Features









 

Books

 

Fun & Games

Trivia Games

 

Contact Us


 

 

 

John's Journal... Entry 188, Day 4

MARK DRURY'S TURKEY-HUNTING TACTICS

Morning Henning and Gobbling

EDITOR'S NOTE: Longtime, expert turkey caller and hunter Mark Drury of Columbia, Missouri, the creator and founder of M.A.D. calls, also produces videos for Drury Outdoors, "Outdoor Life" and other well-known outdoor companies.

QUESTION: Mark, how do you go about locating those morning gobblers?
ANSWER: To find a gobbler in the morning, I generally use a crow call. I know a turkey gobbles not necessarily because he's looking for a hen, but because he has a hormone called testosterone in his body that brings on the mating urge in the spring. All night, while he holds onto a limb, the hormone is flowing through him. By the next morning, he has so much energy stored that any high-pitched noise will cause him to release it in the form of a gobble. A .22 rifle going off, a train passing by, a car door being slammed on even a radio in the distance will make him gobble.

Over the years, I've learned that blowing a crow call four times very loudly will cause a turkey to gobble more than any other call will, including owl and hawk calls. The pitch is the key. The fact that you're using a crow call really has nothing to do with the turkey's gobbling, because he's just reacting to the pitch. You're not actually trying to imitate anything. You're merely trying to hit the pitch that will cause the turkey to release his energy with a gobble. Adjust the reed in the crow call so you get the highest pitch it can make. The best way is to move the reed so far it will make no sound at all. Then back it up to the point where it makes a very high-pitched "caw-caw."

Once you've located a turkey, any of several calling techniques will work. One of the hardest turkeys to call is a boss gobbler that may have as many as 20 hens with him. This old boy has all the hens he can take care of, and the hunter who tries to call him using traditional tactics will fail most of the time. A boss gobbler may gobble at your calling, but then he'll just walk off with the hens he's collected. Why should he walk across the street to check out a new hen when he has 20 beauties all around him? The only way you can kill this turkey is to challenge his manhood.

To perform this feat, you need two hunters. Your hunting buddy needs to be able to gobble either on a gobbling box or with a tube he can shake. The best method is to go into the woods before daylight. Once the boss begins to gobble, have your hunting companion get on one side of him with the box or tube, and place yourself on the other side and plan to utilize hen calls. When that gobbler pitches out of the tree, he'll usually land around the hens he can already see. As you begin to yelp and cluck, he'll probably gobble at you, but more than likely he won't leave his harem. Once the turkey is on the ground gobbling, your buddy should start to gobble. The turkey will become annoyed as he hears that other turkey (your buddy) gobbling and hears you yelping. Generally, he'll start moving toward the gobbling. When this happens, you need to start yelping loudly. I usually do a series of loud yelps followed by a cackle. The old gobbler will probably decide not to fight the gobbler he's heard, but instead will head toward what he thinks is a hen ready to be serviced. Your hunting companion should wait three or four minutes after he hears your loud yelps. Then he should give another gobbling call. When that happens, the old gobbler will gobble, turn and head where he believes there's another gobbler. At that point, you should give several cackles followed by several yelps. When you do all that cackling, the old gobbler gets so frustrated and worked-up he'll often break to run toward you. Nine times out of ten, he'll come to the hunter who makes the hen calls. But every now and then, he'll head toward the hunter who does the gobbling.

This tactic puts a lot of pressure on an old gobbler because it worries him in two ways. His manhood is challenged by another gobbler that may be moving in to take over his harem, and a hen is just out of sight waiting to be serviced. So the ole boy gets terribly, terribly frustrated and often has to make a hasty decision. He knows he has to go one of two ways. What he usually decides to do is service the hen first and possibly fight the gobbler later. But if he thinks he can run the gobbler off quicker and easier than he can service the hen, the hunter who's doing the gobbling may get the shot. This is the best technique I know for taking a hard-to-kill gobbler. You must confuse him. The hunter doing the gobbling has to be certain he's well-protected by a big tree, so there's no chance another hunter will mistake him for the gobbler he's trying to call.

If you don't have a buddy, there's a different method you can use on a boss gobbler with hens. First, try to determine the direction he pitches off his roost and the direction he usually moves early in the morning. Then, move in close to the roost, locate him with a light tree call, and wait for daylight. You can give a few more yelps to make sure you've got him gobbling and ensure he knows your location. Next, try to determine when the hens with him are likely to fly out of the tree. Then give a loud fly-down cackle. With your gloved hand, pat the side of your leg to imitate the sound of a hen flying out. (The best way to learn how to make these calls is to listen to tapes or watch our videos to practice imitating the calls.) The gobbler sitting up there on a limb thinks this is the first hen that's flown down that morning. He thinks she's ready to be mated, and she's in the direction he wants to travel. Usually he'll pitch out of the tree and come to you without hesitation. As a matter of fact, when you give that fly-down cackle and pat your leg, you'd better have your gun up and be ready to shoot. That gobbler may just pitch right into your lap.

To learn more about hunting turkeys and the experts' tactics, click here.

TOMORROW: AFTERNOON HUNTING

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about MARK DRURY'S TURKEY-HUNTING TACTICS ...

Day 1 - Turkey Hunting in the Rain
Day 2 - Don Shipp's Tips For Calling Turkeys In The Rain
Day 3 - A North Missouri Turkey Hunt
Day 4 - Morning Henning and Gobbling
Day 5 - Afternoon Hunting


John's Journal