I went turkey hunting for the first time last weekend with no success and I am looking for a little help as some advise as to what I might have been doing wrong. First let me set up the scenario and he techniques I was using. I was in the western part north central Texas about 100 miles west of Dallas hunting Rio Grand Turkeys. The terrain was fairly hilly with thick mesquite tree thickets and the occasional large oak tree with a few open rocky meadows. I started hunting Saturday morning sitting along a small road that I was advised by the person that deer hunts the property the turkeys travel regularly in the fall and winter I stayed there till about 9 am and saw and heard nothing so I decided to do a little calling with some shock calls. I tried a crow, owl and hawk call with no response. Then a train went by on some nearby tracks and blew its horn and two turkeys started to gobble near by so I set up my hen decoy and started to do some yelps with a mouth call. The two gobblers continued to gobble but moved away from where I was. I never saw them but I did try and move around them to cut them off as they were moving away but they stopped gobbling and I lost them. Later that afternoon I was doing a few hen yelps and heard a gobble so again I set up and continued to call but this time the gobbler never came in. He stayed in the thick trees gobbling once about every five minutes until he finally either stopped or moved away. Late in the evening, about 7:30, I saw two hens cross a road about 100 yards in front of me so I decided to follow them at a distance because I figured they were heading to roost. I followed them for about ¼ mile until they headed into a large clump of big oak trees which I figured they were going to spend the night in. The next morning I went to were I last saw the hens go in hopes that maybe a tom was with them or at least they would maybe call one in but neither happened in fact I didn’t even see or hear the hens come out of those trees. So I figured they either didn’t roost in them or moved out without even making a sound. At about 8:30 that morning I started walking around stopping about every 200 yards making some hen yelps and listening. I heard a few hens call back and then finally I heard a gobble at about 9:30. This time I decided I needed a more proactive approach on this one so I continued to call to keep him gobbling and went in after him. As I continued toward him he kept gobbling but was moving away from me the whole time. I would call and he would gobble back and move away I would move forward and the same thing. Every time I would get closer and call he would move away and gobble back. This went on for what seemed like about a half mile until he finally stopped gobbling back and I lost him. I never heard another gobble that day but did hear a few hens yelping everyone in a while.

I don’t know what I was doing wrong if anything or everything, but any advice would be greatly appreciated because I am going to try again this weekend coming up hopefully with yall’s help have better success.

I am guessing that The Hens are with The Toms and have not been bred yet.If they hear more Hens they will herd The Toms away.I would Cruise any roads on the property early in the morning(Before light)or just after light.Try differnt calls (Coyote,Bobcat,Crow,wharever)and see if you get a response.Also during the day look at the roads and try to find areas they sand bathe in(Marks from wings & feet)it is just like hunting a scrape.They will use them over and over.Give your self a good amount of time when you are calling especially if they answer.Remember less sometimes is better when calling.Do not worry what your calling sounds like.If you can do some soft yelps,purrs and cuts you are good to go.They can hear you a long way away and I repeat do not need constant calling.They know where you are.The problem when they are Henned up is they are not going to come.Thats OK when you can put them to bed and be there set up before light.At that time they will not know if you are a Regular or not.I also like to use a Gobble when they are Henned up.Sometimes threat of competition will move them off the Hens.See if you can get a call that imitates an older Tom.They are not worried about Jakes.Good luck.

I found that waiting for two toms to fight on ones septic field then shooting the biggest works very well I shot a very nice tom on Saturday doing just that.

Just belly crawled around the coroner of the house gave the biggest one a load of hevi shot 4s did it in nicely.

Like Olbiker said, find where they are roosting and then which way they travel once they fly down. Also, they will typically be with the hens in the morning but usually by mid to late morning the hens move off to their nests and the toms start cruising looking for other hens.

Usually a tom expects the hen to go to him. Once you have the interest of one, try no calling. They already know where you are and once in a a while a lonely or curious tom will head back to where he last heard you calling from.

Lastly, watch, listen and pay attention. It is a learning experience and each and every time you are out there you can learn something new.

Good Luck!

Frankie -

I am with the rest of the crew - try less calling. Think of yourself as the hen that's playing "hard to get". If you get a gobbler to respond once or twice to your call then that's usually all it takes. Maybe some soft calls once you know he's coming to "steer" him your way.

I find shock calls work best when the birds are on the roost, don't do much for me once they are on the ground.

You might try finding a good opening that gobblers would use as their "strut" zone. Put your hen decoy out there and remember that if the gobblers show up they will go into strut as soon as they see the hen and try to get her to come to them. You need to be closer to where the gobblers might strut, even if your decoy is 80 yards away.

