Turkeys not answering
 

I'm fairly new to turkey hunting and the past two spring seasons have had an issue where turkeys would not answer our calls, however, we know they are around. Last season, on multiple occasionsI had turkeys sneak in to less than 50 yards of me unexpectedly and never answer any of my calls. Any strategies/tips on ways to set-up when turkeys aren't making too much noise would be great!

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

It may be that your dealing with call shy birds...How much hunting pressure do these turkeys get???

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

Which calls are you talking about, shock calls or hen calls?

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

Ive learned thru past experiences to remain perfectly still and call sparringly when Im dealing with no gobbling. Ive seen quite a few turkey by just having some patience and waiting them out.

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

sounds like they are awnsering just not vocally you may be dealing with pressured birds use soft calling clucks and purrs every 20 min. be still and keep your eyes and ears open listen for leaves being scratched birds walking and hopefully a bird spitting and drumming setup in places you know birds frequent and be patient

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

If the turkeys are not answering, did you call the number right....LOL, sorry, I had to crack the simple joke.

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

Maybe they had Caller ID coyotestalker...

Seriously when in Rome do as the Romans do..If turkeys are very vocal,you can be very vocal,but when turkeys aren't in the mood,sometimes less is more.You can spend your time doin' the run and gun like I mostly do.Trying to find a hot tom,but if you are in a limited area or are after a specific bird.That is when your woodsmanship will come into play.Knowing what the birds like to do,what they like to eat,where they like dust,how they like to travel,where they roost.Interpreting sign,like tracks,scratching,droppings,etc...Well that's what seperates thehunters from the hungry.;)It will show your skill level when birds aren't talking.Once you figure out what birds like to do,just set up in their area,and do soft calling.He may pop up just like you said.You have to be on alert.That's how you take birds home when everyone else is scratching their heads.:D

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

i think some times there are bigger birds in the area so the smaller ones don't call. its like a dominace thing or something

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

I also agree.

My second year turkey hunting, I called in the biggest longer beard I've ever seen a live to this day. And I didn't kill him. Here is the story that I WILL NEVER forget.

It was at a club that I used to hunt at. Down on the creek bottom I knew there were birds roosting. I tried to hunt them up on the higher ground, but they wouldn't come in. They would gobble their heads off though. Well this morning I decided to go down to the bottom.

I entered the woods right at day light. I done this b/c here in the South, the last thing I want to do is go trecking through swamp in the Spring. Lots of rattlers and cotton mouths. So, I waited until I could see to walk in.

When i got down into the bottom the birds weren't gobbling yet. Well, one sounded off and I was like "wtf". The bird was behind me. On top of the hill that I just came from instead of down in the bottom where they normally are. Well, I set up facing where the bird was gobbling. Put my decoy out and got seated against a huge oak.

I let him do his thing for a while before I started calling. He answered every time I called. When he flew down, he started coming in then hung up out of sight. Well, the next time I heard him gobble, he was booking it out of dodge. I 'played" with this turkey for almost an hour before he just shut up.

Well, I was down and out b/c if the bird would have been where he was supposed to be, then I would have gotten him. Well, about then, I heard something move behind me. I did mention that I had my back agaiinst a HUGE oak that I could not see around on either side, facing AWAY from where the bird usually was.

Well, I didn't know what I heard, so I tried to just ease my head around the tree. There he was at 10 yards. The biggest gobbler I've ever seen to this day. In Full strut. Going straight to my decoy. The beard on this turkey was at least 11.5'' long and very thick.There arenumerous 20lb+ turkeys killed on this club every year and he was bigger thana 23lb turkey that I watcheduntil opening day when another member killed him.

He was so close that he seen me when I moved, so he flew. If he would have ran, I could have gotten a shot off. But he never gobbled once. I don't know why. Maybe it was b/c of my decoy. Maybe it was b/c he wasn't the dominate bird. Maybe it was b/c of all of the comotion going on with me and this other bird. I have no idea. But lesson learned.

If I were in your situation, knowing what I know today. I would buy a blind, set up in it and as stated above, call every once in a while. I don't really like blinds, but when doing this. You have no clue what direction the bird will come in, if he isn't gobbling. If you can use decoys, maybe set one up. Thats up to the person.

Even though I didn't get that bird. I learned a lot of stuff that day.

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

Now that's a big bird!BPS was so excited he called him a longer beard!

I agree.I use a blind the one that folds in half,and rolls up that you get from wallyworld.It works great.I should have mentioned this before.If I'm in an area where I am not sure where a Turkey will come from,I put my back to a thick section of brush,that way he will have to come around tomy side,or come out in front of me.

BPS you reminded me of a story,with a happier ending.This is where I learned my lesson.I had been seeing this toms tracks,and I decided to set up on the curve of a road in the evening.I biked in,and pushed my bike down the firebreak 10 yds away from me.I set my decoys out 25yds away on the road.I had my back on a huge Pine.Well,I had done a little soft calling,and heard nothing.5 minutes after I called I heard a twig snap...uh-oh![:o]Right behind me.I eased my head around and saw a black figure walking to me.I closed my eyes.I peeped out the corner of my eyes,and a tom walked 5 feet from me.He stopped,looked at the decoys on the road,and looked at me,then spooked.He went back down the firebreak,walked around my bike.:DThen I decided notto shoot,because I could tell he was going towards the decoys.
He popped out at 25 yds,right at them,and I popped him!What a relief,and a funny hunt.That was my 2nd biggest bird.10 1/4" beard,1 1/4" spurs,18lbs.

dakine999sounds like your doing the right thing.You're just dealing with pressured birds,or sattelite toms.You're just going to have to keep at it,and keep your eyes,and ears ready.Good luck to you.

