Early Morning Setups

Listen for gobbler thunder from a ridge top, knoll or similar high spot at dawn. The higher you hunt the easier it is to hear and course faraway gobbles. If a bird roars on a nearby oak flat or just off the point of a ridge, great! Sneak quietly down into calling position.

The first time a turkey gobbles, don't tear down the woods running to him. Keep cool; slip 25 to 50 yards in the direction of the gobble; and check up. A tom will usually gobble 2 or 3 more times, and hopefully more than that. Listen to those calls and draw a solid line to the bird's roost tree.

Using ridges, hollows and foliage for cover, you should have no trouble sneaking within 200 yards of a roosted turkey. Whenever possible, try to cut the distance to 125 or even 100 yards. The less terra firma between you and a bird, the better the odds that he'll pitch down and drift to your calls at daybreak.

For some strange reason, most toms are reluctant to pitch from their limbs and strut downhill to calling. Try to position above a roosted bird, or at least on the same gradient plane with him.

As you approach a gobbling turkey, scan the woods for a fence, creek, gully or strip of thick brush, and maneuver to take any hazard large or small out of play. Strive to set up where the terrain is gently rolling and fairly open, which makes it easy for a tom to strut toward your calls.

The best strategy of all is to anticipate where a gobbler will go to gather hens, then set up to block his way. Is there a field, food plot, clear-cut, burn or open creek bottom within a half-mile or so of a tom's roost tree? If so, beat feet over in that direction and settle in. When the turkey flies down and heads for his strut zone, you'll be in good position to cut him off and coax him with calling.

Early Morning Calling

Let's say you do it right and slip within 100 yards of a roosted turkey that is gobbling hot and heavy. The more the bird roars, the more you feel an uncontrollable urge to cluck and yelp. But be careful! Too much calling at first light can hang a tom on his limb as he waits for the hot "hen" to sail or walk beneath his roost tree. And the longer he sits up there and fails to see a girl, the more he smells a rat. When the bird finally flies down 30 minutes later, there's a good chance he'll run the other way.

So fight the urge to call too early. Wait until pink illuminates the sky. Then give a bird some pillow talk to let him now you're there. A couple of sultry tree clucks and yelps are about right.

If the turkey bellows shut the heck up! He has honored you as a hen, he likes what he heard, and he knows where you are. Let him fly down and come looking for you. But if the tom fails to gobble, cluck and yelp a little louder to focus his attention in your direction.

If he still doesn't talk, it's no big deal. Listen for the bird to fly down, then hit him with a spirited hen cackle. Try flapping a Primos turkey wing against your leg to sound like a hen pitching to the ground. If the tom gobbles and steps your way, you might not need to call again. But if he hangs up after 5 minutes or so, cluck, yelp and purr a little louder. As long as the turkey hangs around and gobbles keep playing the game. Most hunters move too quickly on toms that might eventually strut to their calls 30 minutes or so after fly-down time

Midmorning Tactics

Turkeys might gobble like crazy on the roost. But for an hour or two after daybreak the woods may fall as quiet as a mausoleum. That's because the hens and toms are courting and breeding. Toms strut and drum but gobble little if at all as they have their fun. The so-called "gobbling lull" is the toughest time of day to hunt.

But along about 9 o'clock some hens begin to leave some of the gobblers. Some girls simply lose interest in the boys, while others slip off to lay eggs. Lovesick toms are driven to be around hens all the time in the spring, so they immediately begin searching for more company. Some rowdy 2-year-old males may start gobbling hard in hopes of attracting new hens. Older longbeards strut and drum intensely, and they are stoked to shock gobble.

"Gobblers strut around all morning, and suddenly they look up and their hens are gone," says my friend Harold Knight of Knight and Hale Game Calls. "They almost fly into a panic. If you slip around the woods and call, those lonesome turkeys will hear you and gobble. If they gobble a couple of times at your calls, they're generally pretty easy to call in."

There's another big reason the midmorning hours are hot. You've got plenty of elbow room to do your thing. "Most hunters have gone home or to work," notes Knight. "A lot of the gobblers that were called to and maybe spooked first thing in the morning have settled back down. The woods have calmed down and the turkeys are back on their normal routine. If you've got the day off, hang in there. You'll have the woods to yourself as you call to those lonely gobblers."

Beginning around 9:00 a.m. walk old logging roads, field edges, foot trails on ridges…you get the idea. Pause often and listen for gobbles. Try to strike toms with calls. "

I like to blow a hawk or crow call," says Knight. "Lonely turkeys have so much pent-up energy that they'll often shock gobble at those sounds. The minute a turkey gobbles, I move in, set up in a good spot and switch over to soft hen calls."

If locator calls fail to produce, turn to turkey calling. "My favorite calls are loud yelps and especially cutts," says Knight. "If a gobbler's hens have left and he's strutting around by himself, he'll nail a sharp cutt most of the time."

Knight offers one exception to the rule of calling aggressively to strike toms. "When I hunt a public area late in the season, I figure most of the gobblers are call shy," he says. "So I tone down my calling. I still cover lots of ground and call down into hollows and around fields, but I yelp and cutt softer and not as much."

Afternoon Strategies

Combined, more than 25 Southeastern, Midwestern and Western states permit all-day turkey hunting in the spring. If you live in or travel to one of these states you can experience some great action beginning after lunch and continuing until roosting time. Most of the early-morning hunters are out of the woods. But the gobblers are still there, most of 'em deserted by hens and stoked to gobble at your locator calls or hen cutts.

But keep this in mind. You can't expect a turkey to gobble 50 or more times in the afternoon like he might first thing in the morning. Most birds won't even gobble as much as they might around 9 or 10 a.m. You need to crow call or hen cutt and listen closely for a faint gobble or two. Then move in and listen for softer sounds, like a turkey strutting or walking in the leaves. A lot of turkeys, especially old Easterns, will gobble only once or twice in the afternoon, but they'll come to your calls fast and silently.

Afternoon hunting generally peaks from around 2 to 4:30 p.m., but you might as well hunt right up until dark some days. Gobblers love to roost within 50 to 200 yards of hens. If a turkey hears you yelping and cutting late in the day, he might come in to roost in the area. Better yet, he might run over to check out the hen before he flies up.