Spring turkey hunting seasons and regulations
The time of day you hunt and the number of hours you spend afield will affect your chances for success. Many hunters are in the woods before dawn, and most turkeys are killed before 8 a.m. However, turkey hunting after 8 a.m. can be rewarding. Most people leave the woods by 10 a.m. If you have the patience to stay late, you will have fewer hunters in the woods competing for available birds.
Because you may not know how many other hunters are in the woods, it is important to have a good location from which to begin your hunt. Be careful not to hide too well. You want to be able to see as far as possible in every direction in order to spot approaching hunters. Consider any movement in the woods to be another hunter until you can be certain.
Once you have reached your hunting spot, you will need to locate the birds. Hooting like a barred owl or cawing like a crow usually will incite a turkey to gobble, and is a preferred way to locate the birds early in the morning. If you use a hen call before shooting time, you may bring a gobbler to you too soon. In addition, if he finds you and not a hen, you may have created a call-wise bird that will be harder to lure next time you try. Hooting and cawing may get him to gobble without making him look for you.
After locating a gobbler, select a strategic location and begin calling him to you. Variations of the yelp are the most frequently used calls. Most spring turkey hunters yelp from three to seven times--it's not critical how many times. Rhythm is important. It really does not matter whether you are raspy or smooth, or using friction or diaphragm calls. Rhythm in your calls will make the difference. Pre-recorded tapes of turkey calls can help you to learn the various calls and associated rhythm.
Another type of yelp is a tree yelp--a very soft yelp that should be used when the gobbler is still on the roost. Turkeys hear much better than humans. Before the hen comes off the roost, she calls softly. After you get in position, try giving a tree yelp while the gobbler is still on the roost.
Another handy call to use is the cluck. Turkeys frequently cluck while feeding and moving around undisturbed. You can make the clucking sound on any of the calls. This is also one of the easiest calls to learn.
The cackle is a series of excited yelps that hens sometimes make as they fly down from the roost. If you can't cackle well, don't do it at all. The fly-down cackle of the hen has been called the true mating call. It sounds just like a yelp, except it gets faster and faster as she pulls of the limb and flies to the ground, then taper off and slows down as she lands.
You can learn to cackle with most of the turkey calls available. Another cackle is the assemble cackle made in the fall when the hen calls in the young poults. It's just a slowed-down version of the regular cackle.
Cutting is a sound turkeys make that is similar to the cackle. Cutting consists of excited, fast, short, sharp yelps and is frequently made by adult hens.
The purr is the contented, soft call of the hen. Purring and clucking are the calls that will bring turkeys in the last few yards.
The putt is a sound both sexes make, and may be either soft, intermingled with purrs and clucks during contented chatter, or it may be a series of hard, short, loud succession of putts which serves as the alarm call.
The whine is a soft, high-pitched, drawn-out call of the hen, usually used in combination with putts and clucks.
The gobble of the male turkey can be imitated with your tongue and voice, a box call, a diaphragm call, or a shaker-type of call designed specifically for gobbling. Beware of gobbling during legal shooting hours, because you might attract other hunters.
Gobbler also spit and drum (or thrum) while displaying for the hen. The drum sounds like a giant rubberband vibrating in the woods. It is a very soft call. If the drumming gobbler is hidden by brush, it can be difficult to pinpoint his location. The lost call or assembly call is a series of pleading yelps that tend to get louder and more pleading. Both turkey hens and gobblers use this call. This makes the lost call or assembly call good to use late in the morning.
Other calls include the brood hen's assembly call, the kee-kee run and the lost call. The kee-kee is the whistle of a young bird. The kee-kee run is the voice of a young turkey changing from a whistle to a yelp and is usually heard in the fall. The assembly call is used by the hen to call in her poults after they've separated from each other, and the lost call is used by an adult of either sex who is looking for company.
Sometimes you can use every call in the book, and you still have trouble getting the gobbler to come in those last few critical yards.
This can be a tough problem to solve, as each turkey and each situation is different. Possible reasons may be that there is a physical barrier, such as a woven-wire fence between you and the turkey, or another hunter or predator may have caused him to abandon you for the moment. Also, you may have called too loudly. Generally, turkeys only call loud enough to be heard by another turkey. When your call is too loud, the gobbler assumes the hen is close, and he begins to strut and display. Unfortunately, he may have stopped just out of your sight and range.
Try muffling your call, or turning your head to project the call behind you, and the gobbler may move closer. Be patient--you may be able to wait him out. Eventually the hens will leave and your periodical calling will start working on the gobbler's mating urges. Patience and perseverance will usually prevail.
How often and how loud you want to call will vary with the situation and will come naturally to you with more experience. The key is to keep the turkey interested. If he loses interest, he may move out of the area or go to another hen or calling hunter. Remember, he responds to stimuli, and to lure him in, you must emit the strongest seductive stimulus interacting with him.
