10 Tips for Hung-UP Gobblers
By Kenneth L. Kieser
We turkey hunters tend to encounter the same hard lessons over and over again. It takes some of us awhile to master them. Others a lifetime. And it can be frustrating that the season is never quite long enough to get it right. Just as I’m perfecting my technique, bam! Season’s end and I have long months to ponder what I’ll do differently next time.
While it takes some of us awhile to figure out what, exactly, to do in certain perplexing situations, odds are it eventually does happen. Take it from me — sometimes it just takes perseverance. And a little help from the pros. For me, turkey season 2011 will go down as the spring that I learned how to flush out those elusive hung-up gobblers that have toyed with me more seasons than I care to recall.
Just as turkey season seems to be over before it really begins, we turkey enthusiasts know that we’ll soon have another shot to bag our birds. And we swear we’ll be ready. You probably know the exact frustration I’m talking about.
You spend months anticipating the hunt, reading volumes of tips, and practicing turkey sounds on different types of calls. The night before your first hunt of the season, you can’t sleep because you’re so excited. The moment of truth arrives; you’re afield on a warm spring morning and you hear the turkeys gobbling. Lots of them. You smile under your netted face mask; time to bring a trophy gobbler into shooting range has arrived.
The morning progresses and finally a big boy gobbles back at your hen sounds. Your face flushes with excitement as the gobbling gets louder. And then, wait … why are the gobbles fading away? Your smile fades. Stunned, you realize the turkey is gone and the game is over before it began.
The next day you find another active gobbler and turn on the charm with clucks, purrs, and a few light yelps to entice this guy to come in. He’s gobbling, but not moving. Huh? You close your eyes and wonder if that softball team still needs a shortstop. You are ready to give up.
Veteran hunters know exactly what you’re going through. They call birds like these “hung-up” birds. Beating a stubborn bird that simply won’t come in takes patience and technique. This is a game you won’t always win, but practicing the following 10 tips will definitely boost your odds the next time you get a chance to prove yourself.
Less is more. Public and some private woods are full of human activity. Moderate amounts of human activity may change how turkeys communicate or react, and make them more elusive to hunt.
Chris Parrish, world champion caller and veteran turkey hunter, knows a thing or two about hung-up birds and how to draw them out. Turkeys, it turns out, communicate with a lot of soft clucking and purring, almost muttered sounds, that humans can’t hear. Though we humans can’t hear it, hens always make sounds, most of the time very softly, he says. Other turkeys can hear it.
Producers of turkey-hunting videos learn how to deal with hunting pressure early in their career.
According to Preston Pittman, another world-champion caller and president of Pittman Calls, most turkey-hunting videos feature hunters calling in birds with little or no hunting pressure. “Simplicity is better,” he advises. “Use limited clucks and yelps to let the gobblers know where you are. Avoid cutting, cackling, and aggressive calling.”
Play hard to get. Probably the most common reason hunters experience hung-up birds is that the toms are surrounded by hens. Hunters who see gobbling turkeys that seem like they are coming toward them sometimes become overly excited and over-call. The problem, Parrish says, is that other hens may hear the hunter’s commotion and step in to intercept the gobbler.
“Pre-scouting will tell you if the gobbler is surrounded by a lot of hens,” he says. “You often hear that aggressive calling will bring a hen in, closely followed by the gobbler. This does work, but nine times out of ten she will become jealous and turn to walk away, taking the gobbler from you.”
A better strategy, Parrish says, is to play the coy hen by making exceptionally soft hen sounds while raking in leaves, indicating live turkeys approaching. “I also occasionally spit and drum with my voice at gobblers who are walking away with hens,” he adds. “This makes them jealous and sometimes they’ll come back.” Add these important sounds with soft calling or almost no calling at all.
Give roosted birds time. Early morning mistakes, like over-calling to roosted birds, can cause birds to hang-up or simply go the other direction. There are many situations where you need to exercise restraint, Parrish says. “A roosted gobbler that is alone may answer your calls with great passion. The key is to back off calling so he’ll come to you. Otherwise, he may wait for the hen to come his way if she seems overly excited. Just stop calling and wait for him to fly down.”
Stop trying to fool old longbeard gobblers. Old turkeys did not become old by being careless or dumb. Novice callers tend to kill more 2-year-old birds who didn’t know better, while wondering why they can’t bag a big bird.
“Older birds have been lied to many times by callers,” Pittman says. “The more you call to them, the more suspicious they become.”
Novice callers also tend to call the same way over and over again — which is a dead giveaway to wise old longbeard.
“A hen does not call the same way every time,” Parrish says. “Her calling is generally broken up. An old turkey should be worked very delicately.” First, he says, get close to his position to let him know a hen is close, then back off calling. Remember, turkeys have outstanding hearing, so call very softly and very seldomly.
Shock-gobble sparingly. The old adage, keep making noise until something gobbles may have been true long ago and may be true even now for birds without hunting pressure, but it’s no longer good advice when dealing with pressured birds that will hang up for no understandable reason.
“You can shock call too much,” says world champion owl hooter Mark Prudhomme. “Some make the same noise too often.” Eventually, gobblers will stop responding to the same sounds. A hot turkey may gobble every time, but most won’t, he says.
“I change location when one gobbles the first time and set up so I’m close to my hunting spot before shock gobbling again.”
Scout food sources in advance. Food sources are excellent places for finding turkeys. Problem is, most of these fields are big and the turkeys could be anywhere with little reason to move toward your best calling efforts. The trick is watching turkey movements before the season opens.
