what to do when hes henned up????

buckrubboy · 04-27-2009, 01:18 PM

The last two times i went out the gobbler has been henned up. he just gobbles at everything but wont come in. i was thinkning about going before school tommorrow and i was wondering what to do if hes henned up again. i know waiting him out would probably be the best way ut since im going before school i dont think thats an option. i have decoys too incase i need them. what should i do??

Ihuntandfish · 04-27-2009, 03:15 PM

I'd go out and sit quietly until they fly down. Then I'd do some soft purring and scratching in the leaves. Oftentimes this will draw the hens in and the toms will come with. I have trouble with the hens leading the toms away when I start yelping and cutting, so this is the best approach where I hunt.

JW · 04-27-2009, 03:23 PM

What do hens do when henned up with a tom?

Walk around and feed and tell Mr Tom - ya can't touch that!

Sorry could not resist but that is true henned up. The Tom follows and most times is walking in Strut hoping one hen will be acceptable to his mating advances. I do beleive the Drum and Spit is the 'True' mating call while Gobbling is just an assembly call.

For henned Toms you need to find where he hens like to feed and be there waiting patiently.

Or if you get a hen to talk back at you - you need to talk back at her to make her mad so she comes to find you. The love struck Tom will be in tow behind.

My best success doing that is to cut her off in her mid note making the same yelp or cluck but just a bit louder. She stops I stop - she starts again I start - about the third time get the gun up as she should be catawalling looking to kick yer.......

or as I mentioned in another post - leaf scratching works......and if you can get a bit of purr in to...

JW

buckrubboy · 04-27-2009, 04:37 PM

Thanks ihuntandfish and jw. my neighbor has turkeys in a pen. i herd abnout the cutting the hen off trick. i did it over there at his turkeys in the pen and gobbler gobbled EVERY time. so ill try that. last saturday when we were hunting and the gobbler was henned up we actually called a hen in. think she just came off the roost. she just milled around and then started cutting very loudly. Then she spooked. we didnt move but i think she didnt like whatshe saw for some reason. but im gonna give er another try tommorrow. thanks again guys.

gmil6184 · 04-27-2009, 07:56 PM

I'd try figuring out a spot where they like to go and ambushing them like you were deer hunting. If that doesn't work you can try to call the hens, either by just softly calling and scratching leaves or picking a fight with the boss hen. If that doesn't work you might want to wait until late morning to go after him once his hens leave him. and if that doesn't work you might want to try to scatter the flock like you would in the fall. If you can separate him from his hens he will become a lot more callable. Either way good luck!

mohunter82 · 04-28-2009, 08:49 AM

For henned Toms you need to find where he hens like to feed and be there waiting patiently.

Or if you get a hen to talk back at you - you need to talk back at her to make her mad so she comes to find you. The love struck Tom will be in tow behind.

My best success doing that is to cut her off in her mid note making the same yelp or cluck but just a bit louder. She stops I stop - she starts again I start - about the third time get the gun up as she should be catawalling looking to kick yer.......

or as I mentioned in another post - leaf scratching works......and if you can get a bit of purr in to...

JW

Couldnt have said it better myself

mauser06 · 04-28-2009, 10:38 AM

like the others said, if you can get into a fight with the hen, thats going to be one of the best hunts ever...

ive only gotten it to work 1 time. hens around here arent very vocal...the only ones i ever hear are lone hens walking around...

but 1 time i got a hen to fight with me...what an amazing expirience. if she could talk, it would been some nasty words comin out for sure lol. she was FLIPPIN mad...screamin at me...id scream right back..he was in full strut and gobbling like mad...but i never seen either and they were both within 10-15yds lol...they were just behind a super thick spot..he was so close i could hear his fan clicking...

never did get him killed...but i should have that day...

last year i killed my first bird that came in with a hen. he gobbled on the roost and on the way in...wasnt gobbling great but would answer my calls...i kept my calling low key and just let him know i was there...

the hen came in and stood there and milled around never said a peep...i looked behind her and there was a big ole fan...i got him killed at about 8yds...amazing hunt...

funny, a few weeks earlier i hunted that spot and he snuck around me and went out to the field and kept gobbling trying to get me to follow...his hen walked right too me and talked to me for the longest time...she never went farther than 30yds from me and was talkin to me for a long while...