I need some serious help!!!!!

[JohnFitzgerald]

Today was the first time I went on serious turkey hunt. From day break till afternoon I called up 5 different gobblers. Using a combination of reed, slate, and box calls I mostly yelped. Every single tom just gobbled at me for 20-30 minutes and would move on. I\'d listens as the gobbles got further and further away. A couple times I\'d tried to close the distance, but like elk, they\'d just up and vanished. Tried calling a little to calling a lot. What the heck am I doing wrong!

I hunt Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon.

 

[bnsafe]

maybe nothing, more than likely it wasnt you. they were either henned up and you can almost never call them away from hens, or there was some obstacle between you and them, sometimes its a creek, fence, steep draw, etc, but some kind of terrain feature, or there is some area they go to to strut and carry on (i doubt that if you had that many, but im trying to cover all the bases). i would almost bet though that they had hens.
if they got hens your fighting a losing battle, try to circle them and get to where they are going before they do. It will usually be some open area where they can strut and show off. they usually seperate from the hens in the afternoon, say 11 or later, so stay in the area and keep after them. when that happens they are very vulnerable.
when you set up on them again try to get to where they were headed before you call. if it is a terrain issue, something between you and them, then you just have to move and get it out of the way.
now assuming none of those issues are what happened, try to cut the distance by a third if you can without getting busted. what i mean is say they answer you for 10 minutes and arnt coming, go a third of the way to them and maybe quarter one direction. sometimes they think the hen is moving and come straight in. also learn to cutt, its their breeding call and if you get excited with them sometimes you can make them come when they dont really want to.
and lastly, sometimes you can go to the same spot and do the same thing and those same gobblers will run right at ya, stay with it, when it happens it will happen QUICK. stay with em.

 

[elkmtngear]

Sometimes \"overcalling\" can cause them to hang up IMHO. I\'ve had good luck with soft, intermittent calling and scraping the ground/ leaves.

As Scott mentioned, sounds like the birds were \"henned up\"...in that scenario, I have had some success challenging the lead hen. Whatever/however she squawks, I give it right back to her (\"copycat\" using a diaphragm call). Drives them crazy. Many times, she will tow the gobblers right on in.

Like elk, it doesn\'t take much for a gobbler to pinpoint the location the call came from. Another good tact is just going completely silent for 30 minutes...making them think you\'ve left the area, or getting their curiosity up so they\'ll creep in to take a look.

If there are cows around...slip a moo cow cover on your SLIP System, deploy it as a shield, and walk slowly right at a vocal gobbler...clucking softly and scraping the ground with your feet. This has worked very well for me in the past...especially with a shooter right behind you. It\'s a little tougher to pull off solo.

 

[elky McElkerson]

any decoys out?

i find that as the season goes on, they get smarter. just seeing a decoy helps..then just getting a bit of movement in the decoys help..you have to progress with something.

i\'m about ready to nuke them from orbit at this point.