Am I just a bad caller?

[GMMAT]

I had a situation arise, last Thursday evening, where I saw two big toms going to roost from about 150 yds away. I was set up in a food plot.....with 4 hens in my deke setup. they wanted NOTHING to do with the scene....and proceeded down their path to roost.

Last night....I set up in a field.....and had a tom come in JUST before roosting time from behind me and to my left. A few putts and purrs on the slate got his attention (from about 80-100 yds).....but he wanted nothing to do with my setup (standing jake over a setting hen at about 5yds facing the blind.....and two separate hens facing away from the blind at about 15 yds each).

I can get their attention.....but they won't commit.

Can a bird be SO hell-bent on getting to his roosting spot....that he might skirt an otherwise setup that might normally make him curious?

Or.....am I just a BAD caller???...lol

[superstrutter]

You are just a bad caller. Some turkeys have their mind already made up and nothing is going to change it. Just don't call too much. Be patient and eventually one will get interested. Persistence and patience are essential in turkey hunting. Hang in there, it will happen. Remember, you don't have to be an expert caller to get a turkey, you just need to know when to call.

[indianahunter83]

Remember, you don't have to be an expert caller to get a turkey, you just need to know when to call.

Problem being that only expert callers know when to call

[GMMAT]

I was running a call sequence, last night, about every 20 minutes. This bord didn't come in to my calling....as it had been several minutes since I'd ran a call. Or...maybe he did...and it took him a while?

Either way....he wanted nothing to do with the deke setup I offered.

Frustrating to see him walking in the other direction.

[Howler]

I beleive location is more improtant than calling/calling ability. In that I mean if you're in the right location, in a spot that they want to go, they will come regardless of calling, where as if you're in a spot that they really don't want to go, your calling has to be very good to make them change thier travel route.
The reactions you get with any one decoy set up can vary from one brid to the next. My buddy killed two toms this spring from the same set up, one about 30 minutes before the other. His set up was a standing real mounted hen decoy and a wounded tim decoy laying near her. The first tom came in and tried to mount the hen and hardly even looked at the wounded tom decoy, but when the second tom came in, it hardly looked at the hen but went straight to the wounded tom decoy and jumped on it and spurred it. Two tomes, same set up, different reaction. I guess what I'm getting at, is all decoys and set ups will work, but none of them work every time all the time.
I've often had a single hen decoy and a full strutter and after the hunt wish I only had a hen, and visa-versa!

[mauser06]

have you ever heard a real hen call??? atleast half of them seem to sound like TOTAL crap compared to human calling. im not an expert caller...but i do alot of work making my own strikers and tuning them to the calls...i make some pretty sweet sounds maybe thats why i dont call birds in sometimes...i sound TOO good but really...calling has little to do with success. its about making the right call at the right time which comes with expirience...noone here can tell you how to call...some days i wont EVER yelp. ill just cluck and scratch leaves..thats all it takes sometimes. sometimes im cutting and yelping loud and aggressively...sometimes its COMPLETE silence...depends on the situation and the bird im hunting.

often times birds are 100% on going where they are going and doing what they are doing...they just dont feel like spooning... exspecially when hes been walking around with real live hens that you might not have seen or something...

when calling to a turkey we are litterally trying to REVERSE nature. many hunters do not understand that. in the wild the gobbler will gobble and strutt and try to attract hens to HIM. hens choose who THEY breed with. they choose the biggest most dominate male to ensure "he gets the job done" so to speak...so us calling like a hen often is fruitless because we try to reverse nature...98% of the game is finding a bird that will cooperate or being where a bird wants to go..the rest goes into making the right calls...when you find the right bird he is most likely going to come running...just gotta find that bird

[cnhntr]

I agree with super. Once a bird has made up his mind, there is NOT a chance in heaven or hell that you can change his mind.

[JNTURK]

location...location...location......don't care how good of caller you are if that bird does not like that area you can forget it......if you are hunting the same place they may now it is a "hunter"....too much pressure and birds will not gobble nor come to any calling what so ever.....happends here in CA on public ground...you have to be where the birds want to be....

also...if these toms are out and about with no hens per say then your decoy set up of multiple hens may make him scared of the situation.........most times i prefer less hens and unless the tom is a dominant bird and it is mid day or early i will not put out a jake or tom...just a lonley hen feeding....

you should try and make your calls sound like the hens in your area....different hens in different areas will make different sounds...(ie more raspy, more talkative, more quiet, less raspy)...take all of this into consideration for your next hunt and see what happends........

if you have been hunting the same spot for the past few days...lay off for a few and then come back and try it out

[Roadkillwarrior]

I think that late afternoon birds are very difficult to hunt when trying to call them in or getting them to commit to decoys. I have found the best way to kill a bird on its way to roost is to try and pattern them and get set up where they seem to pass through most often. But I do set out decoys somtimes for birds on there way to roost but I never call because I have learned from experience that for some reason it kind of spooks them, around here anyways. Good luck on your outings!!

[nwochuck]

The last bird the group I hunt with got. Toms we could hear so I would call about every 30mins. Nothing was working so shut up and about 45mins two toms came to investage only one flew off.