Most serious turkey hunters know and make the basic yelps, clucks, purrs, cackles and such, and often, one of these will work. But they don’t always produce, and the need to have offbeat sounds up your calling sleeve can spell success or strikeout.
Joe Kelly of Mountville is a master with the tube call, and when looking for a gobbler in woods that seem void of turkeys, his “lost” call of the hen — a long series of up to 20 or more consecutive yelps that rise then fall in volume in a pleading effort to get a response from a gobbler — is very effective.
“I think the tube is best for the lost call because it has a unique sound and carries a long distance, and I can get a long series of yelps with a very realistic, pleading sound,” he said. “When using this tactic, I’ll walk a couple yards or so between calls. The time to wait before moving to another calling spot will vary, but usually it’s only a couple minutes.
“The lost call often evokes an immediate gobbled response, and I usually take position quickly and let the gobbler come to me. When the gobbled response comes, it may be close or 250 yards away, but typically they approach quickly. Go towards them and odds are good you’ll bump them, so I select a setup before calling, and if I get a response I settle in quickly.”
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