calling before flydown?

[Ky Headhunter]

Most turkey hunters I run into have fairly strong opinions on whether or not to call at a gobbler while he's still on the roost. What's your take on this, and if you do call, what might you throw at him?

I'll usually give a couple soft clucks/purts (half-a**ed yelp) shortly after he starts gobbling, then shut up AT LEAST until he's on the ground. I may even give him awhile on the ground before I'll call again. And when I say "a couple", I'm being fairly literal; 2 or 3 that's it.
One exception:
If hens start to become vocal when he starts gobbling, I'll start like usual. As flydown gets close I'll increase the soft talk (clucks, purrs, weak yelps) until it's pretty constant by the time they hit the ground. This tactic has given me a decent batting average when it comes to bringing the hens in, and several times I've killed gobblers that were in tow.

[GSP]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">This tactic has given me a decent batting average when it comes to bringing the hens in, and several times I've killed gobblers that were in tow.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
KY-
Sounds like you are doing something right. I wouldn't screw around with it. I don't call much to birds on roost where I hunt. I know the terrain well and I have plenty of hill cover so I can move as needed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

"Life's too short to hunt with an ugly dog".

[RutNBuck]

in the olden days of turkey hunting a hunter could merely make a few calls and that would usually be all he needed...
todays woods are filled with other hunters as well as abundance hen population...as we all know each turkey hunt is gonna be hit or miss
too little calling he might lose interests or someone else might slip in on him...
too much and he might shut up and expect you to come to him....
"Thats Why They Call It Hunting"
i assure you, each of us will make the wrong decision more then a time or two,but i'll be willing to bet those of us that do will look forward to other days in the woods....to out smart/fool the bird we respect


"A wise indian once said,the more you move the less you will see,the less you move the more you will see"

" I live to hunt, but my wife says i may hunting a place to live"

[Ky Headhunter]

gsp, not looking to change my ways! Just trying to drum up (pun intended) some conversation in this forum.
Of course I'm not too proud to try out a twist in strategy I pick up from someone else.

[Multidigits]

For me it depends on the plan for the day. If I'm into the 2nd or 3rd day trying to kill a certain bird, I may decide to set up for that bird. I'll pick the spot based on the prior days, then have decoys out and ready. I'll always call softly with some tree calls and some very light yelps. Hopefully, I'm set up in a good spot and the bird will gobble. When he does, I won't call again, because he knows where I'm at and will be looking when he's ready. IF he's coming, less calling is best.

But if the plan for the day is to run and gun, I'll not call until their on the ground, for sure. You have to know where he's at and what direction he's wanting to go. This is where your scouting or knowing the lay of the land helps greatly. Get in front, without getting too close, and call once till he answers. Shoulder the gun and wait. Sometimes it actually works.

[turk2di]

I get as close to the roosted tom as i can get(who doesn't).I will use my Turpin Yelper to toss out one, perhaps two, very low volume tree yelps and put it up.Won't call again til after he hit's the ground.Then after he is on terra firma, i,without all that cacklin, will use my Primos wing and flydown myself.Seems to work often enuf to be my MO from here on.

what u get out, is what u put in

[Feedman]

When I first started turkey hunting, I called and called to them when they were on the roost. Some came in and some would not. I think that with the increase in hunting pressure and more hens this has changed things. I now call very little when they are on the roost. Just 3 to 4 soft clucks or purrs. Let him know that you are there.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression

[schuyler olt]

If it's one bird, I'll try to get real close to the roost. I don't call at all until I get about where I think I need to be, then I'll call quietly just to locate him one more time.
If it's two or more birds, I'll ignore the closest bird but answer every gobble the distant bird makes. When the distant bird flies down, I'll cutt hard at him immediately. More than once I've had the near bird come in on a run with a head as red as fire!

