Call shy birds

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wiscbowhntr
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby wiscbowhntr » Fri Mar 27, 2015 6:21 am

I try not to over think when it comes to turkeys, but I believe many turkey hunters over call. In the turkey world the hens come to the toms, but as hunters we try to call a tom to us with hen calls (for the most part). I have seen a lot of turkey hunters get call crazy when a tom is gobbling back. In return the tom stops short and waits for the hen to come to him because the tom thinks the hen that is calling (the hunter) is excited and coming in. I have been guilty of this in the past, but the past few years I have been calling as little as possible and killing a lot more turkeys. I do believe that pressure from hunters and natural predators will reduce the amount a bird will call. I hunt turkeys in the north woods, central farmland, and southern farmland. The birds in the north don’t call nearly as much as central and southern farmland. I believe this is due to the how much more they are harassed by natural predators.


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oldrank
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby oldrank » Fri Mar 27, 2015 8:31 am

Birds get call shy. Over calling educates em quick. The classic yelp is over used as a locator and in small over hunted lots birds will clam up or gobble n move off in the distance. Purrs n putts n soft yelps spaced out will work on these birds. Alot of times I will hear the tom give a putt back as he sneaks in. Most wont gobble except on the roost. Locating the birds the night before is key.

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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:25 am

When you make one yelp and the tom takes off running in the opposite direction ...then you know he's call shy :mrgreen: :lol:

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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:55 am

burkhart wrote:I know you meant it as a joke but that's a valid point to ask ur self how many of is can say we have heard a hen cut like crazy or yelp over and over... I can only say that a few times in my 15 yrs of killing birds. And mostly on the roost when I was purposely trying to get her fired up. Most time it's the soft purrs and clucks. Which this year I'm gonna really put soft calling to the test .

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:lol: no joke .....it happens a lot...guys will be calling really loud at them for day and days .....you know when your on a heavily pressured tom when you make one yelp and he takes of running ;)
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:09 am

burkhart wrote:Yikes you were nt kidding! I have never had one run away but I've had a lot just sit there

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hunting public will do that ;) also just when you think your the only one hunting them turkeys on privet.... your most likely one of many hunters hunting the same bird unless you are on hundreds of acres...that tom will get call shy fast espically if there shot at :lol:
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:13 am

burkhart wrote:Agreed shots will make a bird wary. In those cases I usually pattern his movements and try to get ahead of where he is going and ambush him.

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;) exactly
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby Rome » Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:49 am

I rarely call. I go to the birds and either stalk or intercept. So much more fun for me personally. I spend enough time sitting and waiting in the fall for deer. Nice change of pace for spring gobblers to get after em.

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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:58 am

Rome wrote:I rarely call. I go to the birds and either stalk or intercept. So much more fun for me personally. I spend enough time sitting and waiting in the fall for deer. Nice change of pace for spring gobblers to get after em.

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im a stalker not a sitter :twisted: :lol: .....I will sit every now and then. everything has a time and place
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby oldrank » Fri Mar 27, 2015 12:07 pm

Ive had em head the other way on public many times. Also have had em spook at the sight of my pop up when I barely moved my gun to line up the bead. That happened twice on an old call shy tom. He never gobbled after he came off the roost but held almost the same pattern everyday. I knew where he fed n finally stalked him down n killed him as he fed.

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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby oldrank » Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:05 pm

Here are a couple old pics of 2 call shy birds I killed during late may off of public land.

Image

The bird on the left was a 3 yr old tom. He roosted on unhuntable land and would gobble his but of on the roost. He was in the same spot every morning. Id set up on the public land across the rd and try to entice him to come over. No way no how would he do it. He would come off the roost n clam up. I tried sitting there waiting, tried soft calls, loud calls... everything I had in my bag but couldnt kill him. During the week days on my way to and from work Id see him in the fields feeding or pecking gravel on the gravel rd. The very last day of season was May 31st n I made one last attempt at him. I parked my truck up the rd and left the call in it. I stalked down the rd and I peaked around the corner where he was always at. There he stood in the rd with a group of jakes. They seen me and spooked but ran into the stateland. There wasnt much dry land where they went so I knew he couldnt go far. I stalked up n caught him standing in some brush n killed him. I have a full body mount of him. He was tough tough bird to hunt but I finally got lucky n got him.


The bird on the right was a fat 2 yr old n I was playing the same game. I knew where they were but they would come off the roost and clam up and I couldnt get on em. It was May also so these birds had been hunted hard on the public . It was a super windy day and I set up on a field but had no luck. We had a storm moving in and I kept hearing shock gobbles in the distance every time it would thunder. I decided to make my move. I snuck in on em and glassed the field. I could see a group of toms sparring about 300 yrds away. I belly crawled down the hedge row n got within 50 yrds of em. I picked the biggest one and rolled him.

