Whats the best????????
04-04-2006, 09:52 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Chickasha, Ok
Posts: 364
Whats the best????????
Hey guys I ampretty new to turkey hunting (second year) and my season opens up on Thursday the 6th. Well what I was wondering is whats the best way to setup on a turkey. Should I set a single hen decoy and just try a lonesome hen yelp, or multiple decoys. Or put a Jake decoy out and use a gobbler yelp with some shock gobbles or what. I really don't know a whole lot about turkey calling but I have practiced enought that I can do it. And I know I have about 5 really good toms on some of my land and about 4 on my other land so I don't lack the turkey just the experiece. Any help would be greatly appreciated...
04-04-2006, 10:20 AM
#2
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Georiga, Texas, and Ohio
Posts: 307
RE: Whats the best????????
Buckmasterflex,
I'm going to include some pretty lengthy paragraphs, which I've replied to this past week. Hope this helps! GOOD LUCK!
(1)
I like to let the tom gobble naturally (without locator calls). After you locate a bird, try to get 80-100 yards from him or some where in your comfort zone. After you get positioned give him some soft tree yelps and see what happens. If nothing happens, get louder so he can hear you. If he responds, give him a couple excited yelps followed by a fly down cackle and listen for 3 - 5 minutes. Now, if he starts gobbling his head off keep him going. Give him some more yelps and keep it in short series. If you notice his gobble is getting louder then get ready cause he's coming your way. Like I said before Patience is going to be your biggest obstacle asa young hunter. Shoot I'm 24 years old and I still have problems with patience. Just know that if he's responding extremely well, then the ball is almost on your side of the court. If the gobbles are getting louder then there’s a high probability he's heading your way. If you do encounter this, then quit calling and fight the urge to call again. This use to be my biggest problem. Oncea bird falls to my calls andhe's headed my way I'll over do the calling. In more cases than one, a gobbler will lose interest and head off in another direction. Don't get me wrong, I've filmed many turkey's that I call the "show boat gobblers," because from fly down, to the time I shot the turkey, the gobbler would gobble almost every time I called. I would throw every single call at him from the time he hit the ground from roost till the time he hit the ground from my shotgun
(2)
Since your friend wants to shoot no more than 20 yards, putting a jake decoy at 25 yards will bring a tom in right at 20 yards. Normally, a tom will come strutting in and will face the jake decoy before he initiates a fight with decoy. When I hunt with my bow, I'll position jake decoy at 20 yards facing me and as gobbler comes in he'll circle decoy in a strutting position then will face decoy before he spurs the jake.
(3)
Well, I wouldn't justify the fact that there weren't any hens with him or in his vicinity. In my experience, I've encountered many gobblers like this. When they are on roost, they tear it up, which is a natural trait they possess, but once they hit ground they either shut up, or just gobble hear and there. Why they gobble here and there is mostly because there's a hen in his general area and he'll continue to gobble until they within 10 yards from each other. Then he goes into full strut mode. He'll spit and drum until he breeds her, which could take hours. Now my personal favorite time to hunt other than sunrise is after 12 pm. Some states don't allow afternoon hunting, which really sucks. Because I've killed most of my nicest birds after 12. Reason being, is the tom has bred the hen(s) and is now just roaming the land looking for other hen(s) to bred. This is when a gobbler becomes the most vulnerable. Now, if you can roost a gobbler the night before the hunt, try slipping in as close as you can without busting him off the roost, and set up. Once flydown time approaches give him some soft tree yelps, followed by a fly down cackle. If this doesn't lure him in then I don't know what will. The method above (getting close before sunrise) lets you get to the gobbler before the hen does. Generally the gobbler fly’s down torward the hens at flydown time. So this opens up doors for a possible kill. Hope this helps and good luck the rest of 2006 season!
