Turkey Calls... Which to use when

[mrpenguin]

Hey everyone,

I was curious when you guys use different calls, like, the cluck, purr, key-key run, etc... and when you use a box vs a mouth vs a slate?

[crotch horn]

Well, kee-kee runs are usually a fall hunting call. First thing in the morning I start with the lightest clucks and purrs I can make on the slate calls. Want to try to get a gobble back and let him know you are there. Never start loud at first light. Then after the toms fly down it is up to you and the tom. Different birds like different calls. Try to get them coming in with the box call or slate. If you can purr with a mouth call have it in but don't call once he is coming. If the bird hangs up you can try to lightly purr with the mouth call to relax him and bring him in the rest of the way. That way your hands are free to shoot with. Good luck but a lot of it is trial and error when new especially.

[mrpenguin]

Thanks!

[Zach Mikita]

Mouth call all the way...takes a good month before season starts to knock the rust off though  :D

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Every situation in calling turkey's is different everytime you go to the woods. If you are inexperienced then less is better. It's real easy to overcall a bird. Remember you are going against nature anyway. Birds gobble to get hens to come to them not the other way and that is what we are trying to do when calling a bird.

 I had an Ol'timer tell me the only calls I needed to know how to make was a basic yelp in 3, 5, or 7 note sequence a cluck and purr. you can call birds in all day with those three calls if you can learn the proper cadence and rythym and don't over do it. the other call sequences come later and are for competition if you ask me. I can do a kee-kee an assembly call, tree yelps, a fly down cackle, cutt like a fool with a box or mouth call but very seldom do I use those in the real turkey woods. I ain't out there to put on a show I'm out there to tag a wary ol' gobbler.

 My rule of thumb is call just enough to keep him interested and let him know you are there.

 As far as what kind of call to use. Box calls are great when it's windy cause the sound carries farther but you can use a box soft with a little practice. Slates are good for about whenever and I use a mouth call when I can't move and need to do a little sweet talking.

 This is how I do it your milage may vary but you got to start somewhere. Took me four years of getting my butt kicked to take my first bird and I have taken a bird opening day ever since. I probably have made less noise on a turkey call in the woods in the last six years combined than I did the first two weeks I turkey hunted.
 It's a blast and every trip to the turkey woods is still an education for me to this day.

 When I first started I looked like I was going to war with a vest full of calls LOL now I take my favorite Irving Whitt box call two pot calls and strikers and two or three mouth calls maybe a wingbone and leave the vest at the house. (kinda hard to shoot a bow with war gear hanging off of you everywhere) LOL

 Good luck, Kris

[mrpenguin]

Thanks Kris... I've been using the mouth call and a box call.  I definitely do too much calling and cutting.  Lately I've been using a putt-putt-cluck, putt-putt-putt-cluck-cluck sequence in easy rhythm.  I have also heard birds do a cluck-putt... so I am trying that out as well.  

This is only my second Spring hunting turkeys.  Last season I had a gobbler coming in to my position after shock-gobbling him with a early crow call.  He was intercepted by a shotgun... I had one Jake I caught eye of flying down during the fall.  He broke off from the group, and showed up alone later in the day.  I gave him a cluck with the mouth call and he started coming my way... I then lost sight of him, clucked again, but he vanished... still, he got my heart a-thumpin' and it was cool to call a bird in the fall!!

[Longspur77]

The gobbler dictates how i call. If hes hot, i get aggressive, if not then purr and cluck. Especially late in the season the purring and really light yelping is what i do. So light that if you were 30 yards from me you could not hear it. Good Luck, last weekend here in MS and they calling for 5 inches of rain. Looks like i am hanging it up.

[Dustin Waters]

right now indiana the best call you can use is the call you make to decide where to setup.  The toms are henned up big time and calling to a henned up tom is just not going to work very often.  If you can decide where they are coming from or where they are going you can make soft yelps every 15-20 minutes so that when that Tom does lose his hen to the nest he will know you are there and come to find you.  A good deke set up is probably another good idea.  So far I have killed three birds over the strutter this year, it has cost me two though.  So its pretty tough to decide which call to make or what spread to use.  I think that every turkey reacts different to every call.  Just try to judge the mood of the tom when you do decide which call to make.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Dustin hit the nail on the head if them boogers are henned up.

 Like I said every situation in the turkey woods is different.