't hearing what I'm sending. How can 2 guy's whisper in the woods and have turkeys come to them but calling to hard can hurt you? How good can they hear?

I think your misunderstanding the reason people call less or softly on the roost.
It's not that the volume scares the bird.
The reason is you don't want to sound desperate. You want him to be desperate.
I have watched a Tom stay in the tree until a loud mouth hen comes in and he can see her. Then he will fly down.
It has been my observation that the same happened back in my early career, I would call loud and often while he was on the limb and the bird would just stay up in the tree waiting on that desperate hen to show up.
I won't call to one on the limb. I make my first calls after I can tell his gobble has changed cause he is on the ground. Once I know he gobbles at my calling I will not call again. Make him get desperate and come looking for you.
 

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