You say your local turkeys won’t talk? Here are the reasons for such rude behavior, and your best bets to waylay a big bashful tom.
Put me down as someone who doesn’t believe there is such a thing as a “call-shy” turkey. Belief in this common misconception will lead you down the path to all sorts of problems, yet the myth persists. And sadly, it didn’t require logging too many hours of hunting and observation for me to arrive at what some might find a sobering conclusion: Turkeys are simply not capable of conceptualizing a situation where anything—or anyone—would be imitating their language, in order to lure them into harm’s way.
Turkeys are social creatures with a well-developed “flocking instinct,” and a method of communication that maintains cohesion and unity within the flock—a “language,” if you will. This language consists of a limited variety of distinctive sounds used in varying degrees of volume and sequence, to convey information and communicate their most-basic emotions and desires, to their flock mates. For a turkey to voluntarily quit using or responding to his or her “language,” would be a counter-productive (and totally unnatural) occurrence. Not calling or responding to calling would, in effect, exile the turkey from the rest of the flock. The result would be one miserable bird.
So how do you effectively hunt birds that have suddenly gone silent? One response is to get out your smartphone and consult your HuntStand app, and keep moving and calling, using the app’s detailed “satellite” views to ensure you’re covering the far reaches of your hunting area, to locate “receptive” birds. Another plan would be to change up your calling techniques to deal with birds that aren’t responsive to standard, aggressive strategies. Before we delve into these specific strategies, it might be helpful to consider some common turkey behavior.
Receiving no response to your best calling is no time to panic. Local turkeys are likely listening, and are choosing to remain silent for a variety of reasons.
JUST CALL THEM FICKLE AND FLIGHTY
Turkeys’ behavioral tendencies can best be described as fickle and flighty. Joe Smith, journeyman guide and turkey caller from Alabama, calls them “Sometimesy.” Some days they talk, some days they don’t, but they always listen. For whatever reasons, they may not answer back, but they are listening. If the artificial calling is anywhere close to accurate, and in the proper sequence, they are listening. They get more cautious about how they respond when they get “beat up” with inconsistent calling, but they surely listen, and will respond if it fits their agenda.
Bashful spring gobblers may sneak in quietly to investigate vocal hens, but they are seeking female companionship, so they will come. They may answer your call and go the other way, but if they answer, they are listening. I have called-in whole flocks of turkeys in the fall that never made a sound while approaching, but they were, without doubt, coming to my calls. They were listening. Turkeys will not forsake their language for any reason. Their response might not be as “direct” or as “animated” as expected, but they are listening and they will respond—if they want to.
Rather than scrap your call arsenal for something new, one smart response to non-responsive turkeys is to change up your calling technique, shelving “aggressive” calling for a more passive, soothing approach.
Sending a good set of hen yelps floating off into the ether with no audible response is, in a word, disheartening. We’ve all been there. Questions and doubts start filling your mind. Where are the turkeys? They were here last night, how could they disappear? Have I done something wrong? Did the calls sound bad or was the sequence wrong? You keep firing off these rhetorical questions to yourself, until you finally settle on the most ego-soothing conclusion: You have gotten yourself into a flock of “call-shy” turkeys.
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The positive aspect of this kind of logic, is that you have confidence in your calling ability. Confidence is the whip you use to keep the “doubt demons” at bay, and that is a good thing. If you believe your calling is as good as the turkeys’, and you know they wouldn’t answer another turkey if they won’t answer you, then you should know they just don’t feel like talking. When they act like that I simply consider them rude and inconsiderate.
Another tactic to use when the woods are silent, is to check your HuntStand app and range far and wide over your hunting area, hiking a smart route that might bring you within earshot of a more-aggressive tom.
If you are calling to gobblers in the spring and they aren’t answering, they have their “turkey” reasons for their lack of response. They could be too busy courting; they might be able to see or hear coyotes or yard dogs, or school kids, prowling around. The slightest distraction, or hint of danger, will often keep turkey lips sealed. When things get back to “normal,” they will start talking again. Same goes for turkeys in the fall. When they aren’t talking, they have something on their minds that is keeping them quiet.
At times, turkeys may get a little more particular about call accuracy, and they might be suspicious of truly bad calling, but then again, this is all part of their nature. If the road hunters are constantly hounding them with “machine-gun” cutts on diaphragm calls, the turkeys might get a little “desensitized” or otherwise unresponsive, to cutts made with diaphragm calls. Continuous yelping with no real sequence also doesn’t seem to “compute” with turkeys, and it has been known to make them nervous. So you should be mindful of your calling cadence, since nervous turkeys don’t talk much.
Even if your calling doesn’t come close to resembling turkey talk, I don’t believe you are running anything off. Even if it doesn’t sound “just right” or you make a mistake, there is no “negative” reaction. Turkeys can’t afford to react to every accidental squawk or squeak on a turkey call in a world full of anomalous noises. If you don’t get an answer to your calling, check your HuntStand app for a smart, or logical travel route, and keep moving and calling. You never know when the local birds will decide to talk.
TRY THE PASSIVE APPROACH
No matter how “boogered-up” your local turkeys get, they are social creatures. They will always be interested in others of their kind. And as long as the interest is there, it can be exploited. When aggressive calling isn’t working, “passive” calling is always worth a try. Use the soft clucks and purrs and occasional soft yelps turkeys use while feeding or loafing, to reassure and pique the interest of any turkeys within hearing range. These social sounds are not “conversational,” so you shouldn’t expect an answer; just remember you are talking to yourself, and possibly another hen that is close by.
“Passive” calling, such as using soft clucks and purrs, and soft hen yelps, might sound boring, but just might be the ticket to luring silent turkeys into your setup. Success on these challenging birds is sweet indeed.
You might have to exercise some self-discipline to keep from busting out yelping and cutting—and sounding just like the reason the turkeys aren’t “acting right” in the first place—but the sounds you are making mark your location and say you are a hen and everything is alright. What you are and where you are is all the information a lonesome gobbler needs.
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This “passive” calling approach sounds kind of boring, doesn’t it? Of course it is much more fun to “run and gun” and find a gobbler that wants to play, but these reticent turkeys are the real challenge. If they are the only game in town, I’ll be hunting them happily—and you should do the same. Just remember: Your local turkeys may not be talking, but they are always listening.
