Gobblers "Hanging up"

[Muleyhunter47]

So I have had this problem with gobblers with years prior and also was my problem yesterday. I can always locate a gobbler, have him respond to me when he is still in his roost then i start closing the distance. I try to get within about 75-100 yards of him sit down call and let him come to me. Almost every time i call he will respond he will get within 50-60 yards (Still out of sight) and he wont come any closer. Its like he just dose not move for 5-10 minutes while responding to my call then after that he will shut up and walk away. If anyone has had this problem before and you know of a good tactic to get that turkey within shooting distance your advice would be much appreciated, Thanks.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

If that close runem down and shootem in the head!

[pendoreilleadventures]

It could be that your over calling. In Nature when the bird Gobbles the Hens come to him. when you call he knows right where you are. A lot of times if you have him that close just don't call and let him come looking for the hen that was just there.

[Fishnfowler]

If you are sneaky, call as you approach him, then "hang up" about 40-50 yards out and call infrequently.  This trick works occasionally.  I often find that I can approach close enough to see the birds and will find they are with hens already. 

Another trick is to rush a flock with a vocal tom that isn't coming in and disperse them.  Give it 20-30 minutes and when that tom starts banging off again rapidly approach him yelping until you are at the point you can't get closer without getting busted and then start begging for sweet loving. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Its pretty easy is not it  :chuckle:sometimes they will come running and sometimes they just like to peese you off ..lighten up on the calling in tthis situation ....soft clucks and purrs !

[Tom Tamer]

Hens!....it's a four letter word. While tye hens are not nessecarily needing the tom, he gobbles expecting tye hen to come to him. Right now ajd I battled it all day yesterday and this morning. He's use to gobble and strut and a hen pops out, I had same problem he hung up on me three times in tow days. Once at 60yds and the other two about 100. Until those four letter words go lay their eggs and Sit on it, and he gobbles and no one shows this is the game. Try to figure where they are going and get in front to flank them. If any calling at all then I just cluck and purr. It was working like a charm until some other hunter thought stalking the bird was easier. Or wait a couple weeks and he'll have less girls looking for him then he may run into your calls.

[mtnseth]

Are you sure he was alone?  This time of the year you are trying to go against the way these birds breed in the early season.  It's also probable that your calling had no effect on him at all, rather he got closer only because the flock of hens he was following decided to walk your direction.  Sometimes the temptation is to really hammer on him when he gets close, especially when he gets quiet.  That's usually when he gets suspicious, shuts up and leaves.  Real hens just don't respond that way.  I like to play hard to get when one comes that far and won't commit and he doesn't have a flock of hens keeping him busy. 

The only birds that I've experienced running in desperate on opening day are the lesser toms or jakes that have been pushed from the flock.

I've experienced a vocal tom that seems to get closer, then leave, then get closer; only to finally spot him in an opening later following his harem.  He's not going to leave a pack of hot ladies for the noisy one hidden in the trees, no matter how horny he is.  I got to see firsthand their early season behavior on opening day, and it served as a good reminder of how the breeding game is played and how challenging it can be to trick the boss tom on his home turf. 

I set up 100 yards from the tom's roost in the dark.  He gobbled on the roost, hit the ground and gobbled.  I could hear a few hen yelps and jake gobbles as well, so I knew he wasn't alone.  It took him almost an hour to move from the base of his tree to the strut zone nearby, literally 50 yards.  I was in SE, so I had 360 visibility, and I watched as hens flew into that strut zone from all directions.  Some flew hundreds of yards across the canyon to land in the strut zone, others I could see sprinting across open fields to come to the tom.  Probably a dozen birds came to him. It was cool to watch.  I had no idea birds would travel so far to be bred. With all that action, why would he bother coming to me? 

Unfortunately, my soft yelps and clucks called up his jake, which came right up to about 3 yards, saw me blink, putted and pulled the flock up the mountain. 

In the end, I lucked out.  I watched the flock for a couple of hours and stayed hidden.  Then a snowstorm blew through, and I used the weather to mask my movement and climbed the mountain up to them.  It was pretty grueling.  When the storm worsened, the birds dropped back down into the woody draw, and I was able to get above them on the rocks.  I didn't know where the tom was, but I could see most of the other birds.  Then a woodpecker fired off, and the tom shock gobbled.  I just waited until he came into view (about a half hour) then lights out. 

Kind of a long story, but the point for the OP is that I was not going to call up this bird and pull him away from his flock, no matter how sweet I sounded on the diaphragm call.  He had a 10.25" beard and 1.25" spurs.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Are you sure he was alone?  This time of the year you are trying to go against the way these birds breed in the early season.  It's also probable that your calling had no effect on him at all, rather he got closer only because the flock of hens he was following decided to walk your direction.  Sometimes the temptation is to really hammer on him when he gets close, especially when he gets quiet.  That's usually when he gets suspicious, shuts up and leaves.  Real hens just don't respond that way.  I like to play hard to get when one comes that far and won't commit and he doesn't have a flock of hens keeping him busy. 

The only birds that I've experienced running in desperate on opening day are the lesser toms or jakes that have been pushed from the flock.

I've experienced a vocal tom that seems to get closer, then leave, then get closer; only to finally spot him in an opening later following his harem.  He's not going to leave a pack of hot ladies for the noisy one hidden in the trees, no matter how horny he is.  I got to see firsthand their early season behavior on opening day, and it served as a good reminder of how the breeding game is played and how challenging it can be to trick the boss tom on his home turf. 

