Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Strutting but not Calling, Strategies?

If birds gobble on the roost and then shut up when they hit the ground I take a woods nap or go take my dogs for a run to pass some time.

Then come back in the mid morning-afternoon and see if I can get them to gobble. Between an owl hoot with my voice and a trumpet call I can more often than not get a gobble from “silent” birds at some point. Just gotta keep checking in on them throughout the day. If they gobble in the afternoon it pays to get aggressive and cover some ground to meet them half way or even more.

I mostly hunt big woods with logging roads and atv trails that the birds relate to. Most guys setup with decoys and a blind and wait them out but I refuse to do that and will only spend time setup on a bird that’s gobbling. Pretty common for birds to go all day without gobbling only to fire up during the afternoon and come right into a call.

The best turkey tactic is to know where they roost and where they will go to feed. Set up a decoy between those two places and you don't even need to call. It's almost impossible to call a turkey to a place he don't want to go.