Mr. Longbeard

I hunt in the mountains and all I've ever heard was that gobbler should be called up hill... Has anybody ever set up down hill of a gobbler on purpose???

Strut&Rut

Yep.

Didn't have permission to hunt the adjacent property, and the bird was roosted on the top of their hill. Went into the hollow, and after getting his attention, he came in silent. Took him about 2 hrs, but he got there

It's generally regarded more difficult to call them downhill, just because ole Tommy expects to see his hen as he walks down the hill. Walking up the hill, he expects to see her just as he reaches the summit.

I've called them downhill, over creeks, over swamps, across roads, over stone walls, through fences...well, you get the idea. Find a bird that's eager enough, and they'll walk through fire & brimstone to get to that lady [8D]

gselkhunter

If you hunt Merriams long enough you won't have a choice, but they walk up and down hills all day long. The problem comes in when you call and they fly down the hill. They now expect you to come to them. Makes calling them in interesting.
Gselkhunter

BuckoDuck

I personally prefer to set up even or above a turkey, but that's not always possible. You can call a tom down hill but it seems to be harder to do. The first gobbler I killed came straight down a mountain from about 400 yards... I never would have believed it, I couldn't even walk up that ridge it was so steep. It can be done but if given the chance I'll get at least close to his level.

Jollyarcher

Last years bird was a real troublesome Tom who ended up coming downhill to my calling setup. He was the second bird in 4 years that refused to come up. Three days of coaxing him on the roost... a good gobbler who fired up well, but simply refused to come up the hill. I worked a second day try at his level around the same ridge, but his hens kept him well away from my calling.

The third day, after a weekend wait was his ticket puncher. I set up below where he had been roosting, using a single hen decoy staked at 25. He went off on the roost right at daylight and I tree called back... receiving a solid response. I let him worry a bit, stopped calling and then worked the call very little. Soft calling mainly, a few purrs... nothing loud or too agreessive. He showed up about 15 minutes later, coming straight down the hill looking for his gal pal. He ended up going home with me. Nice mature bird, and well worth the sit in the rain.

Allseasonhunter7

yea and its hard

maytom

Another of the big Myth's. Gobblers will and can go anywhere they want.

one on one

i agree,i've had better luck calling them down a hill, but we don't have hills like the north does

DaveH

A few years back, opening day was cold, very windy and there was 3" of snow on the ground-- Garrett County. After hearing a grand total of one gobble all morning, I was headed to a new set up about 1500 feet further down the hill my son and I had climbed that morning. After setting up, a gobbler responded back from WAY above us on the hill. Since I was not ready to reclimb the steep mountain in the snow, I told my son that the gobbler was safe. However, he responded to every call I made and eventually came all the way down the hill to where we were. I killed him at 32 yards in the snow at 10:30am.

Rick James

Most of the time I have been pretty lucky calling them down hill. Last year, both birds I killed came down hill.