Turkey
Calling
By
Tracy Ledgerwood
Calling
animals to bring them in closer is a tactic that has been used by thousands
of hunters. And there is no doubt that it is a very effective way of attracting
game. unfortunately, if not done correctly, calling can hurt a hunter,
it can spook game, or it can cause an animal to avoid the area all together.
Calling game, whether it is turkey, waterfowl, elk, deer, or even coyotes,
is not a hard thing to learn or do. In fact most hunters do not scare game
because they are making the wrong sounds, but that they are making the
sounds too fast, too much, or at the wrong time.
Since
turkey season is upon us I will discuss turkey calling. You do not have
to be able to make a perfect
turkey
yelp to call in a turkey, nor do you have to have the best turkey call.
As you may already know, some hens you hear sound terrible. So you have
to know the right time to call and how much calling you need to do. The
easiest way to learn this is to get out in the woods and listen to the
turkeys. Listen to the sounds they make, how they respond to one another.
You will notice that in the spring a hen will not make a series of 20 fast
yelps; she will make short series of 3 or 4 yelps, or a longer slow series.
So if a hunter is in the woods yelping for a long time, and yelping fast,
it will sound unnatural and spook the birds.
Calling
too much is probably the number one thing done wrong by turkey hunters.
The call only needs to be done enough to let the gobblers know that you
are there. Another mistake made in calling is making the gobbler gobble
too much. We have all heard stories of one bird that gobbled his head off
but never came in, many times this is a mistake made by the caller. Hens
go to the gobblers in nature, so when a gobbler is gobbling he is attracting
hens, the more he gobbles, the better the chances are that a hen is going
to go to him, making it much harder to get him to come to you. Since the
hens naturally go to the gobblers, it is the caller's job to convince the
gobbler to come without attracting other hens to the gobbler. This can
be done, and is done often, turkeys are not as smart as you think, you
just have to know when to call. Let's start with the early morning, the
birds are still on the roost, and gobbling can be heard all over the woods.
Every time you call you get a barrage of gobbles, but when the birds fly
down they shut up, Why? Because every time they gobbled they were letting
the hens know where they were, and they were probably with hens soon after
flying down. How can you remedy this? Less calling. When the birds are
on the roost, just make a few soft yelps, clucks, and purrs. Let the gobbler
gobble a couple times, just so he knows where you are. When he flies down,
if everything goes right, he will come your way. This works the same during
the day, if a turkey is gobbling at you, stop calling, he knows you are
there, and if he is interested, he will
come.
Make a few calls every few minutes. He doesn't have to be gobbling every
minute to be coming in, some birds only gobble once or twice before coming
in, and some don't gobble at all.
Even
when you know how and when to call, some turkeys do not respond. You may
be the best caller in the world and know exactly where the turkeys are,
but when you call you get no response. What is the problem? Are you calling
wrong? Not necessarily, the problem may not be in your calling, but in
your call. It is important to bring more than one type of call into the
woods. There is no magical call that will bring in every bird. I like to
carry a few different types of calls into the woods. That way if the birds
aren't responding to one, I can try another, and another, and another.
This is especially important when hunting birds that have been called at
allot. An example of this is a time that I was hunting in South Dakota.
We knew there were turkeys there but we could not get them to respond.
I tried a mouth call, nothing. A slate, nothing. A box call, still nothing.
Finally I pulled out my Quaker Boy Easy Yelper. I yelped, and immediately
I had two gobblers responding, they came right in to the soft sounds of
my Easy Yelper. It doesn't matter what call you use, the turkeys will respond
to what they want to hear. If you are not getting responses out of one
call, try another, they all sound like turkeys, and you may be surprised
at your results. When you are in the woods and having trouble getting a
bird in, don't be afraid to experiment a little and give the turkeys something
they haven't heard or something that will get their attention. High frequency
calls are very popular now because turkeys respond so well to them. This
is because the high-pitched sounds they make catch a gobbler by surprise,
making him gobble. Which makes them a very good locater call. Just because
they cause gobblers to gobble more does not mean that he is going to come
in faster or come in at all, but they do get the birds attention. I like
to mix a high frequency calling in with my other calling to create a variety
in my calling. The more different sounds you can make the better illusion
you can create that there is a flock of hens. Mixing a mouth call with
a box or a slate has proven to be very effective. Sometimes no matter how
many calls you try, the turkeys just won't respond. In this situation try
anything, it can't hurt. One call I like to use as a last resort is a turkey
fight. It doesn't work every time but it has worked many times. I like
to useEasy Yelpers mixed with a mouth call, but any loud call you can purr
on will work. Make aggressive purrs, cutts, yelps, scratch in the leaves,
even gobble if you can. Then just stop and listen. Sometimes this is too
much for a bird's curiosity, and he comes in to check out the commotion.
Like I said
this
doesn't work every time, but it can't hurt, the turkeys aren't responding
anyway.
Being
a successful turkey caller doesn't require much, a little practice and
knowing when and how much to call. No call works every time, and there
is no brand or type of call that is better than the others. No one, not
even the pros, can bring a turkey in every time they call. But by listening
to the turkeys, not calling too much, and using a variety of calls, you
will find that the birds respond better, and you will get more gobblers
in your sights.
Good
hunting,
Tracy
Ledgerwood
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