To Yelp? or not to Yelp?...that is the question.

[yelp]

How many of you guys finally get to your spot after locating a gobbler with a locator call..you know the turkey is right over the hill or around the corner from ya and is coming your way...you are sitting by the tree getting the gun ready, face mask on, gloves trying to get your ass comfy...your heart starts pounding he gobbles...you sit there trying to figure out what to do next......Do I call? Soft? Loud? Don't call and wait?  Move to a better spot?

All of these issues have come up time and again and to be honest there is No right answer in my opinion.  I have called to loud and the gobbler runs away or they have ran in hotter than hell.  Patience is the key to most of it.  Turkeys have excellent hearing and sight.  I like to putt, cutt and purr and yelp softly.  I have been successful by not calling too.  Each situation is different and some are very similar.  We all are trying to make that gobbler horny so much that he has to come take a look.  Hens have given me away more than anything...damn birds.  Sitting still is crucial and moving gun or bow at the right time.. Blinds are great for concealment unless you are running and gunning.  Also many guys in the situation like above sit in the wrong spot...then they try and move and at the wrong time...I have done it..then you feel like a dork watching that big bird running in the opposite direction putting his ass off.  Well good luck to all of you this year...Yelp softly and carry a big stick!     Any of you been in the same situation?  What do you do?

[turkey slayer]

patience is the key, but in that situation i would yelp softley and give it 5 to 10 minutes, and if he didn't camit , i'll do it again but a little louder maybe add some cutts and purrs and if that dosen't work, i'll give it 5 or so minutes then i would cutts and yelps louder if that didn't work i would go and check to see if their was a fence in the was or maybe creek after that i would go and find another tom and do it all over again. it dosentt hert to try

[tlbradford]

Usually a couple of soft purrs and rustle some leaves.  Mainly just sit tight if I know he eventually wants to come my way.  I have had good and bad luck cutting, mostly bad by cutting super aggressively, when he is henned up and the hens want to go the other direction.

[Tom Tamer]

Like you and Tbrad.... I'll start with a couple putts and go right to purrs....if he's hot and close I think there's now better call than a purr it usually seasls the deal. BUt as most here know there are no absolutes in this sport and I'know I've had luck with the yelping at that time but probably have lost more toms than I know by doing it.

[Turkeyman]

I would cluck and purr softly at first and see how he responds. If he gobbles then i shut up and make him come find me at that point no calling will get the best of him. As we all know every bird is different and allot of it depends on where the birds are at in the breading cycle and time of day. Good rule start soft take his temperature you can always pick up the volume if you need to.

[Machias]

Like you and Tbrad.... I'll start with a couple putts and go right to purrs....if he's hot and close I think there's now better call than a purr it usually seasls the deal. BUt as most here know there are no absolutes in this sport and I'know I've had luck with the yelping at that time but probably have lost more toms than I know by doing it.

Please don't take this the wrong way but when you say Putt, I think your referring to a cluck, the Putt is an alarm call and you might confuse some of these new guys.   

[Tom Tamer]

Like you and Tbrad.... I'll start with a couple putts and go right to purrs....if he's hot and close I think there's now better call than a purr it usually seasls the deal. BUt as most here know there are no absolutes in this sport and I'know I've had luck with the yelping at that time but probably have lost more toms than I know by doing it.

Please don't take this the wrong way but when you say Putt, I think your referring to a cluck, the Putt is an alarm call and you might confuse some of these new guys.  

I thought about that after I logged off...you're right and a cluck is what I meant...the quiet putt/cluck. I get messed up on that because while using a mouth call I use the word "putt" or pop to make the call.

[Intruder]

The question I'm always running through my mind is about moving.  Am I in the right spot? Is my setup good? Do I need to be closer?  Just wait or move on him?  Ahhh, to be faced with such delimas   

[yelp]

The question I'm always running through my mind is about moving.  Am I in the right spot? Is my setup good? Do I need to be closer?  Just wait or move on him?  Ahhh, to be faced with such delimas   

Isn't that the truth...that is usually when I go well if I close my eyes for a little bit and think about it I will know what to do...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...Wake up 2 hours later with a hen looking at me..putt putt.  LOL  My favorite is falling asleep and waking up with ants in my pants, on my face or up my nose....ahhhhhh!    Ah turkey hunting you got to love it...

[SpokaneSlayer]

I'd like to add don't be discouraged if he flies down in a different direction.  This happened the morning I called on in for my buddy.  We had a gobbler fired up and thought for sure he'd land in our lap.  Well he didn't.  After he flew down we heard him gobble quite a ways away.  After thinking about moving for a while, I ripped off some loud yelps on a box call.  He gobbled at about 50 yds from us.  Not longer after my buddy gave him lead poisoning at about 15 yds. 

[Machias]

That is a VERY important point for newbies, when a gobbler is gobbling on the roost and then flys down they "sound" much farther away, the sound doesn't carry as far.  Many an old gobbler has been saved because someone thought he was headed away and they got up and got busted, when in fact they were on their way in.

[Intruder]

Isn't that the truth...that is usually when I go well if I close my eyes for a little bit and think about it I will know what to do...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...Wake up 2 hours later with a hen looking at me..putt putt.  LOL  My favorite is falling asleep and waking up with ants in my pants, on my face or up my nose....ahhhhhh!    Ah turkey hunting you got to love it...

Taking a nice gobbler nap in the sunny late morning or ealy afternoon is perhaps 1 of the finest pleasures known to man that doesn't involve shooting or a woman. 

[tlbradford]

The only bad thing is that late afternoon nap has included snow and freezing temps the past two years.  Here's to hoping that we are in the 60's and 70's and the bugs stay out of our mask.   

[turkeydancer]

If he cuts me off when I give him a soft tree yelp, I shut up until I here him flying down. Then its very soft and only occasional yelps, purrs, and clucks with raking leaves like I'm feeding contentedly ... use his sex drive and curiosity against him.  Always better to call soft and less is always more. Be patient and wait at least two hours before thinking about moving and then wait another half hour ...

[lokidog]

I guess I've been lucky... if I get them to answer me,they have almost always left the woods in my cooler no matter what I have done.

I do think that contented purrs and clucks work wonders though I have done well aggressively yelping with two calls and a couple of strikers to call in henned up ones.