The Two-For Tuesday, Two-Minute Drill

Two questions…two answers…two minutes to get to the point. Each Tuesday, we ask the best turkey hunters in the country for their answers to some of turkey hunting’s toughest questions.

This week, the Strut Zone welcomes Ernie Calandrelli of Quaker Boy Game Calls.

QUESTION: It’s gobbling time in the morning and several birds sound off in your hunting area. Which one do you set up on?

CALANDRELLI: The one that is doing the most gobbling is the one that is ready. He is trying to out-gobble the competition and hoping most of the hens will come to him. The problem you may have with this bird, is that the hens may go to him. If there are hens calling and you can get in between the hens and gobbler without being detected, it’s best to do so. Do not worry about scaring the hens off the roost. In more cases than not, this will excite the gobbler even more if they fly in the opposite direction. Call sparingly with little aggression acting as though your not that interested. He may think that one of his old buddies has sneaked in to take the hens and come in to investigate.****

Question: Do Missouri turkeys gobble any differently (louder or softer) than New England turkeys do?

CALANDRELLI: With the size of Missouri gobblers, you would think they are louder but a lot of the volume has to do with where they are located—flat open fields, woods hollows, flat woods. If you could plop a New England turkey into Missouri, I believe that the gobbles would resonate exactly the same. I have had many experiences when I could not believe how loud a bird’s gobbling or drumming has sounded in certain situations. Twice I’ve actually climbed the wrong mountain. In both situations I would have sworn that a gobbler was sounding off on my side of the hill. When I got to the top he was across the ravine on the opposite mountain. The echo totally fooled me.