# How much should you call when turkey hunting.



## Road Runner (Mar 20, 2010)

I have been turkey hunting for 6 years now. All of my hunting has been on public ground. I have been lucky enough to harvest a few turkeys here and there mostly Jakes. What I do the most though is mess up my set-ups. I have had Tom's that gobble a hundred times but I cannot get them to come in. I have seen turkeys run the other way as soon as I make a call. I have had a lot of silent days in the woods no gobbles or other turkey sounds period. I think I call too much but I don't know how to gauge what is the right amount of calling. How do you decide when to call and when to sit silently?


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## utduckguy (Dec 30, 2009)

Thats why trukey hunting is hard.The birds change there habits day to day.I like to be agressive when I know a tom is close and gobbling alot himself.When I dont hear anything from him for a few mins after calling I wait for a few mins (5-10mins) before calling to see if he is still close.You have to remember turkeys will not respond all the time.You have to learn to adjust to them and what there are doing and not doing.I learned this last year with a very hard hunt even though I heard them and saw them they were very hard to get in to get a shot,I was the only one in my group that got a bird and it was the last morning of our trip.Turkeys are not stupied birds they make you look stupied more than not.Keep at it thats what makes this hunt so challenging and great! :mrgreen:


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Well, you're asking the impossible question, but here is a couple stratogies that will often times work.
1) If you're in an area that you know has birds, do a quiet call, clucks, maybe a soft yelp or two, if he answers, make no more calls for aleast 2-3 minutes and then repeat process...nothing loud or aggressive...if he answers and sounds closer, stop calling and get your gun up...if he doesn't show up shortly, start over again and if he still doesn't show up, probably already with some lady friends and ain't coming to your party. 
2) If you're not sure there are birds in the area, call pretty loud, maybe a string of yelps, he calls back...stop calling for a couple minutes, then call a little less aggressively...listen to his response, is he closer, if so he might be coming, give him a few more minutes, if he doesn't show up, repeat the whole process one more time, if he still isn't getting closer, he ain't comin...probably henned up and happy. 
I think the most common mistake is to continue to call agressively after you have establish contact with a bird. If he answers you and after the second response from him he doesn't sound closer, the chances are very very good he won't come in...move on, you're wasting you're time. I guess in conclusion I'd say, hunt till you find a hot bird cause he's the only bird that will really come in unless you're mighty darn close to him when you start calling.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

If calling was easy, we'd kill every tom out there! :lol: Even the best callers and hunter mess up often.

Some days toms just won't work no matter what you do, sometimes you don't have time to even get set up.

If he is gobbling his butt off but won't move, shut up, be still, and be patient, sometimes they will finally wonder in to check for that hen once the other ones leave them.


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## utduckguy (Dec 30, 2009)

Hey Mojo we missed you at the willard spur nesting project did you make it to the cutler clean up?


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## birdman (Nov 21, 2007)

To add to what BP said...I hunt public land in several states and one thing I've learned is that less is often more on those pressured birds. If I get a bird located before fly down I'll give one series of very, I mean very, soft tree yelps. If he gobbles back I'm done calling until he's on the ground. If he doesn't gobble back, I'll increase the volume for one more series of tree yelps. If that doesn't get a response I'm still done until he flies down. It sure is fun to hear them gobble but calling a lot to them on the roost sometimes ensures that they stay on the limb until much later waiting for that hen to show up. Same is true if it's later in the morning and he's in his strut zone. If it becomes clear to me that he isn't moving I'll often quit calling and see if he moves off. If he's stood in one area for 30 minutes gobbling at everything and doesn't move you can be sure he isn't coming no matter how you call. I don't know how many times I've let a bird drift away and run right to the place he was standing for the last 30 minutes, make one call and have him come running right back to me. I would say the average number of calls I've made to public land birds that I've killed in the last 5 years is somewhere right around 3-4.


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## Road Runner (Mar 20, 2010)

Thanks for the info. I have some new things to try now. From your responses I am sure that I call too much. I sure love to here them gobble but I will have to stop over doing it. Maybe one day I will have enough tricks to get some of those long beards.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

utduckguy said:


> Hey Mojo we missed you at the willard spur nesting project did you make it to the cutler clean up?


Yeah I was at Culter; would have been at the spur but I was down sick as a dog. I leave Friday to wack some Oklahoma toms.


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