Hunting Spring Gobblers is among the most exciting undertakings the outdoors offers. When a longbeard gets excited and fires back at a hunter, especially within sub 40 yards, it really makes dealing with the mosquitos and ticks a fairly tolerable experience. While calling turkeys is exciting, it can be quite frustrating. Gobblers can be tough to figure out and there is no constant that one can easily depend on to find success every time afield. This is why constant learning, improvement, and sticking with it are important. As your knowledge and failures increase, so does your success rate. As with anything, the more you do it, the better you become. Some of the most common questions I hear this time of year is, "When should I call to a gobbler?" and "How much should I call to a gobbler?" While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to answering this, there are some strategies that have worked time and time again that can help to improve your odds of success. All that said, one thing to remember when calling turkeys is, "Less is More!"
One of the most important things to first understand about calling a wild turkey into gun range is to understand somewhat the behavior of the animal. With this, there are a lot of factors to be mindful of. For the purpose of this article, we will speak to that of spring behavior along with some generalized patterns that are fairly constant among the species as a whole. This is an important piece of the puzzle because turkey hunters need to think and act like a turkey, thus they can then call like turkeys.
First a bit about Spring behavior. The gobblers have now waited nearly 10-11 months to get out there and find hens. Testosterone levels are at an annual high for these longbeards, and they are as I like to say, "Looking for Love!" Fall flocks have dispersed and pecking orders have been determined, for the time being anyhow and longbeards are desperately seeking a small bit of attention from receptive hens. Calling on these turkeys can be very productive during this time of the year, as the birds don't want to miss out on an opportunity.
Calling turkeys in the spring, however, can be quite challenging because it's a bit contradictory in how things are intended to work. The typical scenario is, that the gobbler proclaims his dominion within that earshot area and congregates his group of hens. This could be 1, 2, or even 8 or more hens based on the time of spring. The biggest factor is that the hens by natural occurrence come to him. Their keen eyesight and hearing along with the wariness of anything getting too close makes it impossible to go to them for the most part. As a turkey hunter, we are challenged with going against nature's design and having the gobbler slip away to come to see what all the fuss is about. So how do we go against nature and convince a gobbler to come into our setup? Not the easiest of tasks, but can be done with some persistence and patience.
Turkey Behavior Primer -
Roosted Birds - Turkey season for the most part starts yearly the same for most all hunters around the corner. They've made their way into so dark woods in the pre-dawn hours and await for the sun to begin rising. As it breaks the horizon, the nightjars of an area will begin winding things down, as the songbirds take over. All of this symphony comes together in what's known as a dawn chorus. Among the choir is the Monarch of Spring, with his baritone vocalization known as a gobble. The gobble is the male turkeys vocalization with the intention of declaring his dominance and intention to defend his breeding stock, trying to attract other hens, or simply congregating his crew. The birds have now been roosted high in a tree top for nearly 11-12 hours and are ready to start their day. Hen turkeys, may or may not chime in early at dawn, tentative to various factors. Often however hens do like to join in with soft subtle calls that kick things off known as tree yelps. These faint, barely audible vocalizations are simple hens responding to their chosen mate and saying they are waking up and ready to get the day started. It can't be emphasized enough that tree yelps or tree calling is very soft and extremely passive. The birds are still a bit leery as the darkness is largely still a factor and limits their vision. This factor can be used in a turkey hunter's favor, however, the cautiousness of the species tends to keep them alive day and day, so trying to ease up on a roosted bird, usually ends in a flushed bird. So our best approach to calling to a roosted gobbler traditionally starts with tree yelps. The tree yelp implies to the gobbler that you're okay, and getting ready to fly down to come to meet up.
Henned up Gobblers - It's often thought that a henned-up gobbler cannot be called away from his ladies, this is not true. While it can be quite difficult. it's certainly not impossible. First a bit about the terminology. Henned up is a term coined to define a gobbler who has got everything he needs at his disposal. He's used to having his 3, 6, 10 hens at his ready every morning and so there's not a lot of reason to go venturing out. It doesn't mean however you can't pull him away, just have to think a bit more about what would make him break off. A few things here to consider is to really do the homework in scouting and knowing where he and his hens are setting up for roost and plan accordingly. If they are roosting tight with one another this can present some challenges that may be hard-pressed to score with. Knowing his typical pattern or patterns here is key. Oftentimes he will like to pitch down and congregate his crew in the same manner. Meaning that he will have an area known as a strut zone where he will typically hang out to attract these hens. It's honestly just about the scouting and the woodsmanship here. As the day etches on, often even henned-up gobblers will have some time when they are alone or have less company. This can present some good opportunities to notch a tag on a love-sick gobbler.
Late Morning & Into the Afternoon - Birds often fall quiet as the day stretches on. Seems the hotter the day, the less they will be calling too. But there are a lot of variables that make these turkeys tick that we just don't quite understand. All that said though, I know that when the air is hot, humid, and sticky as the day wears on, especially in the later parts of seasons. Calling turkeys becomes a whole lot tougher. The key here is less, is more. Just like you don't hear the birds as much in the mid-day, you should not be trying to get randomly aggressive. Pay attention to the songbird sounds surrounding you. Let nature help you to dictate, how much calling the birds are inclined to. Find areas along bottoms, food plots, and fields with shady areas where gobblers can strut. Going back to scouting, just learn to find those strut zones, and hunt them. If a gobbler struts somewhere regularly, you'll catch him slipping in just give it time. Use the mid Morning into that Afternoon to move strategically about with yelps and cutting to see if you can fire up an old tom. If he answers you this time of day, you better be ready.
A typical scenario should start with some tree yelps. Start with the energy that is present in the woods. If the birds are vocal that morning, then join in. If they are quiet you'll want to make sure and keep things toned down to meet the rhythm. If a gobbler is not responsive to your yelping give him some time and try a different call. Once he responds again I suggest going quiet for a bit. Now it's time to do a fly-down with or without cackles. Decide based on how vocal the birds are and if you have room to make a lot of movement. From there just use the bird's responses to help you judge how much you should dial into them. Check out the video below for other scenarios and sequences to help you make the best calls while working those longbeards. Good Luck & Make Him Gobble!
Edward McKellar
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