Hell gang, got another one for you. Right now the stage here is most of the hens are close to going and setting. So the toms are gobbling but they won' t come in all the way, tey just brodcast and head back to their secret spot.The hens meanwhile won' t get mad at you they don' t get excited just give a few yelps and then head to the toms,leaving us all alone. What' s the strategy in these cases. Stay put and continue to call every 15-20 min and wait til he gets done or what? Got me baffled
This is the same response I just sent someone else. Sounds like the toms in your area are becoming call shy, when this happens try not to call too much and try setting up 2-4 decoys using hens and jakes place one hen ahead of a jake like its getting ready to bread the hen, this will usually tick the tom off and he may come in to kick some turkey butt. Dont place the decoys right infromt of you either, place them to the sides of you so the tom has an area to cross that offers you a good shot. Also when it becomes late in the spring season its always a good idea to put your gobbler to bed, then you know where he is in the morning and try to setup about 100 yards from his roost and get out there well before sun up, dont begin calling till the sun illuminates the sky with a pinkish color and or you here the red bird (cardinal) sing. The red bird is the first bird in the woods to make any noise. At that time you should start out with a couple roost clucks. That should get the tom to gobble and come out of roost, if he only gobbles at you once dont worry, he has acknowledged that there is a hen in the area and he is comming to check it out. If he doesnt gobble at your first call call just a tad bit louder that will normally get him to gobble at ya and acknowledge that you are there. I have been in the same situation that you were/are in and these tips that I found out along the way of my 13 years of turkey hunting seem to help me out alot. Give them a try I think yo umay be able to put that boss tom in his place...your stomach. Rremember dont over call the tom, it will just make him lose interest in you.
Thanks, I didn' t set up my dekes that time, because he came in so fast, that I couldn' t think what to do, and I didn' t hear this one on the roost, he came in silent while I was working a far off tom. I think I was calling too much but they were reacting positvely to it except for the " in gun range part"
But I' ll use your advice, this was my first experience at call shy birds like that so again thanks, I' ll put these words to good use this WE. I hope
something I found that helps me at times,when nothing else helps.
I will give him a little jake gobble.
thats the only thing that helped me get my bird this year.
he stood in one spot and watched the hens feed around me fo 30 min.
one gobble and he came stright to me,like he was on a string.
try it,when all else fails.
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I am not a hunter ; I am a whitetail population reduction specialest
remember keep your back to the sun, your knife sharp, and your powder dry.
If a bird is call shy.And your calling sounds like a hen.Wouldn' t that be the same as saying that he is hen shy?Or do they know that we use calls to imitate hens?
Another thing you might try is getting up and heading away... Move 30 yards (slowly and quietly) and give a call... make him think you the hen is leaving - might get him moving (tough call with the hens though)... When I hear a gobbler with a vocal hen... everytime that hen spouts off, I spout off right back with the same pattern she does... I don' t know how many times that brought the hen in, looking for me (the rude hen) and dragging that tom along with her.
I also think there is merit in giving off a jake gobble (unless the tom you are going for is low man on the totem pole).
Good luck - let everyone know what you did when you actually bag that thing!
I read somewhere that when a tom is coming in, and then hears the hen close, he' ll stop and strut/look/wait for the hen to come to him. That makes for hung-up gobblers. So, watch out how long you call to him, if he is coming in. You can shut up pretty early if he is on his way. Maybe make leaf scratching noises, but if he is on the way, slow the frequency of your calling waaay down, and soften it up a lot, to be just calm feeding hen purrs and putts, no yelps or clucks. Get real quiet. Just a suggestion.
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Peace.
"Always do the right thing- this will gratify some and astonish the rest."-- Mark Twain
Another thing to do is call (yelping) after flydown from your initial setup position, and, if you don' t get a tom to come in because, as you say, when they finish with their available hens they broadcast their location and go back to their secret strut zone, remain in your initial setup location and call at 15-30 minute intervals until 11:00 a.m. or so. Generally, if the toms are through with the available hens and none come to their strut zone, they will move out, although they may move silently, and they will very often go to where they heard a hen yelping earlier. Trouble with this, in my experience, is you may have one sneak in on you (come silently) and get busted when you scratch your nose or turn your head or whatever, so the challenge is to show total patience with little movement for a long time.
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Peace.
"Always do the right thing- this will gratify some and astonish the rest."-- Mark Twain
Need some advice for hung up toms