I set up 100 yards from the tom's roost in the dark.  He gobbled on the roost, hit the ground and gobbled.  I could hear a few hen yelps and jake gobbles as well, so I knew he wasn't alone.  It took him almost an hour to move from the base of his tree to the strut zone nearby, literally 50 yards.  I was in SE, so I had 360 visibility, and I watched as hens flew into that strut zone from all directions.  Some flew hundreds of yards across the canyon to land in the strut zone, others I could see sprinting across open fields to come to the tom.  Probably a dozen birds came to him. It was cool to watch.  I had no idea birds would travel so far to be bred. With all that action, why would he bother coming to me? 

Unfortunately, my soft yelps and clucks called up his jake, which came right up to about 3 yards, saw me blink, putted and pulled the flock up the mountain. 

In the end, I lucked out.  I watched the flock for a couple of hours and stayed hidden.  Then a snowstorm blew through, and I used the weather to mask my movement and climbed the mountain up to them.  It was pretty grueling.  When the storm worsened, the birds dropped back down into the woody draw, and I was able to get above them on the rocks.  I didn't know where the tom was, but I could see most of the other birds.  Then a woodpecker fired off, and the tom shock gobbled.  I just waited until he came into view (about a half hour) then lights out. 

Kind of a long story, but the point for the OP is that I was not going to call up this bird and pull him away from his flock, no matter how sweet I sounded on the diaphragm call.  He had a 10.25" beard and 1.25" spurs.

Good job ....nice spurs on that bad boy 

[Muleyhunter47]

Thanks for all the advice guys! mtnseth, I could never tell if he had hens with him or not But with his actions that was probably the case. Also for example, yesterday me and my hunting partners were closing the distance on this gobbler about 30-45 minutes after shooting light so the likeliness of him having hens was probably good. Do you know if turkeys are already hen'd up when they are in the roost? Or do they not start looking for a hen till they hit the ground? If they don't already have a hen by their side in the tree I'm thinkin i need to close the distance earlier in the morning while he is still in his roost get within 50-60 yards up hill of him. That sound about right?

[mtnseth]

This bird had hens with him on the roost and hens came to join him from far away.  If you can get between him and his strut zone or between him and his ladies before flydown, you can almost plan on turkey for dinner.  But often they will roost together or in adjacent trees.  It's usually an ambush thing, but still deadly.  Good luck!

[Muleyhunter47]

Thanks! I'll be back at it this next weekend!

[Wacenturion]

What you described is a typical blunder most hunters make every year.  As in you scenario, I will give you a good example of what probably happened using an experience of mine one morning years ago hunting Easterns on the westside.

You quietly get to your location well before dark, and settle in and get comfortable.  Just before first light you give as a soft tree yelp.....immediately a resounding response from above ground out in front of you at a distance.  He knows where I am, so I'll reluctantly wait about 10-12 minutes after it gets light before I softly call again.  When I do, he goes ballistic cutting me off.  He obviously is on the ground as he sounds further away.

I again wait about 10-12 minutes then softy call again like a contented hen just off the roost.  He cuts me off again but closer.  Game on.  Again I don't over call waiting about the same interval between my responses.  Something to remember here...most, but not all the time,  turkeys seem to take forever to cover ground.  This above interaction repeats, each time with the gobbler closer to my location.  In fact fairly close based on the gobble.  Game still on.

Now what happens next is oh so critical.  After waiting about the same time I make another call and the woods are silent.  Most hunters panic and start trying to getting a response by picking up the tempo and volume.  If you did this, and most relatively new turkey hunters do, you have just told that gobbler your not the real deal.  He shuts up and moves away, or he might respond but comes no closer.  The common hung up bird.

So with that said, what happened was when I called this particular Eastern and having him close the distance and respond each time only to go silent on my last attempt, he was essentially telling me he wanted to die.  If you recognize what is going on and don't panic, you slowly get the shotgun up and start looking.  What he has told you is he is too close for a response and he is now relying on his eyesight to find that hen.  You are in control and he will gobble no more if you pick up that small patch of white and red moving through the brush in your direction.  Game over in a good way.  Dead gobbler.

As I mentioned above, when one panics and starts calling, not only is the calling signaling to him something isn't right, but because he is close he probably made you due to movement.  Game over, only in a bad way.

Now granted, that doesn't happen every time, but enough that if you recognize it, you kill a few additional birds in your lifetime that would have otherwise taken a hike on you.

[PA BEN]

Put them to bed the night before and get close as you dear in the dark, hoot like an owl, makes them gobble. Make a place to set up in the morning that night  so you save time looking in the morning and where you want to place your decoys. Be there by 3:45 to 4am, be real quit no flashlights. Try to get your decoys where they can see them from the roost. You want to be the first hen in the morning he wants. I have a turkey wing your hat flapping on your leg will do too. Make fly down cackles and flap your wing. Sounds like a hen flew down, once on the ground cutt like hell with yelps. I use a mouth call with a box call at the same time to sound like more then one hen. If he is fired up you keep it up. Hens get real vocal right when they hit the ground. Then soft purrs and scratch the ground sound like the hens are feeding. Also, the toms roost away from the hens most of the time, if you can get between them and the toms you will be in the money. Good luck.