Mistakes People Make When Turkey Calling and How To Avoid Them
You purchased the best turkey call on the market.
You head to the turkey woods with big expectations, but your call gives no promising results. You tell yourself it was bad luck and you save your call for the next season.
Season after season you use it to call the gobblers but they don’t respond.
You feel worse.
You start blaming the manufacturer of your turkey call for sugarcoating their product as it doesn’t work as you expected.
If that’s you, don’t blame the manufacturer; blame yourself. You might be using your call the wrong way and making mistakes that are costing you unfruitful hunting trips.
And the only solution is learning from your mistakes and correcting them.
Let’s look at some common turkey calling mistakes that most hunters make and how to fix them:
Using Only One Call
So you've got that one favorite, go-to call that you always use when calling turkeys? You use it season after season and expect a response from the gobblers?
That’s the first grave mistake you’ve been making in the turkey woods and it won’t bring you anywhere near a successful hunt.
As with anything else in life, some situations require you to employ certain tools to fix the underlying issue. This is similarly the case for turkey calling.
Fix: Consider carrying an assortment of calls to help you coax that hotheaded longbeard into crossing your range. Keep in mind that there exist some differences in various turkey sounds and vocalizations.
If you switch your call, you might make that wary gobbler to break into a dead run towards your stand.
In simpler terms, always make a point of carrying several turkey calls with you. This enables you to create an extensive array of sounds that will help you effectively attack any calling situations that confront you.
You’re Calling the Birds Too Much
Overcalling a turkey is another tactical crime committed by thousands of hunters every year in the woods.
You call too much, and you get hang-ups and even lots of attention from the hens as well as fellow hunters. You keep calling countless times and the bird gobbles if that’s all you want to hear. But trust me, he’s not showing up!
Fix: Just put your call away and remain silent and patient. The odds are high that he’ll become curious about what happened to the hen he was serenading. Give the bird about 10-15 minutes and let out a soft yelp. If he still doesn’t respond, give him some more time (gobblers tend to commit silently).
What if he gobbles back at the same distance? Well, you might consider moving to a different angle that will break him in or even find a more cooperative bird.
You Call and Chase at the Same Time
The worst strategy ever you can use to hunt turkeys is calling louder while moving closer! It doesn't matter if you use turkey decoys or not.
You hear the Tom asserting his dominance by producing those hair-raising gobbles in the morning. The situation drives you insane, and you start chasing the longbeard down while calling him.
And you think your technique rocks? Perhaps at getting you in good shape but not filling any tag.
Fix: The old gobbler who have lived in the woods all his life has who has mastered all the local calling talent will not be overly anxious with your calls.
Rather than being in such a big hurry, exercise some patience plus some soft calling techniques.
This simple technique will offer you more shot opportunities than your aggressive calling and legs.
You Call Too Loud at Close Range
Most hunters make the mistake of making loud calls with hopes of catching the attention of gobblers.
Fix: After you’ve made your setup to your hunting spot in the morning, start making softer calls as the birds might be roasting nearby. Once you discover that they’re further away, you can start raising your call volume.
Turkeys rarely make loud calls unless they’re far away from the other birds and are attempting to locate each other.
Once the bird is in view, make soft yelps. If he continues approaching, stop calling, put your call in the turkey vest and let him close the distance at his free will.
Not Practicing in Advance
You might also be making the mistake of waiting until the day before the hunting season to get your calls out and start practicing.
This, in most cases, results in you making calls that don’t sound authentic to the turkeys and you’ll get busted the moment you make your first call.
Fix: if you want to look like a real-life turkey, you need to spend some time during the off-season to improve your turkey calling skills. This will help you make realistic, highly convincing calls that send the gobblers right into your setup.
The more you practice, the more your rhythm and pitch will get closer to what a real turkey sounds. And the more efficient you’ll get at calling the birds in the woods.
Watch this video to understand more about turkey calling mistakes:
Final Thoughts
These are the most common mistakes many turkey hunters have been making over the seasons.
Hopefully, you’ve identified the turkey calling mistakes that have made you lose countless shot opportunities. Start working on these errors today, fixing them as we’ve advised you in the above post.
And be sure to practice in the off-season period to sharpen your calling skills and produce more authentic calls.
Good luck!