Of all the game species with which North Carolina is blessed, wild turkeys are one of a very few that must be pulled into shooting range with a series of calls.
A wide assortment of clucks, purrs, yelps, cutts, putts, kee kees and gobbles, if used at the right time, will quickly get the attention of a gobbler or group of toms within hearing range. However, every hunter should include at least two of these calls in his or her arsenal to get that tough gobbler to respond.
First and probably most important is the standard cutting call, which hens make when they are excited. There are few times when a gobbler will not respond to a cutting call; it doesn’t always mean the gobbler will come to a cutting call, but they will often shock-gobble, revealing their location, crucial for a hunter to set up on a bird. Cutting can be very effective at any time of the season and any time of day with success.
Late in the season, most turkeys have heard just about every call, and many of the typical calls can spook turkeys. Near the end of the season, a call that imitates a pair of hens fighting hens is another call to utilize. The most-common call of this type is a fighting purr system with two push buttons on one single call. It can be pushed erratically to imitate a pair of fighting hens.
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