Turkey Hunting Tips - Advanced Calling Tips

Turkey hunting can be significantly improved by mastering advanced calling techniques. Moving beyond basic yelps and clucks, these tips will help you locate and draw in those wary gobblers.

Understanding the Turkey's Language

A successful caller understands not just how to make a sound, but why a turkey makes it. Turkeys communicate a wide range of emotions and intentions, and replicating these nuances is key to advanced calling.

Call Type	Purpose	Advanced Tip
Yelp	Location, gathering	Vary the rhythm and volume to mimic multiple hens or an excited hen.
Cluck & Purr	Contentment, close range	Mix these softly while scratching the leaves to sound like a feeding bird.
Cutting	Excitement, demanding attention	Use loud, sharp, and erratic bursts, especially when a gobbler hangs up.
Kee-Kee Run	Young bird or lost call	Use this in the late season or to appeal to juvenile gobblers.

Mastering the Cutting Sequence

Cutting is one of the most effective ways to get a silent gobbler to respond or to draw in a hesitant tom. It requires aggression and confidence.

Technique for Diaphragm Calls

1. Start Softly: Begin with a few soft, fast clucks.
2. Increase Intensity: Immediately follow with loud, sharp, rapid clits and clucks. These should be short, distinct, and almost run together.
3. Vary the Pitch: Use slight variations in air pressure to make it sound like more than one bird is cutting.
4. End with Yelps: Finish the sequence with 3-5 excited, pleading yelps.

The Lonesome Hen Routine

This is particularly effective on pressured birds that have heard the aggressive cutting routine too many times. The goal is to sound like a lonely, somewhat desperate hen.

1. Soft Tree Yelps: Before dawn, start with 5-7 extremely soft, sleepy tree yelps. Use a slightly nasally or low-pitched sound.
2. Long Silence: Wait 20-30 minutes after fly-down. Resist the urge to call.
3. The Lonesome Yelp: Give 3-5 long, drawn-out, melancholy yelps. Let the last one fade out.
4. Wait and Listen: After this, stay quiet for at least 15 minutes. A gobbler will often sneak in silently to investigate a seemingly abandoned hen.

Adding Reality: The Scratch and Sound

Pure calling is often not enough. Advanced hunters incorporate realism into their setup.

• Scratch the Ground: While making soft clucks and purrs, lightly rake the leaves or dirt with a small stick or your hand. This mimics a feeding hen.
• Use a Decoy Effectively: Position your hen decoy facing away from the gobbler's expected approach. This is an aggressive, inviting posture that suggests the hen is about to walk away, prompting the tom to hurry.
• Listen to the Environment: Use a directional microphone or simply cup your hands behind your ears to pinpoint soft gobbles or drumming. The ability to hear and respond to quiet, distant calls is crucial.