Gobblers on the limb

Turkey hunting tips & tricks that have worked & can help others.
dsunday
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Gobblers on the limb

Post by dsunday »

Now, I know we can't predict how every Tom will act. However, how much do call to him at dawn when he starts gobbling off the roost? Sometimes I feel like I overdo it and spook him sounding unnatural, and other times I get one answer and shutup, then hens take him away. What's your roost calling plan?
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by The Baron »

Personally, I don't make a sound at him until he's on the ground. The only exception to that would be if there is a yappy hen the far side of him, and then I might give him a tree yelp or couple soft clucks (whichever is most appropriate at the time), just to get his mind on me. Then I let fate take it's course. But if there are real hens on the far side of him from me, fate usually leaves me alone and dejected. LOL
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howl
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by howl »

There is at least one thread on here about this already. The general consensus is don't call to turkeys before they fly down.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by dsunday »

howl wrote:There is at least one thread on here about this already. The general consensus is don't call to turkeys before they fly down.
Sorry, new guy here. Haven't read every single post to know what everyone thinks
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by howl »

This site is a treasure trove of information. I have learned a lot about shotgun loads I would not have anywhere else just by reading old threads.

And welcome!
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by Gobbler »

Ya but lately I have hunted with guys that like to tree yelp and let the gobbler know they are there. I think we over think turkey hunting.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by guesswho »

Gobbler wrote:Ya but lately I have hunted with guys that like to tree yelp and let the gobbler know they are there. I think we over think turkey hunting.
Like tree yelping from the ground.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by hobbes »

It really depends on how I feel but for the most part I give them a very suttle series of tree yelps and a fly down wing beats included, but I don't get set up on too many birds on the roost anymore. When I do, there seems to always be live competition. However, I stayed quiet on a lot of birds until they touched down following The Baron's way of thinking when I hunted Easterns more. If I could get by with it, I'd let him touch down then do a fly down with my hat or a wing without any called then eventually follow up with very suttle yelps or clucks.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by turkeyinstrut »

When I set up on a bird on the roost I normally will start out with a tree yelp VERY soft and gradually get a little louder (very little) with each series until he answers me, then I shut up completely until he fly's down. Once I know he is on the ground I take a pair of wings that I carry with me and I "fly down" and I do not do a fly down cackle. I have killed a few really tough birds by not doing any calling at all, I simply waited until I knew he was down and I would fly down and just scratch in the leaves. I once set up on a bird that I knew was a good bird but he had a lot of pressure the first week of season (like every day), I set up on him as it was just starting to break daylight, he was about 100 yards from me and after he flew down I flew down and just started scratching in the leaves. Well at 9:45 I squeezed the trigger on him, he had 1 1/2" spurs and I never made a single call that morning but it really just depends on the bird, how much pressure he has had as every bird is different.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by HunterGKS »

I think it all depends on how the turkey initially responds. The 2nd day of the Ohio season, I sent out a few tree yelps followed by a flydown cackle. A bird responded from a distance still roosted. I started a series of yelps & he cut me off. He went absolutely nuts!! He gobbled several times while on roost. He responded to each & every call I made & was double & triple gobbling. I'd bet there wasn't more than 1-2 minutes between gobbles. When I have a hot bird like this, I pour it on from the 1st gobble until I can tell he's coming & is close. He did ride home with me.

The bird I got in NY was the exact opposite. He did gobble once on the roost and didn't respond real well so I cut way back on my calling.

I believe that you just have to take the "temperature" of the bird & call accordingly.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by appalachianassassin »

I may yelp to one roosted bird every few years just for shits and giggles. but I don't ever have success with it. I haven't made a flydown cackle in probably 15 years or more. calling to a roosted bird is a mistake and ill stand by that. I don't care if ben lee comes back from the dead and tells me otherwise.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by HunterGKS »

Well, all I can say is that I know a lot of gobblers that would disagree with no roost calling.
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Gobblers on the limb

Post by killerstump »

Calling to a roosted bird is a mistake?

Thats bold
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by timbrhuntr »

I have found that turkey hunters have a lot of opinions on everything and their all usually right. I prefer to listen to the real thing and I have heard and seen several real hens call to toms while they were on the ground and he was still in the tree. It worked for them ! :dontknow:
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by HunterGKS »

timbrhuntr wrote:I have found that turkey hunters have a lot of opinions on everything and their all usually right. I prefer to listen to the real thing and I have heard and seen several real hens call to toms while they were on the ground and he was still in the tree. It worked for them ! :dontknow:
Agree on all counts. One thing I have learned in 35+ years of turkey hunting is that there are no absolutes. What works today may not work tomorrow & what 1 person thinks will never hold true for everyone. What may be a "mistake" for 1 is not for all. As I said, there are no absolutes in turkey hunting.
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The Baron
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by The Baron »

HunterGKS wrote:... there are no absolutes in turkey hunting.
That is absolutely correct. :lol:
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appalachianassassin
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by appalachianassassin »

killerstump wrote:Calling to a roosted bird is a mistake?

Thats bold
just my not so humble opinion
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by HunterGKS »

The Baron wrote:
HunterGKS wrote:... there are no absolutes in turkey hunting.
That is absolutely correct. :lol:
I stand corrected. There is 1 absolute in turkey hunting. You did draw a chuckle.

