I have something in my voice calling that grabs hens attention...I wish I could pin point it but I can call in hens and literally get them hopping mad.They will stick around a long time and act as my live decoy..had a few kick the Ba Geegees out of my hen decoys..Lol
If I have had a rough week I pull out the Bobbin head deer decoy and put the Turkey decoys around it..That has never failed me.

Overcalling isn't as big a deal as some make it. I've called turkeys in being loud and aggressive and I've called them in with leaf scratching and clucking once every 5 minutes. The real tip is to be able to take the birds temperature. A bird that is henned up is less likely to come to mild calling as aggressive calling.

A bird that is lonely and gobbling hard may come to the more subtle approach or the hard approach. I called a hard gobbling bird off a 10 foot bluff last year before missing him by calling more aggressively to him. I've also called up a bird that wouldn't answer a single call and would gobble once every 20-30 minutes by using leaves.

This year I may hang back some but my method has always been to close the distance as much as possible to a gobbling bird. The natural way of doing things is for hens to go to gobblers. When I close the gap I get so close as to almost bump the bird. At that point the bird feels that everything has gone as planned so he is more inclined to come the last little bit. I call to him as I move, clucking and purring as I walk while occasionally scratching with my boots. It's a method that has served me well.

A big one for me is scouting. You have to know where the birds are and/or where they are heading to be able to do anything else already mentioned. I hunt public land, so scouting is huge. You need to locate a couple of birds, just in case one spot does not work out for you or someone else beats you there.
If you know there are birds in the area, it helps you be more patient and confident in your spot.
John

There is some pro turkey hunter right here. I couldn't agree more to your tips. Well done and patience is key!!

The hunt
 

If you can roost birds you have your starting point and by looking at sat. images you have a good idea of where they may go. It's best to scout and watch where the birds go or shock call to find out where the birds go after fly down and getting an on the ground idea of the lay of the land can help you run and gun when you need to greatly increasing your chances of killing another good gobbler.
Staying in the woods longer can get you a lonely gobbler that's not hened up and going back to the roost area in late afternoon can get you a gobbler coming in fast.

This has been my tactic for years and has been very rewarding.
I copied this from another post I made but this is the plan I use every year along with my secret weapon that will remain secret lol.

So I guess I'm not the only one using Google Earth as a research tool for hunting. Knowing the terrain and where the birds are likely gonna go helps for sure.

We also started using trail cams for turkey season . Gives us a good idea whats in an area and at what times. Every little thing helps when your hunting big public lands.

Since the last couple of years, the turkeys in my area seem to be getting pretty thin. I print out google map images and keep track of turkey sightings when I drive around. Just keep in mind that those flocks you see now will be busting up soon into bachelor groups and may not be in the same places you see them now.

Now I'm on private land and I know I'll probably get quite the bashing on this, but it works and I'll do it again. Spot the birds, whip a fan up in front of ya and walk right at em. They'll come running at you before ya know it. By no means am I suggesting anyone trying this. But that's one of my tricks of the trade.

Nope a tablet travels with me at times.....
here I sat - the star and had a tom gobble his fool head off to the south for 2 consecutive days. You can see the clearing to the south in the woods and those thin lines in the woods are trails to which I did an end around run and changed my calling location.



I can't tell you enough - my tip ~ scout and then scout some more. If you know where the turkey wants to be at any give time you can hunt him. I like to find feeding areas.

JW