[Huntaholic]

where did you guys learn these submissive, passive, tactics? Havent yall watched all the videos where they start calling before daybreak, and call constantly to the bird in the tree? Then after he flies down they continue to cutt, cackle, purr, lost yelp, cackle, cutt, right up till they pull the trigger? Works every time on TV! :rolleyes:
Yeah, I figure most of yall, like me, have learned the hard way, to only watch the videos for ENTERTAINMENT, forget about trying to use those methods. To answer your question, since all situations are different, the best way to say it is: I call ONLY as much as is ABSOLUTELY neccessary to kill the bird.

[Ky Headhunter]

Huntaholic, that's a lesson I had to learn the hard way! You're absolutely right, they should come with a warning label: FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY

"If it's two or more birds, I'll ignore the closest bird but answer every gobble the distant bird makes."
Thanks Schuyler, I'll be filing that one away for such a situation!

[greenskeeter]

If they rarely called on the videos, it would put more emphasis on the tactic and strategy, rather than the call or calls used. If they use three different calls on one hunt, I'm sure the sponsors are happy and the ad. money keeps coming in. Downside of course, is (as mentioned many times before), we learn the hard way.

[Feedman]

Huntaholic, I agree. The one thing that we have to remember is they have the power of editing. You often wonder how many times they just go out and sit up and call just to shoot footage for the show or tape.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression

[RutNBuck]

i can assure you that the same guys you see on the tapes have the same problems that we do...i hunt with a guy thats been on numerous of the tapes you see out on the market...many times he askes me what i would do when we start working a bird... 90% of what you see on those tapes is either hogwash, or to sell you something..

"A wise indian once said,the more you move the less you will see,the less you move the more you will see"

" I live to hunt, but my wife says i may be hunting a place to live"

[schuyler olt]

I went to a one shot hunt in Ashtabula this spring. Rob Keck and Will Primos were there with their respective camera crews. To make a long story short, in the morning Primos sent his cameraman with me because they had too many folks in their entourage. I tell this guy and my hunting partner that I wish I'd known they were going to film so I could have worn my dress camo. With that, the cameraman asks what camo I have on. Well, the military surlus BDUs are okay, the mossy oak shirt and vest are okay, the Rocky snake boots are okay, but the Realtree cap and gloves have to go. Unfortunately, nobody has any extra Mossy Oak hats and gloves on them. So the deal is struck that if I shoot a bird, we'll swap hats and gloves for the shots of me "waiting" for the bird to come in. We didn't get a bird, but I must say that the filming did not change the way we hunted in the slightest, and the cameraman handled himself in the woods incredibly well--I was amazed. On top of it all, he was just a helluva nice guy, and it made for a pretty memorable experience.
I'd like to be on Turkey Call, but as chapter president of one of the top four chapters in the nation, I'm not nearly high enough on the food chain to warrant a guest appearance.[:(!]
It is interesting, though, how much attention they pay to not putting a competitors product on the air.

[INKYHUNTER]

I have called to them while on the roost and have several fly down and come right in. However for everyone that does, who knows how many don't. I think if it gobblers roosted without hens you have a chance, with hens it's a crap shoot. Even though I filled my tags this year I would have had as much calling with a cow bell. I usually keep the calling simple and cnservative. I'm not a master caller so I don't do a lot of cackle's and such even though I can manage them.

[Huntaholic]

This thread reminded me of a Turkey Call episode I saw a few months ago. They were set up on the edge of a HUGE field, with a strutting gobbler on the other side. They started calling at him, and NEVER stopped! They called CONSTANTLY the whole time he was slowly making his way across the field. When he got about 1/2 way across I told my wife it was a fake set up, there was no way that tom was gonna come in like that with them calling as much as they were. Well guess what? When that longbeard got up to around 40 yards he GOBBLED. well since he gobbled right at the camera they couldnt dubb that audio in as well as they had muted the rest of the hunt, so they left the real gobble in. Well right along with that gobble was a SEMI TRUCK roaring down a highway close by! NO truck roar in ANY of the calling audio, ONLY when they had to use the real gobble did the truck be audible! FAKE HUNT is all that is to me plain and simple. Oh yeah, about the Primos team, they are probably the most down to earth honest people in the video business IMHO.