I always flap a turkey wing a couple of times after settling in just to reassure any wary birds out there that the small strange noises they heard a few minutes before
were actually some of their woods buddies.
I called in two gobblers a couple of years ago and they came in silent. I went to slowly set my friction call down and I accidently dropped it on my gun. At 50 yards, both birds turned and started trotting away. I picked up my call and yelped 3 times. Both birds stopped. I clucked and purred a few times and both birds came back to within 30 yards. I killed one of them.
When you talk about the mesh rubbing against the brush and other unnatural sounds I believe the turkeys definately hear it and are able to pinpoint it from amazing distances. However, unless the noise is consistant or not followed shortly by a familiar natural sound, I dont think it bothers them to much. [:-]