silent gobblers

[BluegrassTom]

Anybody have problems with silent gobblers last year? I called several in but they never made a peep. Since I cant get them to gobble I usually set in a good area and just call. This causes a problem when the birds come in from an unexpected direction. These hunts all occurred in the afternoon or late morning. Any tips from the pros? Thanks.

[RutNBuck]

first i am by no means a pro....but i have spent many hours in quest of the ultimate bird...i have noticed alot of times once a bird spots your decoy (if you were using one) they tend to go silent...many times an old gobbler stands at a fields edge looking for the hens he hears calling his love song...i have seen em slip right in struttin and i have also had em come in on a dead run...
thats what makes hunting them so much fun just when you think you have them figured out they fool you...
Just this past spring i had something happen that i hate and love...but will weigh heavily on your mind...after flydown i had 2 birds gobbling at the other end of the field well about 30 min into the hunt i see 2 BIG longbeards enter the field heading my way BUT followed by 6 or 8 hens...ok ok decision time over calling can cause the hens to leave...or it can work the opposite and cause a hen to go into a dominent hen role....well my i made a few calls and the hens lead the gobblers off thru the woods...NOW do you sit and wait or go running and gunning....i waited and it paid off 45 min later both gobblers re-appeared with no hens......BOOOM 11 " 24 # over my shoulder..

"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"

[Multidigits]

There's nothing you can do other than chhange calls and hope one of them work. I carry three differnt box calls and 3 slates among othe calls. One of them might be what he likes. When they're not gobbling, it takes a lot of the fun out of it, but indtead of moving and searching, your probably better off waiting them out, assuming you know birds are in the area.

[schuyler olt]

Silent toms...now there's something that will flat try your soul. Toms can go silent for many different reasons, such as a multitude of hens, weather, pressure and sometimes I think voodoo.
Last season I had several days where they gobbled their tails off on the roost and fell silent when they hit the ground. In all likelihood, those toms could see hens on the ground while they were in the trees, and didn't need to gobble. It's really tough to get close enough to them to call them off the roost without busting those hens or being seen. That's when scouting pays off, and I'm speaking about knowing exactly where the toms are taking the hens to strut and breed. If you know that, go to a good ambush spot and be very quiet. I wouldn't use a decoy because with that many birds coming, the odds are good that one of them knows the decoy game and will bust you. As to calling, a few very short yelps when you first set up will tell the tom there are more hens on the direction he's going. An older tom often won't respond, and resist the urge to call back even if he does. Listen very carefully for drumming as that is usually what an older tom will do as he approaches an area where he thinks there's a hen to gather.
If you don't know where they've gone off to, use a fairly loud call that you can confidently cackle with, and cackle as they move off. Then get real comfortable and wait. When they finish with the other hens, a tom will often gobble once or twice, and head off in the direction he heard you earlier. I generally don't call back when I hear that. Instead, I use that as my one opportunity to close on the bird, and I assume he's coming fast, so I don't close as tight as I might otherwise. Once I get set up, I will call very briefly and fairly quietly, with that short yelp that I think says "where are you?" Don't expect a gobble in response, but listen again for drumming. Be patient, as he may take his sweet time getting there.
Then there are days that are just quiet, when nothing in the woods is making any noise. If the songbirds and crows are quiet, bet the turkeys will be too. On these days, I firmly believe that almost any calling will blow it because it's unnatural. On this kind of day about all you can do is rely on your scouting and be very still and observant. When I've seen birds on these kinds of days, they are always very alert, and they move really slow. It drives me nuts, because you have to hunt from the assumption that he's just out of sight and will step in the next thirty seconds. If it's early in the season when the woods haven't greened up, there have been days I've left because I know the whole game is in their favor and the odds are that I'll get busted. Hearing them gobble like crazy the next day on the neighbor's farm is really a kick in the pants!
Also, remember that where a bird goes is dictated by the weather. Turkeys don't like to be in the woods in the rain because the dripping screws up their hearing and their only defense then is sight. The same holds true of wind to some extent. They'll either go into the open fields or more often, a quiet place they know about in the woods that's down and out of the breeze. I always make a note of those places when I scout.
If the birds are gobbling but not responding to your calls, change calls by all means. You are probably on a bird that's heard that call before, so try something unique.
I killed a 29lb.plus gobbler on a windy day late in the season two years ago. He gobbled one time and when he came in, all he did was drum. And I shot him in a little tiny opening where there wasn't a breath of wind. I waited almost an hour without hearing a sound, and I had a hen close by for almost all that time. Interestingly, during that whole time, she never made a single sound, and because she was there, I couldn't call either. He waddled in to calls I had made long before, and I learned some lessons that day, for sure.
Good luck!

[BluegrassTom]

I had the same thing happen to me on my first turkey hunt. I was hunting on this same property opening day and set up to call. I called probably 20 minutes. This bird came in drumming without gobbling until he was right on top of me. He gobbled once but didnt come in to range then walked down the hillside. He didnt see a hen. As he was walking away he gobbled every few minutes. It was a great first hunt even if I didnt bring him home.