Henned up toms
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Redwood Falls Minnesota USA
Posts: 16
Henned up toms
As far as I know I've only experienced this one time and happened to shoot him,luckily, but I think I ran into it the year before last but its hard to say, my point is, how do you know if the gobblers your workin are henned up? If they are, what do you do to get the hen(s) fired up and come after you? like what kind of calls do you make,etc.? I've always wondered this, thanks.
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NewLowell ,Ontario ,Canada
Posts: 2,765
RE: Henned up toms
Most times a Henned Up Tom likes to gobble to your calls but will not come in, if you hear this and the Gobbling is coming from the same area and won't move or gobbles and seems to move off slowly, most times he is with hens and just won't leave the real thing. He'll follow around his Hens and gobble to your calls to invite you to his little group.
To work Henned Up Toms:
1/ There are a no# of ways to work these birds and One is to try to Cut him off on a travel route that he and his hens will take when heading too one of the places they spend time. ( Food ,Fields)
2/ Slapping the hen in the face with calling is another, If you can get a rise out of the Boss Hen and have her anwser you , cut her calling off with some Cutting this can make her mad and challange you to a arguement or fight, your telling her your taking over the area. Mad as she is she may come right to you to whip your butt. This is the time to be ready for a following Tom.
3/ If all else fails , try the old Fall tectnic. Bust the birds in the evening and be set up as close to the Tom as possible with out giveing yourself away to him. You may be the first hen he sees after first light.
...BT
Edited by - BOSSTOM on 02/15/2002 06:13:24
To work Henned Up Toms:
1/ There are a no# of ways to work these birds and One is to try to Cut him off on a travel route that he and his hens will take when heading too one of the places they spend time. ( Food ,Fields)
2/ Slapping the hen in the face with calling is another, If you can get a rise out of the Boss Hen and have her anwser you , cut her calling off with some Cutting this can make her mad and challange you to a arguement or fight, your telling her your taking over the area. Mad as she is she may come right to you to whip your butt. This is the time to be ready for a following Tom.
3/ If all else fails , try the old Fall tectnic. Bust the birds in the evening and be set up as close to the Tom as possible with out giveing yourself away to him. You may be the first hen he sees after first light.
...BT
Edited by - BOSSTOM on 02/15/2002 06:13:24
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Redwood Falls Minnesota USA
Posts: 16
RE: Henned up toms
Thanks a lot guys, that should help out. How exactly do you cut? is it sort of like fast clucking? except no real end like say a cluck is ert, ert would a cut then be like er er er er er ?? heh if that makes any sense. Will the hen start calling back if she's getting mad? will she cut back or..? Thanks much!
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Canton NY USA
Posts: 8
RE: Henned up toms
Just keep in mind that not all gobbling turkeys, or hanged up birds are henned up. Its been my experinece that most turkeys that are gobbling after fly down do not have hens. You are trying to reverse nature and he wants you to come to him that is the major reason for "gobbling birds" that wont come in, in my opinion its not the hens. Most of the time when birds are with hens they just dont gobble at all. They are so use to hens running to them they see no reason to change that. So what you do will depend on the time of year, early in the season, i am aggressive, because i know if he keeps gobbling he will eventually attract a hen, and then all is quite. Season after season i have seen hens running to gobblers. Later in the season i assume its a bird that has been messed with or just is set on you comeing to him. So i play hard to get with soft calls changing position often and calling in sets every fifteen minutes or so. Hope this helps...
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Calif
Posts: 1,894
RE: Henned up toms
BT by golly I wish I could've been to that seminar!"Good response"!I also agree with ttracker here too.Gobblers have strut zones and hens will go to these areas daily to meet up with ole longbeard.When it comes to a big ole gobbler that has hens or is meeting up with them everyday I dont neccessarily try and conquer him in one day especially on private property.The worst thing you can do to make things more difficult for yourself is spook him out of his regular everyday pattern.I try and key in on these strut zones that he will visit daily and have found that usually first thing in the morning thats where he goes to right off the roost.Been quite a few years back but I took a nice tom sporting 4 beards,that every morning even if hens were with him in the roost he would come off the roost and run to a little flat that he had claimed as his place to spit-drum for the ladies.I set-up on him for almost a week in the roost,and he would gobble his fool head off at every call but when he left the tree he would go directly to that spot expecting the hens to show up there as he strutted his stuff for them.I finally got smart and set-up in his little strut zone after patterning him and he walked right in my lap gobbling all the way.If you have the time and opportunity, be patient, and pattern your bird in trying to learn where his strut zones our because they all have em!<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>