Turkey calls: Mastering the sounds of spring
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it … well, you know how the saying goes. But it’s true. If I’ve heard, “The worst turkey sounds I’ve ever heard in the woods have come from real live turkeys!” once, it’s been said a million times.
But I’ve heard them — those sounds that can’t be anything but a brand-new turkey hunter with a still-in-the-box turkey call, squawking and screaming and making all sorts of hideous noises. And then, ‘lo and behold, a little hen turkey — a real hen turkey — walks out of the shrubbery making a series of sounds that can only be likened to fingernails on the chalkboard. You heard that?
It happens, but that doesn’t mean that we, the turkey hunters, can be content with making similarly terrible sounds in the spring woods. But before you get to thinking that this turkey calling thing is rocket science … well, it’s not. However, there are a couple of things you should know, as well as a couple of things you should do that will help take the mystery out of this thing we call turkey calling.
Rhythm and cadence
Proper turkey calling is a cadence — a rhythm. But it’s important to remember it’s not the repetitious, monotone human rhythm we people are familiar with. How do you go about learning the proper turkey rhythm? There are two ways. One, check out YouTube, which has hundreds of long and short clips of real live hens in the wild making the sounds that real live hens make. Two, spend time in the field listening to actual hen turkeys. Then, it’s a matter — a pretty simple one, to tell you the truth — of mimicking those sounds and the rhythms you hear.
Volume and frequency
Think about it: If a real hen turkey went wandering through her 40 acres yelping at the top of her little turkey lungs with each step, she’d attract the attention of every fox, coyote and bobcat in the section. She “knows” this, if turkeys do indeed know things, and so she doesn’t do that. Neither should you. Turkeys have a wide range of volumes: soft for contented feeding, mid-range for in-the-timber communication between flock members and loud for attention-getting or dominance reminders. So, too, should you call with varying degrees of volume. How do you know which? The situation, the terrain, the weather conditions and your field experience all factor into the final answer.
As for frequency, or how often you call, each situation is different and every gobbler will tell you what you need to do. Just “listen” to him. However, I’ll give this rule of thumb: Don’t be overzealous with your calling. Let ‘Ole Tom hunt you. Let him sweat it out in silence. Let him gobble once. Twice. Three or four times, and then remind him that you, the little hen, are still semi-interested with a short yelp. Play hard to get!
Make it authentic
Above all, get real! Again, learn what real hen turkeys sound like by listening in the field or via YouTube. Note that they all sound different: high pitch, low pitch, raspy, clear, three notes or seven. Mix it up, and make it real.
Get a quality call you’re comfortable with
Maybe it’s Slayer’s Black Bat Wing, or the new Grey Batwing, Snake Bite or Fang Cutter. It doesn’t matter the name or the number of reeds or the design; what matters is you’ve found a call that fits your mouth well and is comfortable to use.
Practice the basics
Good turkey callers practice; great turkey callers practice a lot. You don’t have to know 101 different turkey sounds, but you do need to be fluent, per se, in the basics of turkey language. These sounds include the two or three variations of the yelp, the cluck and the contented purr. Again, YouTube can be a great learning tool; however, the folks at Slayer Calls are planning to bulk up their Call The Wild educational series with turkey calling in the near future, so be sure to stay tuned for this fantastic addition.
