Playing hard to get
If you encounter a turkey that seems to be coming to your calls but suddenly hangs up out of range, try this tip. If he has been gobbling a lot and is acting really fired up, cut him off! Go completely silent for about five minutes but keep your eyes peeled on the spot you last heard him gobble. A lot of times the bird will come a long ways only to hang up and wait for the hen to come to him. He may feel comfortable where he is and if you keep calling he will just stay there to strut and gobble before losing interest. The silent treatment can be deadly. If after five minutes he still doesn't show, call to him softly. If he gobbles in the same spot go silent again. If he doesn't, respond with a little more aggressive calling. If he doesn't gobble or is farther away try to move to the spot he hung up at and set up. Begin calling to him again in an attempt to make him think the hen finally moved to his prior position. If he still doesn't cooperate it is always better to back out than to educate the bird.
Decoying Strategies
If you encounter a bird that is using a field try this decoy trick the next time you hunt him. Place your decoys off to your left (for a right handed shooter) and a little ways behind you if possible, rather than between you and the bird. Field birds are bad about coming a long ways really fast, only to hang up 30 or 40 yards on the other side of the foam birds. They will stand out in the field strutting and gobbling for the decoys in an attempt to get them to come to them. Sometimes there is nothing you can do other than let him walk off and reposition. If the dekes are behind you 10 or 15 yards or even with you and off of your left shoulder, you should be in the money! Now when he hangs up 30 or 40 yards out from the decoys he will be within the effective range of your shotgun. Try it the next time you run up with a stubborn longbeard!
Calling too Much
When you run up on a bird that gobbles at everything you throw at him it is hard not to get caught up in the moment and lay down a barrage of yelps and cutts. This does a couple of things that can work against you. First, most of the time when he gobbles he will also stop and strut. If he stops every time you make him gobble, naturally this will slow him down as he moves your way. The second thing that it does works hand in hand with the first one. Every time he stops and gobbles the chances of ?another? hen hearing him and stealing him from you increases. Remember that in the wild hens are ?called? to the male by their gobbling, not the other way around.
Sound like a whole flock
It is pretty easy and effective to run more than one call at the same time. You can run a mouth call, a box call, a push/pull call and a pot call to sound like a mini flock of hens. You can make it an even bigger family with a few more tricks. Most box calls will sound differently depending on which side you run. That gives you two birds in one call. When using pot calls don?t worry about carrying three or four of them in your vest. Instead take with you an assortment of strikers and two pot calls. Each striker will sound differently on both calls giving you the ability to imitate the sounds of a group of hens. To a lovesick gobbler, the more the merrier.
Calling to the Hens
When your best calling is falling on deaf ears, the gobblers, trying talking to the hens instead. Start off with some basic yelping and see if you can get a response from a hen. Normally, if one answers it will be the boss hen. If she responds, start mimicking her note for note. Once she starts really letting it go, start calling over top of her and hopefully she will come over looking for a fight.
If your aggresive calling doesnt get the boss hen in a fuss, then start doing some lost yelping. Maybe she will come to see who the newcomer is without feeling challenged. Either way there are no absolutes in turkey hunting and this could result in the hens taking the gobbler further away.
Don't Give Up
Dont give up on a gobbler that has quieted up. Many times a gobbler will silence his gobbling while he is breeding his harem and will often resume gobbling once he has conducted his business. Just stay with that bird and continue to call for an hour or so. You might be suprised with the result. The other side to not giving up is that bird may have gone silent because he was heading in. Keep your eyes peeled and movement to a minimum anytime a bird you were working has quit gobbling, he could be coming in silent.
