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Turkey help

Hi guys - New turkey hunter here and looking for some help. Have been out a few times so far. Let my son stay home from school today to come with me. He has excellent grades so we decided to tell the school he had "bird flu". We went once during the youth season and had some good interaction going with one, only to have someone else approach the same bird and spook him 45 min into our conversation. This morning we had one gobbling about 100 yards away in a swamp that borders a couple small fields. He would respond occasionally to some calling. I tried not to overdo it. He wouldn't budge. I realize he is expecting the hens to come to him. I tried giving him the silent treatment and also tried moving away from him and calling occasionally to give the illusion that the hen was wandering off while my son stayed with the decoys. Still nothing. Around 9ish he stopped gobbling. I assume he was still in the vicinity but must have found some hens to breed(?) Should I have been more aggressive and tried to close the gap when he was calling more frequently, or more patient and waited for a while after 9, hoping that when he finished tending to his harem he remembered there was a hen with a bad accent and hoarse voice waiting for him in the field? I was using a box call and a push button (idiot box) call. He seemed to respond more to soft noises on the push button call.

Also wondering how weather affects them. Does an overcast or rainy day make them more or less vocal? Gonna give it another try tomorrow at a different location

I don't think you did anything wrong. Sounds like a morning of turkey hunting. Some like a hot hen, some like a quiet hen. Some gobble non-stop, others come quietly. It's all a game. Could've been a barrier that he didn't want to cross, or just hanging with a hen already. Give him a day or two and try again.

Congratulations and welcome to turkey hunting. There is no doubt that he had hens or he would have found a way to you eventually. Given that it is the first week of the season, it is highly doubtful that all or even any of his hens are going to leave him at any point in the morning to go set on their nest. If he started out with 4 or 5 hens at fly down, he will probably still have that at 9 or 10. Its a little early for that strategy, but that is coming soon. When that does start to happen and you do encounter a gobbler who acted the way he did this morning, tomorrow I would sleep in and sneak into his area around 9 am and see what happens. That's if you are only interested in killing that specific bird, because other gobblers may start to respond right from the roost. Each day is different and each flock is different in that regard. Now, as for your push button box call. You really should try to become more proficient with a different call. One that you have more control of the tone and cadence. The push button type call was developed to be used as a last resort call that is attached to your gun or bow so that you can make A turkey sound with minimal effort and movement as the turkey gets close. Its just a mono-tone beep, beep, beep type of call that makes A turkey sound ;that's it! When I talk about "control of tone" I'm talking about something that is probably the most overlooked aspect of calling. If you have a standard box call for example you can, and often do, hear the difference in tone as you listen to multiple guys use it. You need to be concerned not only with what you are saying but how you are saying it. For example if you are in wife is in another room from you and she says Andrew get in here, you may or may not respond right away. But if she screams, ANDREW GET IN HERE!!, I'm sure you will be more responsive. Same thing applies in the turkey world. I'm not saying you have to call really loud, but make your calls realistic with tone, volume and what you are saying. Once you figure out how to do that your success rate, on those gobblers that are kind of caught in between you and their last hen of the day, will rise dramatically. Tone and volume also play a big role on how the hens react to you. I've picket a verbal war many times with the boss hen and more than once have had her drag that big tom in to range, simply because I said the wrong/right thing to her in the wrong tone; if you know what I mean. 8 out of 10 times they will turn and leave dragging the gobbler away from your position, but if you say the right thing to her and she feels like she is being wronged by that slut over there in the bushes, she is going to come over and let you know. And guess who will be following her? Spring turkey hunting is a lot of fun when done right. Enjoy!!

Sometimes my kids come down with eye trouble.... can't see going to school today. Grades continue to stay up too.....good luck

N8 - you did everything right, but then again not to tom. That's what makes this type of hunting so much fun. You know there's a bird around because you heard him, but you don't know how to get to him.

There are a couple of other tricks I use. Circle the bird (wide berth) and call from different angles. Sometime there's a stream or thicket or a cocker spaniel :) he doesn't like to cross, so calling from a different location may peak his interest more. Or maybe he got shot at from your current position, just never know.

The other, and be careful with this one, is to hen call and then gobble. If he hears another tom in his territory, and he's the dominate bird, he may come running to chase you out of his area.

If neither of those tricks work, and you've tried for hours, I resort to running directly at the bird yelling and screaming "Stupid Bird, Stupid Bird!!!!"

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks guys. This helps a lot. The idea of sleeping in sounds enticing! I belong to a club and I am debating if I should go back to the same spot tomorrow am, as there will likely be more humans roaming around with the same intent. Not opposed to getting up earlier and trying to be in position before the competition arrives, but that didn't work out so well last week. Other option is a lesser hunted area where I did see a tom and a hen on the ground a couple weeks ago, but I have no up-to-date intel and won't be able to go at dusk tonight to verify if they are still around. Any thoughts about plan A vs plan B? The second place has more houses so I am thinking of using ground blind and bow if we hear something w/in 500' of the houses.

Out this morning for my first time.. ground completely ripped up and is extremely fresh but no gobbles or birds. Kinda bummed.

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