Fighting Purrs

[brantleynator]

I've heard that fighting purrs are a good way to get turkeys fired up in the Fall. I was wondering If anyone has had any luck with it. If I was going to try this, should I set up a couple of Jake or Gobbler decoys?

[eggshell]

I have witnessed birds doing a lot of fighting in the fall, but it is mostly juveniles. I have not used the fighting purrs sucessully in the fall, but it may work. One thing I have done is to just purr real hard and course, old dominate hens will fight too. I brought a whole flock of adult hens in once with that and the boss came looked me right in the eye...the best part was a gobbler came trailing in with them to see what the ruckus was. Bad idea for him. So give it a try.

As for decoys, I never use decoys in the fall, but they may help. I really don't think they are worth the trouble as birds already have plenty of company and the likely hood of one running to fight a decoy is way less than spring.  They are not as combative over territory in the fall either.  Maybe a lone bird or a group of super jakes might come to them, but I'd guess it is just something extra to carry.

[charlie elk]

I frequently use aggressive purrs in the fall to call in gobblers.  They are quite effective because gobblers are starting to flock and establish their pecking order causing them to become aggressive with each other.  To make the purrs hold a slate call with your knees using 2 different strikers make purrs.  The 3 fall gobblers in my picture were taken with this strategy.
They also respond well to other gobbler calls, like clucks, yelps and gobbles.  In the fall toms ignore hen calls and sounds so it is important to learn the difference.
Good Luck.

[brantleynator]

Thanks for info. I've found a group of flocked up Jakes and I am going to try the fighting purrs out as soon as fall season opens.

[longbeard.386]

Brantleynator,
Since you can only shoot toms at the WMA I hunt (Central Florida) I have found fighting purrs helpful. I use a pair of the push box calls. You can hold them both in one hand and work the push sticks with two fingers. This way it sounds like two birds going at it. This can also work very well in the spring. There are push box calls that have two sticks in one box available (Knight & Hale, I believe) but I've used my pair for years and am satisfied with them. I have no idea if you are allowed to hunt hens in the fall in your area but for me it's a "Jake Hunt", as Tom Kelly puts it.
Regards,
Longbeard.386
"Remember, you're never too old to have a happy childhood."

[Treerooster]

ORIGINAL: longbeard.386

I use a pair of the push box calls. You can hold them both in one hand and work the push sticks with two fingers. This way it sounds like two birds going at it. This can also work very well in the spring. There are push box calls that have two sticks in one box available (Knight & Hale, I believe) but I've used my pair for years and am satisfied with them.

I've bought the Knight & Hale fighting purr push-pin calls...one sounded decent the other didn't. Then I got the one with two sticks in one box. Thats a Quaker Boy call. One side sounded decent the other didn't.


Then it finally dawned on me that I could just do it with a pot call. Slate or glass IME, glass for a louder fight purr.

I always have one with me, in fact most often its right there in my hand if I feel I need to use the fight purr call. Creep up on your striker just a little to get more purr out of it. If you have a mouth call in, you can also do some cuts and putts along with the fight purrs if you mant to sound like several turkeys.

No need to carry around another bulky call and then have to dig it out with turkeys nearby if you want to try the fight call.

I can easily vary the loudness from very loud to a quieter fight purr.

I just purr aggressively in a sharp V to get 2 slightly different tones. Not even sure that is needed as I think the two tone thing is a gimmic the mfg's want you to believe so you will buy their product. I've asked the turkeys if you need two different tones, and 5 longbeards, a slew of jakes, and a few hens have told me "nah, you don't need that".