Bob,

You asked me, so here goes. The first thing I did (which is what you should have done[:@]) was check the Peak Turkey Gobbling Dates Chart on my site, to see when peak gobbling occurs, and when the gobbling lull / peak breeding occurs in your area.

That told me the toms might be in a gobbling peak in your area now; which usually means they are looking for hens. If the toms are with hens, they don't have to gobble.

One of the guys mentioned subdominance, which, in the case of turkeys, is what this bird was. If a tom is by himself, he is in effect subdominant to larger groups of males. So, he may be leary about coming in to any group of turkeys/decoys. He also may be hunter/gun shy if your season has been open any length of time.

Your setup was good, but might have been better in a smaller area, where the decoys couldn't be seen so far. I also like to put the decoys off to my shooting-side or behind me, that way when a bird hangs up he may be in range.

As to calling, get a moputh diaphragm, so you don't need your hands to call. And, if a particular call doesn't get a bird to come in, try something else. I'd probably have tried a series of loud Assembly Yelps or Lost Yelps. If that didn't work I'd try soft clucks, purrs and whines.

I think you got one of my books, but I can't remember if it was the ElkWhitetail or Turkey Addict's Manual. You obviously need all of them. And if you read the one you got, you know you are going to learn something by them.

I'm not being notified of this topic, so if you have more questions, join me on my board, my site or e-mail me.

Good hunting,

T.R.