A "hung up" gobbler is one which answers your call but refuses to come all the way in. Most often this happens when there is a creek, ravine or other natural barrier between you and him. Gobblers also hang up because you are sounding too anxious and he thinks the "hen" is coming to him. Sometimes, the hung-up gobbler is call-shy. Sometimes "the silent treatment" does the trick. Sometimes, changing caller type will break him loose. A flurry of loud, aggressive calling often excites the gobbler enough to make him come across a barrier. Try all these tactics before you give up or move. Don't move until you have the gobbler's position positively located. Slip out to the rear and move in a big loop to a new calling location. Stay alert while dueling with a gobbler. Very often another gobbler will be attracted by the calling and walk right in. However, it also may attract other hunters. Be cautious for safety's sake.

Decoys are a great aid to turkey hunters. In particular, bowhunters find they focus an incoming gobbler's attention on the decoy rather than on the hunter, allowing the bow to be drawn. Light, flexible, foldable and packable decoys are easily transported and will move a bit in a light breeze. This movement greatly adds to the decoy's life-like appearance and effectiveness. Combined with a good blind, a decoy can help your turkey hunting success across the board. For dedicated bowhunters like myself, it doesn't remove all the challenge but it sure helps. Hunters should use turkey decoys with care and caution. Always set the decoy up well away from your location and have a long view in a straight line beyond the decoy in case it lures in hunters with hair triggers. Never carry the decoy around exposed to plain sight in hunting terrain. With today's super-effective camouflage, the decoy stands out and you don't. Carry decoys totally concealed or in an orange bag.

We often talk about shooting at a gobbler's head, but a surer shot is at the neck. A gobbler's head is a small target and easy to miss with a small, dense pattern from a super-tight full choke. Shooting for the neck, about half way down, puts your whole pattern on the head and neck area. Just above the wattles, where the feathers stop and bare skin begins, is a good aiming point. A strutting gobbler presents a poor target because his neck is compressed and offers a small target area. Also it is semi-protected by his "shoulders". Don't shoot through brush. This is unsafe and it doesn't take much brush to really wreck your pattern. Wait until the gobbler is in the clear. If he is in strut, a sharp cluck will often make him "stick his neck out". When he stands erect and periscopes his head up for a look around, that is your best shot -- take him!

If a turkey hunter could competently perform only two of the basic turkey calls --the yelp and the cluck -- he could hunt turkeys effectively. In fact many of the more advanced calls are based on these two basic sounds. The assembly call is a long series of yelps and it is not hard to master. It is a good call to use in the mid-morning to locate a gobbler. The cackle is a rapid series of yelps and cutting is loud, staccato clucking. They indicate high excitement and can really get a gobbler fired up. Both take a bit of time and practice to get right but they can pay dividends in excited gobblers and exciting hunts. The purr is a low, trembly, quavering sound. It is a "confidence" call and is useful when the gobbler is in close. The so-called "fighting purr" is much louder and more aggressive. It is used more like a cackle or cutting to increase aggression and stir up a gobbler.

Using an owl, crow or hawk call to elicit a "shock" gobble is a useful turkey hunting practice. Getting a gobbler to sound off early reveals his position and gives you more time to get there and set up. However, as much as we all love to hear Mr. Tom do his spring thing, there can be too much of a good thing. A gobbling gobbler gets lots of attention. If there are other hunters in the woods, they will head for him too. At best this can foul things up and at worst it sets up an unsafe hunting situation. Hens naturally go to the gobbler. Thus a lustily gobbling bird may attract a flock of very effective competitors for his attention. Hens almost always win this calling contest. Finally, you can "gobble him out". After a while, the gobbler may ignore the owl, crow or hawk call and shut up -- just when you may need that one last gobble to really pin him down.