Before turkey season, find productive feeding areas like clover in the spring, and set up two to four blinds on each side of the field. This way you’ll have a morning and an evening hunt.
Morning spots where you might call in gobblers are located between roosting and feeding areas. Afternoon spots may be between dusting areas or other turkey spots and the food plots. The most productive mass crops may require setting blinds in two or three spots on a ridge or even between the roosting and feeding area. These blinds are productive for spring or fall birds, depending on where they’re feeding.
Avoid open country fields. Turkeys prefer areas where they feel safe. In an open field they may gobble back, but often the cautious birds will stay hung-up. Ray Eye, a famed turkey hunter from Missouri, has spent most of his life hunting the open country of Missouri and Iowa.
“I like to spot turkeys from a distance with good binoculars,” Eye said. “You can glass gobblers from old gravel farm roads. Many of the old farms I hunt have gobblers strutting on every open hillside. Calling from a distance has little effect, even from 100 yards. I work through ditches just under the hill to get close, hopefully within 20 yards. I like to set up in natural cover, such as behind brush or just inside the edge of cover by an old fence row.”
Don’t become complacent in heavy timber or conifers. Heavy cover can be your friend or your enemy when bow or shotgun hunting. Hunters tend to think gobblers won’t spot them in cover; but turkeys stay alive by noticing or hearing anything out of place, even in thick brush. One wrong move or out-of-place noise can quickly hang up a gobbler.
World champion turkey caller Eddie Salter learned early that mistakes in heavy brush will hang up a gobbler.
Consequently, he says, “I listen and draw back my bow when the gobbler is on the other side of the tree or brush he’s hiding behind. A decoy gives the gobbler something to look at while moving in, even in the thicket.”
Occasionally, he adds, a bird may hone in on your position, making setting out a decoy impossible. Just sit tight, he says.
Merriam gobblers in hills or mountains require extra effort. To hunt these birds successfully, Parrish recommends beginning by shock calling or glassing areas for gobblers, then setting up with a portable blind.
“I always use a portable blind for merriams,” Parrish says. “Many times the birds are in open areas where they may easily hang up. A blind makes it possible to draw back a bow without detection. Merriams will travel a long way in response to calling. Sound carries better in thin mountain air, and the birds aren’t pressured like eastern gobblers are. I have set up a blind, set out decoys while distant birds were in plain sight, and then called them in. You could never do that with an eastern gobbler.”
Merriam’s tend to roost in the same areas. On an unsuccessful day, Parrish moves to where the birds were gobbling that morning, then sets up a blind and decoys. The birds often move back into the area allowing for an evening hunt.
“Occasionally gobblers move in quickly, leaving you little time to set up a blind or decoys,” Parrish says. “When that happens, I look for cedars or pines that are common in the mountains and set up. You have to always think about how to draw back that bow in any situation that occurs. Sometimes your have to really think fast and react to hot in-coming gobblers.”
Know when to make your move. I only move on a hung-up gobbler when my season is about over. Chances are, I’ll hunt a hung-up bird on another day during early season, hopefully with a better plan. You take the chance of pushing or spooking that big boy anytime you move, and that’s a bad proposition when you can hunt another time. Mistakes are common when trying to reposition on a bird with the sharpest hearing and eyesight in any woodlot.
I move on a gobbler late in the season after he has hung-up an hour or more. I once called a gobbler over an hour who was clearly moving back and forth in thick cover, not more than 30 yards away. His impatience was made clear by identical pacing and calling. I could actually hear him crunching leaves. He wanted and possibly expected that hen to come in, rather than him going out. I was enjoying this chess game and continued softly calling until he gave up and stepped out for an easy kill.
Some hunters may have moved on that hung-up bird; but I knew he was close and clearly interested. An uninterested bird often will move away. Then you can plan your move, guided by his gobbling. Moving on a silent gobbler can be a matter of luck and probably best avoided.
Moves don’t always have to be far. I once watched the remarkable turkey hunter, Brad Harris, move 10 feet up a grassy bank after calling to gobblers down a big, woody hill for at least 45 minutes. He listened 10 minutes before calling again, slightly farther up the bank. The gobblers noted his new position and apparently thought the hen was moving away. Soon two big gobblers stepped out in the sunlight; their bright red heads made fine targets.
A fast-moving gobbler is generally gone unless he decides to turn and find the trailing hen — but don’t count on that happening. A fast mover is either spooked or headed for some predetermined destination. Chances are, no amount of sexy hen talk will turn him, but it has happened. You can’t always predict a gobbler’s behavior. They can do some strange, unexpected maneuvers, so always be alert.
Crunching brush isn’t a totally bad mistake if you purposely sound like a turkey or deer and not a human. Only a human sounds like a human in the woods by walking with a constant rhythm. Turkeys move then stop then move again. Most are not in a hurry. Those who are moving quickly may signal danger to others.
Moving on a gobbler requires moving slightly faster than usual when hunting. Too fast creates noise that will alert the bird. Not fast enough won’t allow you to gain the required position before the gobbler is gone. Experience is your best teacher on judging speeds and trails when changing positions on a moving or hung-up bird. Never generalize gobblers. React to what he gives you.
Always avoid moving on a hung-up bird on public ground. Sadly, a few hunters shoot at movement. You can’t be too careful in public or private turkey woods. Avoid using turkey calls while you move. I always sit against a wide tree to avoid being shot in the back by a slob hunter. Even private woodlots sometimes get uninvited visitors. So be careful. Remember to never wave or speak. Some suggest that you whistle a popular tune.