MASTERING TURKEY TALK WITH WILBUR PRIMOS

The Kee-Kee Run, The Gobble and Drumming

EDITOR'S NOTE: Turkey hunters understand the basic language of turkeys, but perhaps not the subtleties of that language. Often the subtle variations in the volume, rhythm and pitch of a turkey's call mean just as much as the kind of call it is. Sometimes these variations may mean even more. The most skillful turkey hunters -- the masters of the sport -- know how to add these subtleties to their calling. This week, avid deer and turkey hunter, Wilbur Primos of Jackson, Mississippi, the founder of Primos Game Calls, will share some of his secrets to use turkey talk effectively to attract even the most stubborn birds.

The Kee-Kee Run:
A young turkey doesn't come equipped with adult turkey language and has to use the calls he or she is able to make. The kee-kee run is like the words of a child just learning to talk. It's the call that a young hen or a gobbler makes when attempting to yelp, but the sound is more like whistling than yelping. Young turkeys use the kee-kee to locate their mamas or the rest of the flock. But it's not just a call they use when they're lost. They also use it when they're milling around in a flock together.

Most hunters will make the kee-kee run in the fall. They'll bust up a flock of turkeys and then try to call them together and draw a gobbler into gun range. However, I'll use the kee-kee in the spring as well. This call is especially effective for old toms that are reluctant to gobble. A tom usually will gobble in answer to a high-pitched call. When a crow flies over and gives a high-pitched call, a tom generally will gobble at it. Since the kee-kee has a high pitch, many times you can give it in the spring and make an older gobbler croak out a mating call. Also, some young gobblers will still kee-kee in the spring. So it's not out of character for a young gobbler to kee-kee and for an older gobbler to answer.

The Gobble:
The gobble is the mating call of the male turkey, given in the spring to attract hens. Many hunters overlook the gobble. But any hunter who wants to become a master caller must learn how and when to use the gobble. A realistic gobble is probably the most difficult call the hunter has to make. Very few hunters can gobble well with their mouths, but many can learn to gobble with a snuff-box call. By using your throat, your lips and your finger to strum the inside rubber of the snuff-box, you can make a very effective gobble. The gobble is potent on old turkeys and young ones but is seldom effective on middle-aged turkeys. An old gobbler will get jealous when he hears a gobble and will come in to fight. A young bird, when he hears a gobble, will assume there's a flock of turkeys in the neighborhood and will want to join them. A middle-aged gobbler, however, is usually reluctant to challenge an older gobbler or to fool with a younger one. Therefore, when you gobble, you separate turkeys into age groups -- those that will come and those that won't.

Drumming:
Drumming is a sound that gobblers make in the spring when they're strutting. A drumming call can sometimes be heard 150 yards away in the woods. At times, I've been in the woods with hens in front of me, and then behind me I've heard a gobbler drumming. As I've watched, the hens will come to attention and go running to him. For that reason, I know drumming is one of the turkey's mating calls. The sound is made deep in the gobbler's chest and is very resonant and hollow. The best way to describe drumming is to say it sounds like an 18-wheeler shifting gears. Often, I've been in the woods and heard an 18-wheeler several miles away slow down and shift gears, and I haven't been sure whether I've heard the 18-wheeler or a turkey drumming. The sound is "Vroomm!" Few hunters use the drumming call, but drumming can be practiced, learned and used very effectively to take gobblers. The best way to learn what drumming sounds like and how to imitate it is to find a wild turkey in captivity and watch him and listen to him in the spring. As you listen, practice the drumming sound with your mouth. Oftentimes you can use a drumming call alone to get a gobbler to come to you. Drumming is also productive when an older gobbler hangs up 50 or 60 yards from you, and you can't decide whether to gobble at him or not. If he's a sub-dominant turkey, a gobble may run him off. I'll usually give the drumming call, and many times that will break him out of his strut. Even if he hasn't been strutting, it will bring him in to check out this other gobbler drumming near the hens he thinks he's heard.

When the weather is inclement, or when dogs or hunters have harassed the turkeys, turkeys will drum rather than gobble. Most of the time, they'll be drumming on the limbs in the mornings before they fly down. If you listen for that drumming in the morning, many times you can find a turkey without having to hear him gobble.

TOMORROW: THE CACKLE