DON’T GIVE UP

I can’t count the times that I’ve heard the woods go silent and had my patience run out. Too often I’d pack it up to head back to the truck only to get halfway there and hear that turkey fire up the gobbling again. Chances are good that the bird was always coming in slowly, looking; I just didn’t wait long enough, and he arrived after I’d gone. No hen found, he’d just start looking for love again.

Public-land birds have almost all but given up the suicidal rush to hen talk that many private-land birds will undertake, the school of hard knocks having given them cause to take it slowly and carefully. That’s why patience pays off: Birds often go silent when working their way to you, and waiting it out will put you in prime position when he finally shows up.

THE WRONG BIRD

The obvious choice isn’t always best when it comes to hunting public turkeys. This is often the problem around reservoirs such as Truman Lake. It never fails that one loudmouth gobbler makes a habit of sounding off excessively at sunup near the end of a point. For whatever reason, he defies the norms of cautious, wary birds under pressure. Don’t overestimate these vocal birds, though. It’s just the thing to attract lots of notice from all hunters. Such a bird has probably seen it all and buys none of it. Boat hunters can congregate on these birds daily.

This type of bird, which rarely reacts well to calls or advances, can have you spending your whole season chasing after something you may never get. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and keep searching. The upside is that less-experienced hunters will be attracted to him and open up less pressured birds for you.

WORK THE HENS

Knowing that spring is the time for breeding turkeys to court and spark gives you plenty of avenues for odd tactics on hard-to-hunt days. The most overlooked and underestimated: Stop focusing so intently on the longbeards and learn more about their ladies. Hunt the places in which many of the hens spend their days. Gobblers are often in tow; if they’re not, they’re looking to be.

Compared to toms, hens are still somewhat predictable. A flock of hens will feed and move on many of the same routes day in and out. To find them, listen at sunup for their cackling and cutting. Their noisy flydowns also make good locators. Spend a little time getting close to them and matching their movements. It’s a sure bet that a gobbler’s holding nearby, if not already displaying silently for the group.

CALLING FOR THE GOBBLE

A huge mistake that almost every one of us has made at one time or another is that of calling to get the bird to gobble. You always want to make sure he’s still there, to hear him one more time, or to get him fired up. But every time he makes a peep gives another hunter one more chance to pick up on his location. This is especially damaging if pressure’s high or many roads cut through the tract. A bird that makes its presence widely known in response to your calling can be approached from any direction and thus put you in a tight situation.

After locating a bird, plan a thoughtful approach, and lay off the calls until you’re truly close enough to work the bird. Calling too often and too loudly just to get a reaction really does more harm than good. The bird has already decided that you’re a hen, so keeping him vocal does nothing but reassure you that he’s still interested. Call sporadically if you feel you must, but once his location is pinpointed, concentrate on getting properly positioned.