Both of these birds I had to change tactics and pull off some crazy stuff to bag em. That was 10 yrs ago. Today these birds are even quieter. I have hunted turkeys in lower Michigan since they first started letting us. They birds back in the 90s were very easy to call in. Today they are educated quickly n learn to shut up.

These are 2 private land birds. They both came into loud aggressive calling. I knew there was a good population of birds around n knew it was a low pressure area but they werent on the property I was hunting. Both birds I called loud and often and brought them running from 2 farms over. Different tactics for different areas. My sons bird never gobbled once but came in on a string.... Mine gobbled once and also came in on a string with 3 jakes. Both birds we killed on the first hunt of the yr about 2 hrs in. The difference between public n private can be substantial.

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Image
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:52 pm

burkhart wrote:
BigHunt wrote:
Rome wrote:I rarely call. I go to the birds and either stalk or intercept. So much more fun for me personally. I spend enough time sitting and waiting in the fall for deer. Nice change of pace for spring gobblers to get after em.

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im a stalker not a sitter :twisted: :lol: .....I will sit every now and then. everything has a time and place


I'm polar opposite of u guys. I'll sit for hours on end and wait one out

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not me I go the gobbler and cut him off .....I thought its natures way for the hen to come to the gobbler that's why he gobbles?
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:55 pm

oldrank wrote:Here are a couple old pics of 2 call shy birds I killed during late may off of public land.

Image

The bird on the left was a 3 yr old tom. He roosted on unhuntable land and would gobble his but of on the roost. He was in the same spot every morning. Id set up on the public land across the rd and try to entice him to come over. No way no how would he do it. He would come off the roost n clam up. I tried sitting there waiting, tried soft calls, loud calls... everything I had in my bag but couldnt kill him. During the week days on my way to and from work Id see him in the fields feeding or pecking gravel on the gravel rd. The very last day of season was May 31st n I made one last attempt at him. I parked my truck up the rd and left the call in it. I stalked down the rd and I peaked around the corner where he was always at. There he stood in the rd with a group of jakes. They seen me and spooked but ran into the stateland. There wasnt much dry land where they went so I knew he couldnt go far. I stalked up n caught him standing in some brush n killed him. I have a full body mount of him. He was tough tough bird to hunt but I finally got lucky n got him.


The bird on the right was a fat 2 yr old n I was playing the same game. I knew where they were but they would come off the roost and clam up and I couldnt get on em. It was May also so these birds had been hunted hard on the public . It was a super windy day and I set up on a field but had no luck. We had a storm moving in and I kept hearing shock gobbles in the distance every time it would thunder. I decided to make my move. I snuck in on em and glassed the field. I could see a group of toms sparring about 300 yrds away. I belly crawled down the hedge row n got within 50 yrds of em. I picked the biggest one and rolled him.

Both of these birds I had to change tactics and pull off some crazy stuff to bag em. That was 10 yrs ago. Today these birds are even quieter. I have hunted turkeys in lower Michigan since they first started letting us. They birds back in the 90s were very easy to call in. Today they are educated quickly n learn to shut up.

These are 2 private land birds. They both came into loud aggressive calling. I knew there was a good population of birds around n knew it was a low pressure area but they werent on the property I was hunting. Both birds I called loud and often and brought them running from 2 farms over. Different tactics for different areas. My sons bird never gobbled once but came in on a string.... Mine gobbled once and also came in on a string with 3 jakes. Both birds we killed on the first hunt of the yr about 2 hrs in. The difference between public n private can be substantial.

Image

Image

:clap: outstanding
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby DeerDylan » Sat Mar 28, 2015 12:29 am

I am willing to bet that most people would think I call too much or too aggressive. I call hard when I feel I should and I keep quiet when I feel thats the right thing to do. pressured birds will make a guy feel foolish if he only uses one tactic. coming at them from a different direction or with a different call and cadence can make for a dead gobbler. man I am getting pumped just typing this, spring is in the air!!! I will say I rarely call to a roosted bird more than light tree talk and a flydown cackle. If I know where they are roosted the night before I like getting in close in the morning, that has helped a lot a few times. I rarely use decoys because mainly I hate carrying a bunch of crap with me and in the timber I want him looking for me, not see a hen on a logging road and sit there and strut 65 yards away. when he comes in periscoping ahh I love it!

On pressured birds my main objective is to sound real enough and make it as easy as possible for him to come to me. Knowing the land is a big bonus. Sorry for the rambling :lol:

I've only been going after birds hard since 2008 so I'm sure there are a lot of guys that have a lot more birds killed than I but I figured I'd throw my two cents in.
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby Ack » Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:57 pm

So let me ask you guys this.....how does said "call shy" bird know that what he is hearing is a human and not another turkey?
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Re: Call shy birds

Unread postby oldrank » Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:16 pm

Ack.. I wouldnt say they know the difference.. they just wont gobble to the classic yelp. Its basically Pavlovs theory. If every time they respond to a yelping hen they have a negative encounter eventually they will be conditioned to not respond.

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