Henned up birds...advice

[John Nail]

Hunt them where they dust just before going to roost. No call needed

[RedShaft]

[Onestringer]

Sleep in and go out at 10 am.  Thats what I would do.

[AkDan]

when they are in the trees....say nothing.   Most over call here.  If you do, do ONE, tree yelp and shut up!   take your call out of your mouth/hands and put it down and wait.  You can bet he heard you!   I definatly agree with Ken here...3'...throw it 30 yards and dont call again lol!  silence is golden when dealing with henned up toms!!!    


I call sparingly once they are on the ground.....OR, try and fire up a hen and forget about the tom all together.   IF you call too hard you vary well could challenge the hen...when she gets up and walks away the gig's usually over.   If they're nesting....take a siesta, that tom knows where you were and my vary well come back.   I cant count the times I've gotten up to try and circle around only to hear him thunder off right by where I sat an hour or so later, sometimes 2.    

Definatly if you know the direction they like to travel...be there and call vary little to none at all.  

If you're running out of time....and I dont advocate this right out of the gate....but bust them up if possible.  Its a fall tactic that works wonders in the spring.   Try and find that gobbler after he's up in a tree and get as close to him in the morning as you can...if you know the direction the hens went get between them.  

My decoy success with henned up toms has been more a single hen than struttin decoys though they do work if you are where they want to be...you become a challenger on his home turf.   At this point he's looking for love, not a fight usually.  

satalite birds can also be mature toms that have been beat down by mobs of jakes and over ambitious 2 year olds!   I like the bmobile but have noticed it usually takes awhile for a mature tom to come into him, and so far only once have I had one come in to flog the deke.    Usually they sit out a ways and they take quite a bit of coaxing to come in usually skirting the deke by a a bit.  Some of this I am sure is calling pressure..and the rest is likely the ratio of mature toms to mobs of jakes.  

silence is golden when dealing with henned up toms!!!    

I wont be too far from you in KS....so please dont tell me they are henned up already LOL.....I'll be there in a couple weeks!  Hard to believe they are out of their winter flocks already let alone henned up, it's been an odd spring for sure!!!   Good luck and post pics!

[Dennis Allman]

Patience!

[KSdan]

Of the almost 50 birds we have harvested, maybe 50%(or less) were called in, the rest were ambushed.

Also too- the dominant bird is not always the biggest!  He is just the meanest.  I have taken many incredible "sub-dominant" birds.

[R. W. Mackey]

Bronx:  You're getting some good advice here, but most of it doesn't address your question. How to hunt and call to a Henned up Gobbler. Go back and Read Bobby Castello's answer then go back and read it again, and if you still need your question answered, read it again..Well said Bobby...RW

[Friend]

I don't call to henned up gobs. Birds on the archery only WMA of which I hunt frequently run from dekes, sometimes even stuffers and blinds.

Have been fortunate on several occassions in connecting with a hen and drawing her in with the gob in towe. My focus is on her and to permit the gob to follow suit.

Note: Nothing is foolproof. I would be thrilled to have a technique that worked 30% of the time. The bird's reactions may change on a whim. It is very difficult to actually nail a technique or a strategy down since the birds themselves don't know what they are going to do.