To my knowledge,in 20+ years of turkey hunting,I have never called a tom away from a hen.
So what is the best call for doing this?
And should the call be aggressive?
Also, is it better to try to get the hen to come to you, bringing the tom along side?

Well Iv'e only been turkey hunting for 3 years, so I'm not a pro, but the best way is to try to imitate the hen, and gether worked up. Usually she will come lookin for a fight and of course the Tom is going to follow. Say if she yelps 6 times, you yelp 6 times. I think its better to be a little on the aggresive side. Just be extremely careful with your movement, which Im sure after 20 yrs of turkey hunting you should know that hens are very nosy and will sometimes get right in your face, literally lol.

its very hard to call a tom from a hen but try bein agressive or copyin the boss hen .

Henned-up gobblers - it's largely a matter of having a varied bag of tricks and confidence in using them. Sometimes I wonder when a hen does come in, dragging the old man behind, it was because I was in the path she wanted to take anyway [8D]; well the result's the same anyway . Good knowledge of the local habitat (roost sites, strut zones, nesting, dusting & feeding areas)can make up for a lot of calling technique.

Ditto to nate's post. Try to get a hen to cluck back at you, imitate her, and I think she will be more likely to come in. I set up in Farmville, VA a few years ago, and had this boss tom with his haremnot more than 60 yds away. They were just out of sight over a gentle rise. Three different hens each took turns to cluck back and walk over to us - then continue on walking by. The tomstill had hens and would not leave them.Time expired onus (noon); it was an enjoyable adventure, getting my partner and meexcited everytime a hen approached and us thinking - here he comes...It's not too unusual for a hen to come in and leave the tom behind - maybe she's going off to her nest(?). Just as often, the hen gets irritated with the competition, and she'll lead the boss away - go figure. Once in a while it all goes to plan - then you'll have all these waryhens eyeing you withlove struck gobbler(s) in the background.

Generally, if a gob came in leaving his yelping harem behind, it's because I was callingvery aggressively (long, loud harsh yelps or cutting) and the gob was hot - sounding off at every noise including me.

Once in a rare while, a good rendition of fighting purrs and loud wing beats will work to pry a gob from his harem (or strut zone for that matter).

-fsh

Just like everyone else is sayin..once a tom is with a hen it is hard to call him off of her but it can be done, because i've done it before. And again,just like they was sayin, try imitating the hen or be more aggressive. If you be more aggressive it will intrest the hen and she will more than likely come to see who is tryin to take over. In other words, she wontlike the idea of some other hen tryin to take over her territory and she might come to drive you off. When she does come that tom might just come right along with her. Dont worry if she doesnt come because that tom might come to the more dominant hen(you)alone.

I've seen it go both ways, but usually it is a waste of time trying to get them away from the hens. I've called in a few with soft calls, and a few with aggresive calling. But, more often than not I've left scratching my head wondering what I could have done differently.

A couple years ago a friend and I were working some birds on opening day. We knew where they were going, and setup ahead of their path after flydown. The entire group came right up the edge of the field, but went into the brush just shy of our position. Two gobblers went into the tree line, but the rest stayed in the field with the hens. We tried everything. We changed calls, called soft, called loud, moved positions, but still they were in the field with those hens.

Finally, at about 11:00 I spotted them feeding in our direction. I started calling softly, but they ignored me. At 11:30 I knew we were about to end the day; because we have to quit at noon. So, I just started cutting very loudly and aggresively. And, you know those gobblers stormed us, and caught my buddy off guard and he missed at 10 yards!! There were 3 longbeards and 5 jakes. The hens stayed in the field and spooked at the sound of the shot.Sometimes it works and more often it doesn't. But, you gotta try anyway!

I would go with what most everyone else has said...try to call in the hens.
I try to one up them, they yelp six times, I yelp seven, and a little more aggressively. You want to get her all fired up.
Another method to try, and one that worked for me twice last season, is to just go crazy on the call. Look at it this way, if you dont try it youll never know if it works.
I was stationed along a stone wall, with no gobbling going on all morning. A raccoon came up along the wall, and noticed I looked a little odd for a tree stump. I started to cackle and cutt my head off, and I tell you, this little coon was going nuts. He starting climbing up my legs, swatting at my gun barrel, and just standing on his hind legs trying to figure out what the hell I was. Not thinking there were any birds around, I kept it up, calling like a madman, doing things that I dont normally do in the woods.
All of a sudden, two gobbles made me jump (raccoon ran for his life at this point, straight up a tree) and I quickly repositioned, and within two minutes two gobblers came in, both in full strut, pulling in three hens each behind them.
Bad thing about more turkeys, especially hens, is there are more eyes. One spotted me bringing my gun up, and they all booked out of there....sigh. The raccoon was laughing at me from the tree, I swear I saw a grin on his face.
Anyway...
Moral of the story is when all else fails, DONT BE AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW. Had I been ready, I would have killed one of those birds..

Make sure you are calling her and that she isn't calling you. You lead with the calls and try cutting more. Listen to what she is thinking with her calls. If she is talking to you there is a good chance that you can bring her in if you are the agressor. The tom may come but with out doubt he will be trailing most of the time and will be alert for another bird. Good Luck

I've held duels with a number of hens over the years. One was less than 5 yards away and madder than a hornet at the "other hen" (me) that sounded more or less like an echo of her since I mocked everything she did. She got very mad, but was able to intercept the two longbeards that were working their way towards me.[:@] I saw them breed at just over 60 yards away and she then led them over the mountain and ruined what I had going!

Most of my experiences have ended with the hen going to the gobbler and leading him away.

Another quick story--two years ago, I called in one of the biggest longbearded gobblers I've ever laid eyes on. He was huge with a paintbrush beard dragging the ground. He strutted for nearly 30 minutes just out of range, but refused to cross a 1 inch deep stream that was less tha a foot across. Seven hens appeared on my side of the stream coming my way. The took one look at him . . . and 4 of them little hussies crossed the tiny stream and went to him. [:@] He was laughing at me as he walked away with them for a little presumed "fun."

Only one time do I recall that I called a gobbler away from his hens. He was truly the boss of the area and none of his subordinates ever gobbled in his presence. He strutted in a field for2-3 hours with about 5 hens and I finally was able to coax him away from them with some very excited cutting. He came in - having to go out of strut at times to fit between the trees - he stopped at 62 yards at a big fallen branch and refused to come any closer and left unharmed.

Setting aside any safety concerns...what if you gobbled? Would that bring the hen in?Or perhaps the Tom will come in ready for a fight?