Hunting After First Fly Down

[gooseberry]

I'm new to turkey hunting. Why does everyone seem to quit hunting around 9:30 or 10 AM? A guy told  me that there's not much sense to because by that time the gobblers are paired up with hens. I live in PA and hunting doesn't end until noon.
Bruce

[Rennat]

Bruce i think you were given some bad info, infact I feel the exact opposite since the hens usually leave the Toms mid morning to nest that leaves ol big bird by him self... I think most stop hunting later in the morning as they dont hear as many gobbles , but do not think for a second that the gobblers arent there [;)]

[WillowRidgeCalls]

The guys that are telling you that, are guys that can't sit still long enough to kill a bird. or since your a new hunter he was telling you that to get you out of the woods before the best time of day starts. 9:30 to noon is some of the best times to kill a bird, you'll hear a lot more early in the morning, but you'll kill a lot more later on. Birds are henned up from flydown till about 10am then they will start to more around looking for more hens. The younger 2 yr olds will move around sooner.

[gooseberry]

thanks. even the neighbor that's teaching me leaves the woods by 10 AM.

Should I pick a spot and sit until noon? Do I call periodically? I can easily sit for 2 hours.
Bruce

[WillowRidgeCalls]

The longer you can sit the better. As far as calling, if the birds are very vocal and your hearing a lot of hen talk then you can call every 15-20 min. if your not then once an hour. The hardest thing for a new caller to learn is you never answer a tom you make him answer you, you only answer hens. If it's been quiet and you hear a bird gobble don't grab your call and answer him right away, wait 10-15 min. then call softly, if he answers right back then quit and get ready. If a hen answers your call copy her call for call, volume for volume. If the hen takes him away, he'll still gobble, then you reverse your calling start out loud and go soft. One of the two should answer you, answer back softly.

[DeanoZ]

ORIGINAL: WillowRidgeCalls

The longer you can sit the better. As far as calling, if the birds are very vocal and your hearing a lot of hen talk then you can call every 15-20 min. if your not then once an hour. The hardest thing for a new caller to learn is you never answer a tom you make him answer you, you only answer hens. If it's been quiet and you hear a bird gobble don't grab your call and answer him right away, wait 10-15 min. then call softly, if he answers right back then quit and get ready. If a hen answers your call copy her call for call, volume for volume. If the hen takes him away, he'll still gobble, then you reverse your calling start out loud and go soft. One of the two should answer you, answer back softly.

Good stuff willow, thanks for putting it into perspective...as I suspected I'm calling to much...but I'm getting better.  particularly useful is the info yo shared about not answering a gobble right away...that makes perfect sense so I'll keep that in mind.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Good luck DeanoZ If you have 2 hen dekes out remember as a tom starts getting close they will get more excited. Your purrs should act the same way, most times a hens purrs will get a little longer and faster, not louder. If you using a friction call and your drawing your striker down in a straight line for your purrs, change that! A straight line purr is fine for a feeding purr or fighting purr, but an excited purr needs to change pitch. Instead of drawing it straight down= cluckI II cluckI II cluck, try putting some arc in your draw= cluck( (( cluck( (( cluck, if there is more than one tom get very excited= cluck cluck< << cluck < (( cluck cluck< (< cluck cluck.

Straight down= I
Arc= (
Excited = <, like a backwards 7

Also if your using 2 hens dekes try putting one with her rear end high in the air and her breast on the ground. When a hen wants to be breed they will stand like that just before they drop to the ground to be breed, put your stake in at about a 45 degree angle and use a deke that has her head up.

[DeanoZ]

Wow, great stuff Willow...i will definitely try that out with the two hen dekes'...as for the calls, I had no idea...makes sense, I'll give the arcs and backwards 7s a try