Where to learn calling??

[boydric]

Hello all, I just found this forum and have been reading non stop. This year was my fourth year that I have been turkey hunting with out any luck. I have no problems finding the birds but I am not able to call them in. I have zero faith in my calling abilities. Any birds that I have had close are out of dumb luck! What would be a good source to be able to improve my calling skills?

[shad309]

It may seem strange............ Do you know anyone with pen raised turkeys or can you go to a turkey farm? If so, listen to the birds talk to each other and immitate them. No lies, it is a great place to learn!

[WillowRidgeCalls]

You can click on the T&TH home page and then click on Turkey Sounds, then practice, practice, practice. [;)]

[AZ Gunner]

I know it's old school but you can find old Lynch tapes online. My dad used those to learn from when he first started and he says they taught him a lot.

[Cut N Run]

I used to listen to Dick Kirby's "Talikng to Spring Gobblers" cassette in my vehicle, mainly because I drove my wife crazy practicing with turkey calls in the house.  That tape was more an advertizement for the calls Quaker Boy sold, but it gave some decent calling sounds and helpful tips.  Now I understand that Chris Kirby (Dick's son) has the same sort of thing out on cd.
 
Jim

[boydric]

Thanks guys for all of the replies.  I don't have a problem making the sounds with my calls. I am looking for a better understanding of when to do the calls to get the buggers into range.  I will check out the tapes etc. that you guys recomended.  But alas I know no one with a turkey farm.

[swpatrkyhunter]

Hi boydric! Welcome to the forum!
 
  Best advice I can give you is to get yourself a couple of cd's that have live turkey sounds and explains the vocalizations. Knight and Hale have a great set of cd's called "Spittin feathers".  This is what I used to learn calling. I still use it now to hone on my calling and refresh myself before season starts.

[wingbone]

The best teachers are the turkeys themselves. Years ago when I first started hunting, I set up on this field. At first light some guy started yelping on a box call. My mentor had told me to make three yelps and set the call down for twenty minutes. This guy was just calling away. When he got done with the yelping , he starts cutting. I was boiling inside and never lifted a call. all of a sudden a gobbler started to answer his calls. I was looking for this hunter as he was real close and I did not want to get shot. Eventually A hen walks out into the opening and I realize she is doing all the calling. She seen me then flew off in the opposite direction of the gobbler. Amazingly the gobbler kept responding. I used the same calls the hen was using and he came in and I shot the bird that turned out to be a Jake.

That was a fantastic experience for me and I never pass up an opportunity to listen to the real McCoy. Now a days I like to visualize the hen in my minds eye and rerun times that I have actually seen hens calling to gobblers.

Off course none of this helps if the birds are not being vocal, but if you spend enough time in the woods you eventually will see and hear some amazing things!

[boydric]

Thanks for the additional information guys.

[mark hay]

The turkeys have a wide range of calls .
They have a wide range in volume .
They can and will change the cadence or rhythm .
They can and will go from clucking to yelping to cutting ,,,sometimes without stopping .
Some old hens yelp very close to that of a young gobbler . In spring you want to sound like a hen ,,,,,,,,,,clearly a hen . I deliberately stay on the higher pitch side with any call in the spring .
What a hen can do ,,,a tom can do ,,,,and vice versa,,,,generally with notable differences ,,,,,,,,,GENERALLY BUT NOT ALWAYS .
 
 Great advice from the above posts . And I agree totally with the ''LEARN FROM THE TURKEYS ''. Come fall , and next winter go where the birds are and observe and listen . Watch them with binocs as they make their calls . The birds will be in flocks , and increase in size as spring approaches . You'll be astonished at some of the things you'll see and hear from them .
 
 So many times , just this spring , as I was hunting , I would hear some hunter running a call . Pitch was good ; rhythm was awful . And another had good rhythm , but was yelping like a two year old gobbler . One feller would do the exact same thing everytime he called ,,,and he called to often . There was no doubt in my mind at his first series that it was a hunter ,,,not a real hen .
 Spending time with the turkeys will train you if you do it enough times . And you'll know without doubt what you are hearing when you hear it . Whether it is a jenny or jake , gobbler or hen ,,,you'll learn to tell when it is a hunter or what sex the bird is that you just heard .
 
 Just a few thoughts on the subject at hand . This game of turkey hunting is GREAT . Learning never stops. Each season ,spring or fall comes with new things never experienced before .
 Stay with us Boydric, and WELCOME to T&TH .