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: ranchand99


Now that's a big bird!BPS was so excited he called him a longer beard![quote]


LOL. Sorry didn't catch the typo. I know how hunting stories get out of hand some times and we get caught up in the excitment, but the story of this bird's size wasn't a "fish tale".

That certain club had very nice birds on it. The last year i hunted at that club there were several 20lb + birds killed. There were also a few multipule bearded birds killed. I think one had three or four beards. THe biggest that was taken on that club while I hunted there was right at 24lbs.

I think they have big birds due to the amount of soy bean acrage they have.

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

I've seen this over the years and I have a theory on it. The Gobbler gobbles to announce his presence to the hens in his area. When you run into areas where gobbling is scarce, I think that often, there are an abundance of hens in the area. More hens, more ladies for each bird= less gobbling each bird has to do to get a girlfriend. On my Grandma's farm, it comes and goes like this. Some years, every point will have multiple toms gobbling and some years there's birds in the area, but they hardly gobble. Last year, I had heard a few birds before season opened, but they'd normally gobble 1-4 times on the roost and then simply fly out and shut up. I had found two places in a log road on the property where there were Gobbler tracks and the tell-tale wing drag marks with them. I knew this was a strutting area, but you never heard a bird there.
My uncle was fixing fence down in the field below one day, about 1&1/2 weeks into the season. I had been hunting the area several mornings there and had heard one bird gobble one time. I had about given up, when he called me that day and told me about the turkeys he had watched cross the field he was working in about 11:00. 2 big toms, and 11 hens. He said he never heard them gobble, but that they strutted across the field following the ladies. I was sure there were some there, but if I'd judged purely on the gobbling level, I'd have given up. As it was, those birds stayed around and pretty much still wouldn't gobble. Finally, after striking out just about everywhere else I'd hunted, I decided to hunt the farm again. It was thursday morning of the third week. I took my wife's little brother along, and we were pleasantly surprised to hear 4 different birds at daylight. Two were roosted together so we went to them. To make a long post a little shorter, we ended up calling in 2 big Toms and a jake. What, clinched the deal for us though, was the 5 hens these jokers were following around like love-struck teenage boys. The hens came into my aggressive cutting and yelping, and the poor fellows followed them in.
My wife's little brother ended up popping a 20# Tom at 16 steps. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a shot at the other big guy, but the day was a learning experience to say the least. He ended up having 1" spurs and a 10.5" beard. I would deviate just a bit from the other advice and recommend the stay late, call soft approach, but I'd also concentrate on not spooking the birds. Once the hens start to lose interest, the gobbling will increase. I can also tell you that, when it's going to work, you almost can't mess it up. The bird usually is either going to come or not. You can stay and keep letting him know where you are, but be patient and wait for the day when his usual ladies don't show up on his accustomed time schedule.....that's when things start to get good!

GH

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

Some excellent responses here for sure!Dakine dont mean to sound ugly cause I'm not,I'm here to help but your post leads to me to believe your makin smart turkeys brother!!!Call shy birds come from two different situations1. a bigger bird dominates the area and he's afraid of em.2.hunters such as yourself have hammered them enough and spooked them to the point of a turkey call sends them packing or in the stealth mode.Your post says on several occasions you had birds within 50 yards you didn't know about,leading me to believe you probably bumped them..WE ALL HAVE!!!!Grasshopper gives you some good advice on henned up birds but your post leads me to believe you are dealing with call shy gobblers.Henned up gobblers will answer your calls especially when there ladies leave them all alone!!
The guys here give you some good advice,patience in quiet woods is tough to learn because it takes alot of confidence believing the birds are there and the ability to physically sit still for sometimes hours.Overcalling in a situation like this just makes for wiser turkeys!Understand these birds ability to hear and pinpoint sound is fantastic so be patient enough to use that to your advantage.IMHO decoys do more spooking in a situation like this than help!A satelite tom has the urge to breed and move to the hens but upon seeing one lose their confidence because they ARE subbordinate via (satelite gobbler)!Older pressured gobblers expect that hen to come to him and in alot of cases have there own strut grounds which the hens will frequent!These type of birds are the ones that hang-up.If your hell bent on using a deke on these type of birds DO NOT PUT IT IN A POSITION TO BE SEEN AT A LENGTHY DISTANCE or I promise you'll have birds that WILL hang-up out of gunrange that you may never even see until you get up to move.
These birds are not impossible you just need a little understanding on how they work and adjust to it!Get comfortable,be patient,move little,use your ears,and call little....go getem Bob..:)

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

I beleive you BPS,I was just picking.;)
I agree with you grasshopper,on everything,and you too bob.I posted 1 second after you did,and hadn't read your post yet.:D

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

;)

RE: Turkeys not answering
 

Thanks for all the insight/suggestions guys. The more I think about it and read the posts, the more I realize that my buddy and I have been "overcalling" the birds onthe farm we hunt. 3 of us are hunting about 100 acres and usually two of us will hunt together. Our farm is bordered by multiple 300 + acre farms that get little to no spring gobbler pressure so I don't think hunting pressure is an issue. Bobgobble, thanks for the tip about decoy placement because that is probably a mistake I am making as well.