The first thing you need to firmly plant in your mind is that calling in a turkey is not like reeling in a fish. If you have hooked a fish.. you have keep reeling to get it to come to you. However, you do NOT have to keep calling in order to get a turkey to come to you. Infact, the more you call... the less likely it is you'll even see a turkey.... oh you'll hear them alright... you'll hear them all morning long.... gobbling their heads off... waiting on you to come to them.

If a turkey is coming to you... actively searching for you (the hen).... then you should do absolutely nothing but get your mess right to shoot him. The situation cannot get any better for you... the bird is coming.... the game is all yours to lose at this point. Don't risk it. Turkeys have excellent locational hearing. If the bird is in sight... and espeically if he is within about 150 yards and in sight... I will NEVER touch a call. If a turkey hears a call coming from that tree 80 yards away.... and doesn't see a hen there.... he isn't coming any further.

In the wild, the turkey game is played opposite of the hunting game.... meaning that the hen goes to the gobbler about 90% of the time. It is basically the rut in reverse.... rather than bucks seeking and chasing does... hens are seeking and actually wrangling up gobblers. Its a good situation to be in if you are a guy..... don't have to chase it... don't have to catch it... don't have to feed it... it just comes a running to you. Probably about what its like to be a rock star.

Anyway.... what turkey hunters are trying to do is to reverse that natural order. When hens get all twitter-payted like they do in the spring, they get to yelping and clucking and putting and carrying on. When a gobbler gobbles... he is letting them know where he is at, and letting other gobblers know where he is as well. The hens yelp and he gobbles and then they go to him... its like a big game of marco polo where the hens are always 'IT'.

So when you start calling agressively.. and calling A LOT.... in a gobblers walnut sized brain..... that means the hen is coming to him.... and all he has to do is find a nice open spot to show off... keep gobbling... and no obstacle on earth is going to keep her from coming to him.

What YOU need to do is be subtle... and be where that gobbler wants to be or needs to be anyway. If you know where a bird is strutting every day... meet him there for an early morning appointment... he will likely figure that the hen is already there waiting for him... and he will pitch off the roost and glide right into your lap. Doesn't always work that way of course, because lots of times in the early spring the hens will roost with the gobblers and they will lead the gobblers away from another actively calling hen.

I've written enough of a manifesto for one post. if you have any questions.... just ask.... I've got a little spare time on my hands lately and its too cold outside for my southern blood.