Don’t believe you can call up an autumn longbeard? Check out these fall gobbler calling tips and you might be surprised.
In the spring, many turkey hunters use hen yelps to lure in male turkeys. In the fall, male birds often run together in small groups. Gobbler yelps are deeper and have a slower cadence than the higher-pitched hen yelps we often use during the breeding season. In my fall hunting experience, friction calls imitate gobbler yelps best, though resonant diaphragms also work well.
Often three deeper, slower yelps — yawp, yawp, yawp — will get a “super jake” (a year-and-one-half-old male turkey) or mature gobbler’s interest. Like the cluck, it’s a questioning call that seems to say, “Where are you? I’m right here.” As slate yelping for gobblers goes, run your striker closer to the call’s centerpoint than the rim. While holding the peg like a pen, draw it toward the call’s middle with the one-, two-, three-note yelping rhythm of a gobbler. Experiment with strikers on your call of choice.
In the spring, a gobbler is primarily attempting to call hens to his roosted or ground-standing position. In the fall and winter, he’s declaring his proud presence, and possibly gobbling during daily efforts to maintain pecking-order status, or move ahead in rank, as he fights other male birds. If you raise a fall gobbler with a cluck, then start yelping at the bird, which responds to you again, try gobbling at that turkey. Gobbler calls, when used sparingly, can draw responses from adult toms, super jakes, and young male turkeys. If you’ve broken the flock on foot, or with a dog where legal, listen as the gobblers regroup. Often they’ll gobble when lost or looking for other turkeys. Call as they do.
Aggressive purrs, cutting, and gobbling can interest male birds into approaching your position. Just as a crowd gathers during a street fight to see what’s going on, gobblers will investigate the location where such sounds indicate fighting turkeys. You can hold the lid of your cap, and smack it against a tree or your leg to imitate wings colliding as you purr, “cutt,” (fast clucking and yelping), and gobble — so long as the turkeys are out of sight, and won’t chance at seeing your movements.
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Steve Hickoff is Realtree’s turkey hunting editor and blogger. He hunts spring gobblers and fall flocks around the country.