It's not right to fool Mother Nature, unless you are turkey hunting. Then, tomfoolery is a necessity. Proper turkey-calling tactics involve sleight of hand and knowing how to hold your mouth right.
You might say I had a bit of an edge when I killed my first turkey. We were hunting with Eddie Salter, a pro staff member from Hunter's Specialties. In 1981, Salter began competitive turkey calling and has amassed an impressive list of titles, including seven Southeastern Open Turkey Calling Championships, six Alabama State Championships and two World Open Championships. Salter called in my first turkey and I was hooked.
Turkeys have quite the vocabulary. We are most familiar with the gobble, but they also kee kee, purr, putt, yelp, cluck, cackle and tree call. Experts at the National Wild Turkey Federation, (NWTF) make it easier to learn each of these calls with audio on their Web site, www.nwtf.org.
According to the NWTF, "The kee kee is the lost call of young turkeys and variations made by adult birds. It's often associated with fall hunting, but can be used successfully in the spring. Purring is a soft, rolling call turkeys make when content. It can usually be heard by feeding birds. This is not a loud call, but is good for reassuring turkeys as they get in close to your position.
"The putt is a single note, generally associated as an alarm. The tree call is usually a series of soft muffled yelps given by a roosted bird. Sometimes it picks up in volume as fly down time nears. The yelp is a basic turkey sound. It is often delivered in a series of single-note vocalizations and can have different meanings depending on how the hen uses it. The adult hen assembly call is a series of loud yelps in order to assemble her flock or poults.
"The cackle is generally associated with movement. It can be heard when a bird is flying up or down from a roost, flying off a ridge or flying across a creek. A cackle usually consists of three to 10 irregularly spaced notes. The cluck consists of one or more short staccato notes. The plain cluck, many times, includes two or three single-note clucks. It's generally used by one bird to get the attention of another. It's a good call to reassure an approaching gobbler that a hen is waiting for him. The gobble is one of the principal vocalizations of the male wild turkey and is used primarily in the spring to let hens know he is in the area."
A variety of products exist to help you make each of these calls. Mouth diaphragms, slate calls and box calls are among the most popular. Learning to use them takes practice. We often start a few weeks ahead of turkey-hunting season getting to know each call's tone.
One of the first times I used a slate call I didn't call in a big tom, but did call in a bunch of wild hogs. Perhaps I need a little more practice!