Who knows what really happens on the turkey hunts they show on TV, but the edited clips they show make you think that you have to call and call and call until they walk up to you. The absolute worst is when they show the toms coming in hot and heavy and the soundtrack makes it look like the guy continues to call. Turkeys aren't the smartest animals on earth, but they are smart enough to realize that if they hear a sound in front of them and they can't see the hen to go with it then something is wrong. They hang up out of range and blow your hunt.

Oh yeah, one final thing that bugs me about the TV turkey hunts - they shoot every bird in the body. Shoot 'em there if you like spitting out bb's on your dinner plate, but a well patterned shotgun aimed at the head is my preference.

Good luck - I have to wait for May 1 to get started.

Thanks for all the advice. I will try and get after them again this weekend and post the results. Hopefully this time there will be a picture attached.

You mentioned in part of your narrative that you followed a gobbler for quite a ways, calling all along. I trick I have successfully used (though nothing is 100% in turkey hunting!) when they clearly hear me and seem to be hanging up is to start yelping a little softer each time I yelp, as though I'm a hen moving away from ol' Romeo. This seems particularly effective when he's come within 100 yds or so, but hestitates to move closer.

I would not walk after him for any distance, hen calling along the way. He won't feel any incentive to get closer (he's waiting for you to find him) and you run the risk of attracting the shot of another hunter who might be in the
area.

Sdirks,

Thanks for the tip. I was not worried about any other hunters shots because we were the only ones on the the property and the next closes property was about a mile away from where I was. If I thought there was any risk of other hunter I would have never followed after him. That is a good tip to remember in the future though if I am in a area with other hunters.

Like some of the others have said, if a gobbler hangs up and keeps walking away, I'll some times head the other direction 50-100 yards to make him think I'm leaving.

Another trick I've used in the past couple of years is to use a jack gobble call, if they're hung up. They think some teenager is moving in on the lady and they'll come a running to kick the youngster's ass.

The gobbler I killed last year was henned up both days that I hunted him. I knew the second day where he was strutting during the heat of the day under some large oak trees, plus it is a common perennial turkey spot. I snuck down the road and sat down with about 30 yards from them. I actually say a hen pruning her feathers while sneaking down the road. When the gobbler walked out, it was lights out for him. If you know where they might be headed, it might be a good idea to try and beat him to the spot!

Finally, don't give up on afternoon hunts. It's always nice to hear them gobbling their heads off in the mornings, but many a love sick gobblers have bought the big one trying to find one more lonely little hen just before going to bed.

Good luck!!

I went after back after those dang birds again yesterday and now I have another question. How sensitive to the weather are turkey? I got to the hunting area about 45 minutes before sunrise and the weather was anything from what I would call ideal. It was sprinkling off and on all day with a steady 20 mph wind with gust that were probably close to 30 or 40. I figured though I am here and I couldn’t think of nothing that I would rather be doing than spending a day in the field so I started again with the locator calls. I figured with the wind it was going to be tough for them to hear me and me to hear them so I would only walk about 100 yards at a time before I would call. I did this all morning with no response so I decided that I would go to an area that I had seen with a lot of tracks and several areas that it looked like they had been dusting themselves and sit and take a break for a while. I stayed there for about 3 hours and saw or heard nothing so I decided it was time to get moving again. I went back to the call and move technique till about 2 in the afternoon until I ran into an area that it was obvious they had been strutting (lots of foot prints and drag marks in the sand from the wings) and set up there for the afternoon with the decoy. I was there for about an hour when the sun finally broke through the clouds and I heard a gobble in the distance so I decided to sound back at him with my shaker gobble and he replied but was moving away so I got up and tried to head him of figuring he was with hen but he went silent and I lost him. That was the last and only one I heard all day and I am blaming the weather for it. I have also decided that I completely hate turkeys with a passion now and I can’t wait to go after them again.

Frankie -

Turkeys are leery of open spaces when it's windy, but they don't seem to bothered by anything but heavy rain. Remember that they ain't gonna eat unless they go out and find it.

If you get a wind free evening soon you should try to get the birds "put to bed" and arrive the next morning nearby. I always try to be in place almost an hour before sunrise, as legal hours start 30 minutes before sunrise. Get close but not too close. Try light "tree yelps" like the other hens are making. If you get the toms to gobble a few times you've done enough. Less is more - just enough to let them think that a hen is waiting for them. Once the birds hit the ground it's up to you - the silent treatment, a few yelps or even aggressive yelps in an attempt to draw in the dominant hens (it works for me).

Remember that most states adjust their turkey seasons to begin AFTER the heat of the breeding season, so you are getting to the point where the toms gobble less and are less interested in breeding.

Look on the bright side - you are learning something every time you go out. You are seeing sign of turkey (a friend of mine always said "If you want to catch fish, you have to go where the fish are"). Keep it up and you'll get your chance - just don't miss!

Here's what our fall birds look like:
[URL= ]erict Veteran's Day bow gobbler[/URL]