Where are you hunting?
(Species can make a difference .... and easterns aren't very vocal anyway). There's a million things that may have changed since you saw them earlier.
Here's some discussion and things that you might need to think about and consider:
1) They go thru different moods just like we do and they just may not have been in the mood to do anything but stay in the shade and do the turkey thing.
2)They are not only profoundly effected by weather, but even more so by hunting pressure. The more they are bumped, shot at, over called to, etc the more they'll move away from the pressure and the quieter they will become. People say they get call shy ... I believe it's really that they become people shy. Note - the amount they move depends on the species, but I have found usually its not that far (maybe just a hundred yards).
3) By now the foliage is also in full bloom and the woods will swallow up sound (ie - you're not reaching out as far). That doesn't mean call louder ... it means cover more territory.
4) Was there available water/moisture when you saw them earlier, but now its dried up a lot? Easterns are fairly water dependent.
5) As the season goes along become quieter and call less frequently --- start out soft, you can always get louder if necessary.
6) Since they have also probably heard every box call, slate call, & mouth diaphragm there is, I try to use less frequently used calls such as wing bones, tube calls (or snuff cans), etc.
7) Add realism by "raking" in the leaves, adding an occasional wing slaps (hat against the arm, chest or leg), etc.
8. Cover territory and find fresh sign. I like to mountain bike for birds at times because I can cover a lot of territory, quickly, and quietly ... yet slow enough to spot sign.
9) Try approaching and calling the birds from a different direction than you and everyone else have been using, but ask yourself is it a location where a bird would be calling from (ie - they know predators hide in thick brush, tall grass, etc. and will avoid it like the plague).
10) They are also getting toward the end of the breeding cycle and may be more interested in hanging out with their buddies in batchelor groups ... sometimes you will get good responses and have them come to jake or gobbler yelps and gobbles.
11) If all else fails, try staging a turkey fight with aggrevated purrs with a couple push/pull calls, excited cutting on a mouth diaphragm, and some hat slaps.
12) There may have had a predator move in on them.
13 They may have been intercepted by or otherwise occupied by a real hen.
14) You may have been spotted/busted.
15) They don't always gobble --- 1/3 of the time they will, 1/3 they will spit and drum (strut), and 1/3 of the time they will come in silent (watch closely for them to periscope up over the brush or hill edge).
16) There is also a combination of three habitats I look for especially for easterns ... but you stated you already have already seen or located them so I will leave that for another time.
Well that's probably enough to get you thinking and some different approaches to try .. don't get stuck in one mode ... be versatile and find out what will work. By the way David, I grew up in SW Wa and graduated from BGHS ... is that the area where you live or does the BG stand for something else?
