question
 

the place I turkey hunt in Illinois has a good population...Weird thing is they have no intrest in decoys...rarely respond to calling...its like you basically have to sit in the right place at the right time....anyone ever experience something similar? Im looking for suggestions it frustrating!!

Are there a lot of hunters and how is the coyote population?

They may have hens already or have been pressured by other hunters, I run into this sometimes and it makes hunting them tuff but what works for me is to get inside their comfort zone close to the roost either with or without decoys. I wait for the first hen or gobble call then do 2 soft hen calls a few min. apart then when I think they may fly down any min. I do a fly down cackle hitting my hat against the tree then when they fly down I scratch the leaves, this works pretty well.
During the day you have to play their game and ambush them making sure your in there comfort zone try scratching leaves without calling to them and just purring. In late afternoon try the roost area they should come in with no problem. Something else that works is using a large decoy flock of at least 5 and only soft calling with mostly clucks and purrs.

Let me know if this helped and good luck.

Im the only one who hunts this farm...its like 43 acres and im the only one to have killed a turkey on this farm...The coyote population has seemed to pick up according to the trail cams I run, but there are still tons of birds..like I said its really frustrating! this weekend was youth season so I had my boy and my buddy had another lil guy with him and ill be damned if they didn't roost in a different spot last night..when the two big strutters hit the field the hens quickly got them back into the timber before we could get their attention. I guess that's why the call it hunting and hopefully 1st season I can win the battle

Try using a single hen and call softly.

Set-up in their path......................

Make the toms "hunt" you.

Like you said, they already have hens. When the hens are sitting on the nest those Toms will respond to calls.

Sometimes you find a Tom with a hen or two, and you can fire up the hens and make them want to drive away the new "hen". Let the hens go past you and the Tom will follow along behind.