Echoing gobbles at the far end of the valley resounded with a positive vibe 30 minutes prior, but the sounds of silence followed. He and I had been screaming at each other up until then and presto, silence. Scenarios flooded my mind including coyotes scaring the vocal tom, him suspecting a ruse or that he simply became bored with conversation. I understood that reality while listening to sometimes boring hunting camp stories from blowhards with little success, but lots of embellished tales of hunting deeds. 

Another 15 minutes of silence and I began packing up scattered calls in my lap and finally stood to walk over and retrieve my decoy staked 30 yards away. On my way to the trailhead, I pondered the outcome. My conclusion: I simply called too much and it did not sit well with the tom who had already survived three-fourths of the season. Instead of shouting a tom into a turkey trap, my next hunt would include a kinder, gentler approach. I’d call less and make them guess whether I was real or store bought. 

Sounds of Realism

Different sounds.

You cannot go wrong with a quick yelp introduction to any area. You never know. A flock or lone gobbler could be hanging out 100 yards away and thrilled to invite you to the coffee clutch. Where you go from there is driven by the response or lack thereof. A weak comeback or silence is a good time to introduce different turkey vocalizations into your rolling hunt. If feeble responses were heard, you may wish to stay stationary. Otherwise, incorporate a still-hunting strategy into your maneuvers with the entire procedure in ultra slow motion. In brief, stop often and move less.

The real blueprint to your plan revolves around the sounds of realism as you move about. Do not forsake the occasional yelp, but instead of a yearning, “I need love now” message, keep it soft, curious and welcoming. An effortless way to modify your turkey tactics is to use a different series of calls. Also, change the tone of the turkey sounds by incorporating as many different calls as possible. You do not need to study circus juggling, but combining a diaphragm call with a box call or pot call sounds like a group, not a single bird. Even utilizing two or three different diaphragms with distinctive differences creates new sounds, pitches and tones to entice a tom. 

After perfecting your juggling and conversation skills, hone the range of your conversation talent. Yelps reign over the spring conversation, but with everyone and their dog using the same message, a call less strategy with banter works best. Clucks, putts and soft purrs send an aura of calm and serenity to a tom that may be harried from hunting pressure. You can accentuate the scene with the sounds of flapping, a common turkey action as they stretch and move about. Also rake the leaves around you to mimic the sound of scratching. You want your message to reflect the sound of a flock at peace.

Stories from a friend of mine who shared access to the same hunting property had me thinking that calling in a bird late in the spring would be next to impossible. His efforts of several weekends only resulted in frustration as toms ignored his pleading yelps. With that intel in mind, I decided to try it anyway. Besides, it was the only nearby property I had permission to hunt on a tight schedule. 

After the first morning of frustration, I invoked a tactic of soft talk teamed with being where the turkeys wanted to be at midmorning. The occasional flock chatter of realism brought a paranoid tom into a small woodland opening for a peek and a dose of No. 5s. 

Confidence Booster for Pressured Birds

As more and more property falls into wildlife management programs, the issue of access only grows. I get it. People spend a lifetime of recreational savings to invest in a property and when they manicure it into wildlife luxuriousness, the appetite to share in the bounty tends to disappear. Closed private lands lead to more hunters on the property of those private landowners willing to allow hunting. It also corrals more of us on public lands. Either way, your hunts become more difficult with pressured birds and fewer of them as the season progresses. Calling less could be your answer to hunting these paranoid masterminds. 

Think about your hunting partners. With limited hunting time and YouTube videos of success replaying in their minds, they rush the woods with hammering calls. Why wouldn’t they? It’s what they saw on the latest turkey hunting video trending on TikTok. Unfortunately, following the crowd just reinforces what the local birds have experienced from opening morning on. To boost the confidence of a bird living in a pressure pot of hunting, cool your calling. 

I’m reminded of a hunt years back that cemented my call less approach. With intense hunting pressure on the farm I had permission to hunt, the main flock simply readjusted homelands and spent more time on the neighboring land. All our encounters, albeit brief, took place on the fence line in shouting matches. As expected, the tom kept his ground on the same side of the border fence, with the hunt ending in a win for the gobbler. 