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appalachianassassin
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by appalachianassassin »

timbrhuntr wrote:I have found that turkey hunters have a lot of opinions on everything and their all usually right. I prefer to listen to the real thing and I have heard and seen several real hens call to toms while they were on the ground and he was still in the tree. It worked for them ! :dontknow:
yep, but I guarantee the hens were not doing tree yelps and flydown cackles FROM THE GROUND. not saying roost calling dosent work, ive called them in roost calling a loooooooooooooooooooooong time ago, now I just don't do it very much. way more often than not things go south quick when you call to a roosted bird. but hey, ray eye would disagree with me. I have to add I want to call in 20 birds a year (17 longbeards in 23 days this year), sounding natural as possible is why I achieve my goals.
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howl
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by howl »

Geebus. I don't think I heard 17 different gobblers gobble all total. Anyhow, I agree. Roost calling is low odds. I find I kill more by sticking to higher odds tactics and walking away from lower odds scenarios. If I mess up and get a response from the limb when I was thinking it'd flown down, I cuss myself.

Story: I was down in FL calling birds and had one tearing it up on the limb. This went on for a while, I don't remember it was so long ago. At some point he stopped gobbling so I figured he'd flown down and was coming. A long while later I looked at my watch and noticed it was 0930. A good while later I went down to look at the roost area to see what I could see. If you ain't guessed by now, let me tell you. Sonofabuck was still sitting on the limb waiting on the hen to show up. That was maybe three hours after all the turkeys in the area had flown down and left. We both got an education that day.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by dsunday »

So for those that say no calling til he flies down, is that because you are worried he can see you from the tree or he can pinpoint the sound to the ground and it's unnatural?
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by guesswho »

It tends to cause him to stay on the limb longer. The thought is he will stay in the tree wanting to see that hen on the ground Before flying down. I don't have proof whether that's true or not, but I have seen gobblers in the past stay in the tree for long periods of time while being called to.

But that's not the main reason I don't call to him on the limb. Most places I hunt allow all day hunting so I'm in no hurry to kill him. I learned many years ago my success rate goes up if I wait until he pitches down and get an idea of what direction he's wanting to go, then reposition, sometimes several times to get in a spot he's heading towards naturally and I think he will be comfortable coming to. I don't care how good anyone is or thinks they are on a call, if your East of him and he is wanting to go North your odds of calling him are pretty slim.

If I hunted where there was a noon cut off I might would consider changing Tatics and call to them on the limb occasionally. But I have a feeling it wouldn't take me long to realize I just need to go back to my old ways and maybe speed up just a tad.
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by killerstump »

guesswho wrote:It tends to cause him to stay on the limb longer. The thought is he will stay in the tree wanting to see that hen on the ground Before flying down. I don't have proof whether that's true or not, but I have seen gobblers in the past stay in the tree for long periods of time while being called to.

But that's not the main reason I don't call to him on the limb. Most places I hunt allow all day hunting so I'm in no hurry to kill him. I learned many years ago my success rate goes up if I wait until he pitches down and get an idea of what direction he's wanting to go, then reposition, sometimes several times to get in a spot he's heading towards naturally and I think he will be comfortable coming to. I don't care how good anyone is or thinks they are on a call, if your East of him and he is wanting to go North your odds of calling him are pretty slim.

If I hunted where there was a noon cut off I might would consider changing Tatics and call to them on the limb occasionally. But I have a feeling it wouldn't take me long to realize I just need to go back to my old ways and maybe speed up just a tad.
With the noon cutoff as is here in Virginia. Would the calling to while on the limb determine how he may me gobbling weather he's hitting it every time he takes a breath or just an occasional gobble. Of course I don't figure would say much anyway but what actions of his would you be looking for to dictate weather you called or not?
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by timbrhuntr »

I have heard this for a long time and believed it. I believe that in some cases depending on the turkey cycle it will keep them on the limb but at other times I have tree yelp then flydown cackled and then leave scratching and had toms both fly right to me and also walk right to me after touching down. I have also had them head the other way and even stay roosted a bit longer. I agree with you that I would just let them be on the limb and see what they do after flying down but unfortunately most of the properties I hunt are small acerages and if I can't get them interested they head of to distant fields that I can't access so i'm usually more agressive. If I am travelling and it is a big area of public land I too don't worry to much about it because I know I can follow them and hunt them all day. I will admit that calling to a roosted gobbling tom was adictive when I first started to turkey hunt just to hear them gobble.Bur there is more to it than just yelping at them on the limb. Just last week 2 hens flew down near me and began to walk off. The toms were roosted to their east and gobbling. The hens were yelping occassionally as they walked west away from the toms and toms would gobble at each series of yelps. Then the toms flew down and I could hear them gobbling and closing the distance on the hens. Those toms couldn't see the hens from the roost but they did flydown and follow them instead of waiting for them to come to them and remaining roosted !
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Re: Gobblers on the limb

Post by guesswho »

killerstump wrote:With the noon cutoff as is here in Virginia. Would the calling to while on the limb determine how he may me gobbling weather he's hitting it every time he takes a breath or just an occasional gobble. Of course I don't figure would say much anyway but what actions of his would you be looking for to dictate weather you called or not?
It would depend on if this was the first encounter with what I thought to be the same bird. If this was the first time I probably would still let him pitch down first, then react. If I had a previous experience with him I would choose my set-up spot based on where he seemed to want to go natural the last time. If he pitched down and headed another direction I'd have to adjust. If he headed my general direction I'd make minor relocations if needed and probably kill him. But keep in mind I know at any moment plan A is shot so plan B is now in play and so on.

Timbrhuntr's scenario reminded me that in the past I have found that two or more gobblers usually seem to be easier to convince than a single gobbler for some reason.
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