(4)
jrbsr,
it sounds like you've encountered the mysterious "henned up gobbler!" I'll give you a run down on past situations I've encountered in my past 19 years of turkey hunting. This past weekend I went scouting with a good friend from Wellston, Ohio. Well, we both went you Sunday morning and heard many gobbles, maybe 15 in every direction. After flydown, every single gobbler shut up except for maybe 3 or 4 birds. Now, the logic to this explanation is at this point in the season most birds are still flocked up. Meaning their still in their winter flocks. Now to make things simpler, these birds are already surrounded by many hens. This almost makes turkey hunting difficult. When you said that all you hear is "spittin' n drummin" well this pretty much sums up my explanation. The gobbler has hens present and really doesn't have a need to gobble. Next time, try owl hooting, crow calling, blowing a pileated woodpecker call, or if your area permits blow a coyote howler. This will sometimes shock a turkey into gobbling. This past weekend, we went to a WMA and tried to call in any birds that would respond to our calls. Well, around 9:00 am we saw a couple birds strutting ina field, so we slipped in and tried many different calls. Mainly some soft yelps, purrs, and clucks, you know the basics. Well after 30 minutes of nothing happening we tried some locator calls. Now once I blew a pileated woodpecker call, almost instantaneously he gobbled. This is just natural instincts for him to respond. Once he gobbled we slipped in as close as we possibly could and then tried calling to him. After I gave him some soft yelps followed by some excited, he gobbled and then I heard the dominant hen reply as well. Once I got in a calling battle with the hen, it was all over. She came in to check things out, and guess who followed...the big dog! My conclusion to this situation is I personally think that when I was calling from 80 yards the hen really didn't care about who I was, but once I was in her general area (within 50 yards) she didn't like it and came to investigate. Once you grasp a hens attention and there's a tom with her, you can almost predict the outcome. Just make sure when you try this maneuver, you know exactly where the flock is. If the gobbler gobbles, then try to get as close as you can without busting the flock.
Now with the problem with the gobbler across the rail road tracks...there's really not much you can do. If you have such and obstacle, which in your case you do, just try to pound him with calls. Let him know that you're ready to breed and then shut up and wait. Sometimes when there's a gobbler that is responding exceptionally well to your calls (triple gobbles and so forth) and there's an obstacle in between you and him, try excited yelps followed by excited cutts, and throw in some cackles. Do this for a good 3 - 5 minutes and then shut up. When I use this method, I get right on the property line (without the turkey being able to see me)and start calling like I listed below, but I do this while I'm walking in the opposite direction from the property line, hence your property. Make sure before you do this that he's really responding to your calls (double and triple gobbles) and then give him all of the sexiest calls you can produce as your walking away from him. To him, it sounds like she doesn't want him, or she's with another tom he'll possibly come in to investigate. Once you get 50 - 60 yards from where you started calling, sit down and wait for 30 minutes. You must remember that PATIENCE is a virtue to turkey hunting.
I'm going to include some pretty lengthy paragraphs, which I've replied to this past week. Hope this helps! GOOD LUCK!
(1)
I like to let the tom gobble naturally (without locator calls). After you locate a bird, try to get 80-100 yards from him or some where in your comfort zone. After you get positioned give him some soft tree yelps and see what happens. If nothing happens, get louder so he can hear you. If he responds, give him a couple excited yelps followed by a fly down cackle and listen for 3 - 5 minutes. Now, if he starts gobbling his head off keep him going. Give him some more yelps and keep it in short series. If you notice his gobble is getting louder then get ready cause he's coming your way. Like I said before Patience is going to be your biggest obstacle asa young hunter. Shoot I'm 24 years old and I still have problems with patience. Just know that if he's responding extremely well, then the ball is almost on your side of the court. If the gobbles are getting louder then there’s a high probability he's heading your way. If you do encounter this, then quit calling and fight the urge to call again. This use to be my biggest problem. Oncea bird falls to my calls andhe's headed my way I'll over do the calling. In more cases than one, a gobbler will lose interest and head off in another direction. Don't get me wrong, I've filmed many turkey's that I call the "show boat gobblers," because from fly down, to the time I shot the turkey, the gobbler would gobble almost every time I called. I would throw every single call at him from the time he hit the ground from roost till the time he hit the ground from my shotgun
(2)
Since your friend wants to shoot no more than 20 yards, putting a jake decoy at 25 yards will bring a tom in right at 20 yards. Normally, a tom will come strutting in and will face the jake decoy before he initiates a fight with decoy. When I hunt with my bow, I'll position jake decoy at 20 yards facing me and as gobbler comes in he'll circle decoy in a strutting position then will face decoy before he spurs the jake.
