The magic of Spring is like nothing else, there are so many sights and sounds that a turkey hunter gets to witness that it's rarely a somber experience in the turkey woods. A common spring sound that turkey hunters will hear is the excited cutting of a hen. When a hen cuts she's aggressively communicating with other turkeys to either make her presence known or find out where other turkeys are. That being the case, it's important to understand the cut, how it's used, and of course, how to reproduce the sound. Adding the cutting of a hen to your arsenal of spring turkey sounds can open up a whole plethora of new turkey language that you will quickly find can lead to some repeated success in notching your turkey tags time and time again. What is the cut of a hen? - Cutting of a hen is a rapid-fire type calling sequence a hen will do in an excited manner to grab the attention of other turkeys. When hens cut, they are oftentimes seeking a nearby gobbler. The sporadic nature of the call leaves short intervals between each sharp and energetic cluck for her to listen for a responding gobbler. Typically in the Spring, longbeards like to acknowledge their request with a responding gobble. When listening to hens cut, hunters will notice there are untimed and nearly unpredictable spaces between each sound that give the tom a moment to respond. Now to say that this is the only reason a hen would cut would be a fallacy. Hens may cut at other hens, or even an intruder of sorts onto an area that she's taken up as her own for the time. To truly say one understands what birds are communicating is a bit of hocus pocus. A sure bet, however, is that a cut is usually not used as an alarm sound and indicates an excited hen who is either pissed off or looking to get walked on top of. Hens who are unapproving of other hens will often cut at one another which can then lead to hen fighting. Regardless of any of the translations, hens are involved, and as I like to say, "Where there is smoke there's fire!"
To cut or not to cut? That is the question - When to cut and when not to cut is strictly situational. There have been times, where even in the earliest, pre-dawn minutes hens will display a whole spectrum of turkey sounds, including the cut. Typically, however, in the early minutes of the day as the sun is breaking the birds will only give way to very subtle and contented calls like tree yelps or tree calling. Using softer calling and calls like the Longview Limb Fiddle, are very effective at first daylight to mimic these subtle hen sounds. If calling is aggressive in the early morning, however, then as I always imply, "Join the party!".
When deciding to cut like a hen, however one thing to be mindful of is that a gobbler may be close and you will likely get his attention. Will cutting bring that old wary tom on into shotgun range? Well possibly. possibly not. If you working to locate a bird, however, and fire off a staccato burst of cutts, and he does answer, then you best be looking for a place to hunker down however cause he could be there in seconds. Cutting is one of the most aggressive, exciting, and effective calls a turkey hunter can deploy. For this, it sits among my favorite sounds to use on a regular day-to-day basis in the turkey woods.
How to make a cut sound with a turkey call? - Cutting is not that difficult. Briefly let's discuss how to make the sound on a box call so you can use this to help mimic the sound you are looking for. First, I want to imply a bit of a comparison. In music, there is a term known as staccato. This indicates that each note is performed sharply and independently. The etymology of staccato is Italian for detached or separated. When producing the cutting sounds of a hen, its important to do so in a staccato or sharp and detached manner. With a box call, the sound can be produced by either holding the box side in one hand while quickly popping the lid across the box top sharply in an impromptu rhythm. Another method is to use back pressure on the lid with the thumb from one hand while quickly tapping or slapping the opposing side of the lid. On a slate call or the like, cuts are produced with quick sharp clucks my striking the peg striker onto the friction surface.
When using a mouth call, one must depend on their lips, and cheeks to help produce the sound. Employing the basic tactic of pushing air across the reed while quickly and independently popping the lips together will produce the raspy cutts of a wild hen turkey. There can be some variables here that can be mimicked by slightly dropping the jaw, and using more or less cheek for the purpose. This is all something that comes with time and lots of practice. There is no easy way around it. Yes, some folks can quickly get it and, some it takes forever. But the harder and more we work at something the better we become. No different than playing the guitar or any other skill, just decide, how good do you want to be?
Side note warning! -Marcom Gladwell, best-selling author of his famed book "Outliers" claimed that it takes 10,000 hours on average of deliberate practice at something to become an expert. Deliberate practice entails setting goals, and monitoring achievement while consistently performing improvement exercises. Breaking that down a bit, 10,000 hours, divided by 10 years, equals 1000 hours yearly. 1000 annual hours, divided by 52 weeks equals a touch over 19 hours weekly. So in a week, one needs to practice nearly 3 hours daily, in a strategically planned, consistent, and disciplined manner to achieve expert level within a decade. Conclusion: I believe there are a lot fewer "Expert" turkey callers than one may believe. And so for this, all of you reading this can get where you can effectively call turkeys with just a mild amount of committed effort.
Be sure and check out these informative videos that show how to produce the various sounds of the wild turkey. Turkey hunting can be among the most rewarding undertakings an outdoor lover can pursue. When a gobbler falls for your schemes its about as good as a feeling as one could ask for. Having harvested many nice mature whitetails and various other game animals, and taken a number of wild turkeys across the country. I can assure you, "There Ain't Nothing Like It!"
Good Luck & Make Him Gobble - Edward
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