MOST HUNTERS know an owl hoot can make a tom gobble from the roost, but locator calls can do much more, from making midday birds talk to keeping a hot tom at bay long enough for you to set up.
Or the tom may simply shut up and strut when he hears a hen. Carry several locator calls in case he stops responding to the original. Also, if a gobbler gets lockjaw after heading toward your first hen yelps, a locator call can loosen his vocal chords. I was once ready to give up on a tom that had gone mum. Primos offers an easy to use owl hoot called the Shock-N Owl. This custom hardwood owl call gives you the ability to produce different pitch owl sounds through the removable barrel.
Whether you are on the hunt or are scouting for birds, the Shock-N Owl is a simple part of your call pouch that should not be left at home. If you do not have an owl call, fear not. There is a way to produce deep and long range owl sounds by just using your hands. First, hold your left hand up and flat but with no spaces in between your fingers. Second, take your right-hand cup your hand and lay your pinky along the crease where your left fingers meet the palm.
Lay your fingers over the top of your right hand and bring your thumbs together to make an echo chamber. Did you ever call mourning doves as a kid?
This is the same concept, but instead of using your left hand to make sound waves of a mourning dove, put your lips underneath the knuckles of your thumbs and blow directly downward in a controlled and strong breath of air. With practice, you can mimic the booming vocals of an owl and crush the distant ridge lines with sound to hopeful make a bird give away his position. In the middle of the morning or afternoon when the gobbling has fallen silent the turkey woods may be one of the loneliest places in the world.
Shock gobbling turkeys in the middle of the day is one method for locating them when you are hiking ridges. This is usually done with a crow call. The powerful short blasts of a crow have long been known to draw a response from a wild tom. Next to your diaphragms, slate calls and shotgun, you will want to have a crow call in your vest. The Primos Power Crow is a simple crow call able to withstand the powerful blasts of breath producing the cawing sound of a soaring crow.
If you know the area you are hunting well enough to understand the daily route of the birds, get out in front of where you think they might be headed, give three short blasts on your crow call and wait. If a bird does not respond quickly, keep moving as shooting hours are ticking by. Trail cameras are most often associated with locating deer. Trail cameras are a great tool for locating turkeys to give you their average travel times through an area. The Truth Series of cameras from Primosare simple and easy to set up over a known strutting zone to help you dial in the exact times of day they are passing through.
Knowledge is power when locating turkeys in the middle of the day. Cameras can also be set to time lapse mode to take reoccurring photos of large areas like fields to give you an idea if an area is being used at all. Make sure to keep the camera at a slightly lower height on the tree when you set it up in order to not be taking photos of birds over their heads.
If calls are not working to rouse up a gobble, glassing is the next best bet for locating a turkey. The Nikon Prostaff x60mm Field Scope gives you greater detail and long-range viewing capability. While there may not be anything you can do about a gobbler strutting in the middle of a field, but keeping an eye on where he re-enters the woods is a great way to plan for future hunts. The Double Bull family of blinds are perfect for hunting turkeys since the interiors are black and the canvas used to create the blinds have no wind flaps.
These blinds are like sitting in the Taj Mahal for a morning of hunting. If you've got the day off, hang in there. You'll have the woods to yourself as you call to those lonely gobblers. Beginning around a. Pause often and listen for gobbles.
Try to strike toms with calls. I like to blow a hawk or crow call," says Knight. The minute a turkey gobbles, I move in, set up in a good spot and switch over to soft hen calls. If locator calls fail to produce, turn to turkey calling. Knight offers one exception to the rule of calling aggressively to strike toms. I still cover lots of ground and call down into hollows and around fields, but I yelp and cutt softer and not as much. Afternoon Strategies. Combined, more than 25 Southeastern, Midwestern and Western states permit all-day turkey hunting in the spring.
If you live in or travel to one of these states you can experience some great action beginning after lunch and continuing until roosting time.
Most of the early-morning hunters are out of the woods. But the gobblers are still there, most of 'em deserted by hens and stoked to gobble at your locator calls or hen cutts. But keep this in mind. You can't expect a turkey to gobble 50 or more times in the afternoon like he might first thing in the morning.
Most birds won't even gobble as much as they might around 9 or 10 a. You need to crow call or hen cutt and listen closely for a faint gobble or two. Then move in and listen for softer sounds, like a turkey strutting or walking in the leaves. A lot of turkeys, especially old Easterns, will gobble only once or twice in the afternoon, but they'll come to your calls fast and silently.
Afternoon hunting generally peaks from around 2 to p. Gobblers love to roost within 50 to yards of hens. If a turkey hears you yelping and cutting late in the day, he might come in to roost in the area. Better yet, he might run over to check out the hen before he flies up.
Roosting Toms Back Up. One of the oldest tricks in the book in to "put a gobbler to bed. If a bird doesn't roar on his own, owl hoot, crow call or hen cutt. Hopefully one or more birds will gobble and give away their roost trees. Even if no toms talk you should listen for heavy wings thumping up into the treetops.
If you hear a turkey gobble or fly up, you know where to hunt the next morning. Slip into the area well before first light, set up to yards away from a turkey's roost and wait for tom to roar. Then give him your best calling. That's right. You might come back the next morning and a turkey you roosted won't gobble.
Or he might gobble his fool head off, fly down and run straight away from your calling. You just never know. Still, you should try to roost a few birds each spring. It sure never hurts to plan a morning hunt in an area where you put a gobbler to bed the night before. Decoy Setups. We've developed a love-hate relationship with decoys over the years. Granted, some lovesick toms run to fakes. But we've watched far too many birds stop 50 yards out, explode into strut and wait for the "hen" to walk the rest of the way to them.
Here's a good way to cut down on some of those hang-ups. Stake a fake hen 20 yards past a calling setup. This puts you smack between the decoy and the gobbling turkey you're yelping to. If the bird works in and stops 50 yards from the imposter, great! He's 30 yards or so off the end of your shotgun barrel. Set the trio on their stakes; they'll spin enticingly in the breeze to catch the eye of a gobbler.
Setting a jake or strutting Tom with a hen or two is important, as a mature gobbler will sometimes see him and come in to kick his butt the old guy thinks the jake is courting a hen. Decoys work best in fields, logging roads and other open areas where gobblers can spot them a long way off.
If the turkeys wont come to your calling, try letting the decoys do the talking for you. Just setup two or more decoys in an open area and wait. Turkey Hunting Conditions Back Up. As a rule turkeys gobble best on clear, calm, high-pressure mornings in the spring. Stand on a ridge or bluff at dawn and you're apt to hear birds gobbling a mile or more away in all directions.
Not only can you hear well on a nice day, your calls also ring true and carry far. Any mouth or friction call works well. Since yelps and cutts carry nicely, you don't have to hammer away on calls.
Soft to moderately loud calling is most realistic. In the fall flocks are vocal on calm days. Pause on a hardwood ridge and you might hear birds clucking, yelping and purring to yards away. Listen for birds flying down from a roost, or scratching in the leaves for feed.
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