(3)
Well, I wouldn't justify the fact that there weren't any hens with him or in his vicinity. In my experience, I've encountered many gobblers like this. When they are on roost, they tear it up, which is a natural trait they possess, but once they hit ground they either shut up, or just gobble hear and there. Why they gobble here and there is mostly because there's a hen in his general area and he'll continue to gobble until they within 10 yards from each other. Then he goes into full strut mode. He'll spit and drum until he breeds her, which could take hours. Now my personal favorite time to hunt other than sunrise is after 12 pm. Some states don't allow afternoon hunting, which really sucks. Because I've killed most of my nicest birds after 12. Reason being, is the tom has bred the hen(s) and is now just roaming the land looking for other hen(s) to bred. This is when a gobbler becomes the most vulnerable. Now, if you can roost a gobbler the night before the hunt, try slipping in as close as you can without busting him off the roost, and set up. Once flydown time approaches give him some soft tree yelps, followed by a fly down cackle. If this doesn't lure him in then I don't know what will. The method above (getting close before sunrise) lets you get to the gobbler before the hen does. Generally the gobbler fly’s down torward the hens at flydown time. So this opens up doors for a possible kill. Hope this helps and good luck the rest of 2006 season!
(4)
jrbsr,
it sounds like you've encountered the mysterious "henned up gobbler!" I'll give you a run down on past situations I've encountered in my past 19 years of turkey hunting. This past weekend I went scouting with a good friend from Wellston, Ohio. Well, we both went you Sunday morning and heard many gobbles, maybe 15 in every direction. After flydown, every single gobbler shut up except for maybe 3 or 4 birds. Now, the logic to this explanation is at this point in the season most birds are still flocked up. Meaning their still in their winter flocks. Now to make things simpler, these birds are already surrounded by many hens. This almost makes turkey hunting difficult. When you said that all you hear is "spittin' n drummin" well this pretty much sums up my explanation. The gobbler has hens present and really doesn't have a need to gobble. Next time, try owl hooting, crow calling, blowing a pileated woodpecker call, or if your area permits blow a coyote howler. This will sometimes shock a turkey into gobbling. This past weekend, we went to a WMA and tried to call in any birds that would respond to our calls. Well, around 9:00 am we saw a couple birds strutting ina field, so we slipped in and tried many different calls. Mainly some soft yelps, purrs, and clucks, you know the basics. Well after 30 minutes of nothing happening we tried some locator calls. Now once I blew a pileated woodpecker call, almost instantaneously he gobbled. This is just natural instincts for him to respond. Once he gobbled we slipped in as close as we possibly could and then tried calling to him. After I gave him some soft yelps followed by some excited, he gobbled and then I heard the dominant hen reply as well. Once I got in a calling battle with the hen, it was all over. She came in to check things out, and guess who followed...the big dog! My conclusion to this situation is I personally think that when I was calling from 80 yards the hen really didn't care about who I was, but once I was in her general area (within 50 yards) she didn't like it and came to investigate. Once you grasp a hens attention and there's a tom with her, you can almost predict the outcome. Just make sure when you try this maneuver, you know exactly where the flock is. If the gobbler gobbles, then try to get as close as you can without busting the flock.
Now with the problem with the gobbler across the rail road tracks...there's really not much you can do. If you have such and obstacle, which in your case you do, just try to pound him with calls. Let him know that you're ready to breed and then shut up and wait. Sometimes when there's a gobbler that is responding exceptionally well to your calls (triple gobbles and so forth) and there's an obstacle in between you and him, try excited yelps followed by excited cutts, and throw in some cackles. Do this for a good 3 - 5 minutes and then shut up. When I use this method, I get right on the property line (without the turkey being able to see me)and start calling like I listed below, but I do this while I'm walking in the opposite direction from the property line, hence your property. Make sure before you do this that he's really responding to your calls (double and triple gobbles) and then give him all of the sexiest calls you can produce as your walking away from him. To him, it sounds like she doesn't want him, or she's with another tom he'll possibly come in to investigate. Once you get 50 - 60 yards from where you started calling, sit down and wait for 30 minutes. You must remember that PATIENCE is a virtue to turkey hunting.
