Gobbler with hens, any advice?

[brettman]

It's a lot of fun to get that early morning gobbler to come into your setup sounding off every 30 seconds but I've killed more birds by staying put for a few hours after they gobble all the way out of hearing with a bunch of hens. I'll usually call softly every 10 minutes or so. Be ready cause a lot of those that gobbled like crazy in the first hour come back in completely silent.

 

[brettman]

And I like a single hen for mid morning late season setups. I also like to position her in a little bit of cover so the tom can't get a wide open clear view of her, my son's first bird went down at 11am in just that set.

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

All the above comments contain good advice.
I remember one hunt when I had your exact problem: dominant gobbler, several lesser gobblers, and a bunch of hens, far out in a field. I thought maybe I could call one of the subordinate gobblers away from the flock by sounding like a horney hen. What happened was a different mature gobbler (not part of the flock) suddenly appeared 3 feet from me, on my off hand side. I tried to quick draw on him, and of course failed....... That's turkey hunting. It's the ones that get away that you remember most vividly.

 

[skipglo]

Split them up first then let things settle down then call. David

How does that work exactly....split them up and then call David! What if I call Burt instead? Or Harley?

 

[david g ranes]

How does that work exactly....split them up and then call David! What if I call Burt instead? Or Harley?

You have to know your property and what they usually do you can break them up while they are still roosted or the first time I had it work was by accident I had walked into the flock and I thought oh crap I blew this opportunity but I had seen where the gobblers had gone so I let them settle for a while and I snuck over a ridge started calling one came in he weighed 23 lbs it was not Harley because he is deaf it won't work late in the season I use it as a last resort but I have put turkeys in the ground doing it more than once but I know my property like my living room and that helps a lot. David

 

[tribb]

Usually by mid morning the hens are headed off to check their nest . That's when the gobblers get lonesome. Also circling around and trying to cut them off sometimes works . But there needs to be an aggressive hen with the gobbler for that to work . Sometimes. At that point you're not calling the gobbler in your calling the boss hen in and he'll more than likely follow . Again sometimes . Turkey hunting will cause you to pull your hair out what may work today may not tomorrow.
I've found that when the boys all have ladies if you know from scouting where the ladies are going just go there and wait patiently. No calling just be a still as possible . If those hens hear another hen and they're not an aggressive hen they will lead said gobbler in another direction. They don't like competition

Especially if they are Osceola turkeys

 

[DartonJager]

My advice?
Go get breakfast.
But seriously in my 30+ years of hunting turkeys IME there is no more difficult situation to overcome than a hened up Tom and if on public ground again IME it is THE most difficult situation to overcome. In MY experience a Tom with hens can only be killed one of three ways
#1-Best way and only way I know works more often than not is if you know which way they're headed haul *** and get in front of them and either call him in or ambush him
#2-A long shot at best is If you can sound like a boss hen try to call in the boss hen if one is with him I done it only 2x and only 1x can I honestly say it worked in the last 15 seasons since I learned of it.
#3-Longer even and I never did it myself but watched my friend do it, he sounded like two Boss toms fighting using a mouth call and a paddle call while scratching the underbrush just out of sight from a Tom out in a big field with hens as I sat concealed in the brush on the field edge he didn't get the Tom to come flying in but he did get him to come from about 150 yards out to under 60 and that was enough for me get him.

 

[tribb]

Usually by mid morning the hens are headed off to check their nest . That's when the gobblers get lonesome. Also circling around and trying to cut them off sometimes works . But there needs to be an aggressive hen with the gobbler for that to work . Sometimes. At that point you're not calling the gobbler in your calling the boss hen in and he'll more than likely follow . Again sometimes . Turkey hunting will cause you to pull your hair out what may work today may not tomorrow.
I've found that when the boys all have ladies if you know from scouting where the ladies are going just go there and wait patiently. No calling just be a still as possible . If those hens hear another hen and they're not an aggressive hen they will lead said gobbler in another direction. They don't like competition

Very very very true!!!!

 

[tribb]

As the title says, does anyone have any advice for how to work birds in the spring when the gobblers are henned up. My better half and I went out this morning and were able to get on some birds, a decent amount of birds but the gobbler was with hens and didn't want much to do with us, as expected. We tried circling around and getting in front of their path a couple times to no success...
Does anyone have any advice on how to work a gobbler away from hens or how to work the hens in by calls?

Well this is a long range hunting forum. So just use an appropriate caliber rifle to take the bird. Yeah this will stir up some people I know!!!!? Think about it this way . Which is more sporting a shotgun under 50 yards or a rifle under 200 yards? Of course all consideration should be given to safety in this situation. May be illegal in your area? May not be advised on any public properties. !! Food for thought?

 

[talltexanrancher]

You've been given great advice throughout this thread - my advice is try them all. Having turkey hunted in South Texas for 35 years, I can tell you I've used all these techniques to harvest a gobbler. The trick is figuring out which one to use on which day!

I've found that early season gobblers with lots of hens around in the morning are more successfully called late morning to early afternoon as they cruise around looking for hens. This time of day toms are usually much less vocal (sometimes silent) so you have to be really vigilant.

Go get um.

 

[Sealesniper]

If they are henned up, you have three options.
1: Figure out where they are going and ambush
2: Outcall the boss hen and make her come to you, and he will follow
3: Sit tight and call well but quietly. Once the hens head to their nests, the gobbler will come looking for the sweet sounding hen he heard earlier in the morning.

And understand, once you have this figured out, he will still make you feel stupid. It is what they do, and do very well, and why we love the challenge of hunting them.