One hunt I found a small hollow that connected the two properties. A gap in the fence even granted easy access for any turkey to cross. Instead of a normal startup with yearning yelps, I kicked off the hunt by yelping softly as I neared the hollow. I felt the turkeys next door could hear as they had a traditional roost not far from the fence and the calm winds allowed sound to carry relatively far. 

One faint gobble boosted my confidence as I neared the hollow and set up for a morning of waiting. I continued yelping occasionally, but never increasing the volume. I wanted the tom to consider that a new hen moved in. He did, but with a mum-is-the-word approach. At 30 yards he half-strutted straight to my future dining menu. 

Options to Always Get Rowdy Later

Why get in a hurry? When you start out crazy it is difficult to dial it back down. Criminals like Ted Kaczynski learned this lesson the hard way. Of course, turkey hunting is not criminal, but when you storm the woods calling like a lost toddler trying to find mommy, it’s difficult to back pedal into a state of small talk. That is why I almost always begin my setups with a state of refined subtleness. On rare occasions I run into a gobbler so intent on hanging himself with unrestricted gobbling I’ll scream back. Nevertheless, those occasions occur less frequently and more often gobblers respond with the restraint of a leashed dog. Tease them in the beginning and then let their responsive comebacks drive the conversation forward. 

One hunt stands out in my memory as confirming the usefulness of this tactic. At daybreak, my son and I worked a tom on the roost. Although responsive, he did not exhibit true roost exuberance. Not reading the tea leaves, I drove my message home of wanting a meeting with yelps that likely could be heard in the neighboring county. At fly down, the gobbler hit the ground and never gobbled again. 

Later in the day, a different gobbler on the opposite side of the property lit up with a midday “anybody out there” message. Realizing my earlier mistake, I answered softly in a barely audible series of yelps. He immediately gobbled back with gusto. His hookup thirst increased in volume and I matched the replies to the point of wondering if the authorities would arrive to investigate a turkey domestic love dispute. In less than 10 minutes the peacefulness of the day went from turkey shouts to a single shotgun blast as my son collected a mature tom. We let that gobbler drive the conversation straight to a tailgate celebration party. 

Make Them Hunt You

Most of the scenarios above entice turkeys to hunt you. A supercharged tom will hunt you in the right mindset, but when paranoia overcomes lust, turkeys become suspicious of every sound they hear, welcoming or eerie. Through small talk, you erase some of the uncertainty clouding that peanut-sized brain. Better yet, the artful use of volume and chitchat, such as clucks and putts, imitates just another day in the turkey woods. If you’re lucky, the turkeys begin to hunt you. 

You have two options to increase the success of your game of hide-and-seek. First, to make them feel even more comfortable that you are a feathered friend, move a time or two. Turkeys instantly recognize a sound is emanating from a different location. Adjust side to side or move slightly away, but change up your location in the beginning minutes of your setup. Occasional calling keeps them interested and, as you sneak from point to point, gives you the opportunity to find an ideal ambush site. 

What defines ideal? Your last stand should include a small opening, yet enough cover where turkeys cannot stand just out of shotgun range and spy for turkeys, or scrutinize your decoys. I’ll even fire up my HuntStand hunting app while moving to peer down from above for an ideal last stand. Your goal is to find a location where when a turkey steps in you unleash a hornet of pellets.

Last spring, my wife and I worked a tom several times on a property that always seemed to have an escape plan and did not appreciate aggressive hen talk. Days before the season closed, we arrived in the dark and at daylight discovered he was in his usual roost. Before closing the distance, I yelped a few soft tree yelps and then made an aggressive move towards his strut zone. Cover allowed me to stake a Montana Decoy Miss Purrfect XD hen decoy before backing up to the trunk of a nearby cottonwood. I scratched out several soft, yearning yelps and then we sat quietly. It took that tom 15 minutes to close the distance. He only gobbled once. 

Despite the slow-motion hunt, he half strutted straight to our decoy, giving my wife a 15-yard shot perfect for her CVA Scout .410. Less was best for this tom, and likely many more to come.