The premise of spring turkey hunting is relatively simple: you locate a tom, offer up some hen calls, and settle in for the shot as the bird hustles toward your location. Turkey hunting can be that simple—sometimes. More often, it’s a frustrating compilation of birds that gobble but don’t come to your call or sneak in silently and spook because the hunter simply isn’t prepared.
There are, however, some tools that can help you tag a sneaky tom. You may have to adapt your tactics, but with a bit of luck and persistence you’ll get your gobbler.
Isolate the Birds
You can stack the odds in your favor by simply being in the right place at the appropriate time. Scouting is crucial to turkey hunting, but it’s more than simply locating strutting toms. You need to know the travel paths that the birds use as they move from their roosting point to the strutting ground. Setting up in these areas is often more productive than waiting for the birds to reach open ground. I killed a turkey two years ago without offering up a single call simply because I knew where they were roosting and set up on the route they used to reach their strutting grounds. It isn’t always that simple but cutting off birds as they move is an effective method in many cases.
Match Calls to the Situation
A gobbler strutting with hens in the open is unlikely to leave his band simply because you’re offering up some hen calls. The gobbler would much prefer that the hens come to his location and it’s rare that a henned-up tom simply drops everything and heads your direction.
A gobbler may not move for a hen, but they may make a move if they believe there is another gobbler approaching. Gobbles and—where safe and legal—tail fans or jake decoys—are sometimes sufficient to enrage a dominant bird and bring him to your position. He’ll be spitting mad and ready to fight, but that’s exactly what you want.
The more hen calls you have in your repertoire the better your odds of success. Most hunters use a simple series of clucks, which is just one of the many vocalizations hens use to communicate. Turkey vocabulary is far more complex, though, and there are a wide variety of calls that help turkeys remain in contact. The more calls you can mimic the better. The key is knowing when to use these calls.
Purrs and single clucks are common calls hens use to stay in contact while foraging, and while these calls may have the basic desired effect of indicating to a tom that there is a hen nearby, they might not prompt a gobbler to move toward the hen. “Cutting” involves short, load clucks that indicate excitement. This may bring the gobbler to you or—just as importantly—the lead hen in his harem.
Be Ready
This seems simple, but most every turkey hunter has been busted by a gobbler that snuck in unannounced. It’s tiring to remain prepared to shoot at all times and our natural instinct is to adjust our position. However, moving a boot or adjusting to avoid a sharp branch is enough to send a gobbler running. It’s mentally challenging to always be vigilant, but to be successful you’ll need to be ready to shoot at any moment.