Gobbler Yelping

[Jake St. John]

I was looking on the collectiblecalls.com site and I assume Ralph Permar had a Roanoke trumpet that he told about working turkeys with gobbler yelps.  I consistantly use my boxes with a mature gobbler yelp to work turkeys and have done so with a lot of success in quite a few different situations.  I was wondering how many on here have used the call with success and the situations that you use it.

[Bulldogmikey]

Fall hunting was all we could do when I was real young. It was a staple call in those days. Lynch's boxes with the Gobbler side were not only common, I don't know anyone who didn't have one. Also it is way under used on older gobblers in the Spring. Many of the one's who are "hung up" will come in if a gobbler yelp is used properly!

Mike

[Porter]

John I've never used it in the past, but I will definitely try it this next spring.  I talked to Ralph after I got my Roanoke trumpet and I know he's had a lot of success with it!

[M Sharpe]

I have heard and used them. Most of the time, that is what it is, "a" yelp not yelping. I've heard old gobblers do a single yelp. The first time I heard one, I really wasn't sure as to what it was. I had read somewhere that they sounded like a fiest dog bark. While walking down a woods road one spring, I heard it and thought there should not be any dogs here. Then I remembered that article. I set up and began to call. It wasn't long before he was all fired up. I killed that bird and then the fight broke out between 3 jakes that was trailing him.

[Jake St. John]

Here in Ms, in the spring, your will hear 4 or 5 gobblers in a group gobbling on the roost.  A lot of times, you will hear one more dominant gobbling though.  When they hit the ground is when you hear the non dominant birds gobbler yelping.  They do not want to get whooped but they also want to attract hens also.  I think is why they will coarse gobbler yelp.  A lot of times the dominant bird will work his way over to that bird, just to keep him in is place in the group.  I believe that is why I have been so successful using it.  There is no mistaking the yelping. It has a hollow coarse sound too it.  I have had old non dominant birds as well as young two year old gobblers  yelping.   I have heard their coarse gobbler clucks also.  Jakes in groups especially in the fall will start off with yelping and go into a gobble or vice versa.   Maybe I have been fortunate enough to hunt where the population is plentiful at times.  I have young college kids though, taking my boxes with gobblers on one side and killing a lot of public land turkeys using the gobbler yelps mixed in after the hen yelping.   

[Ryan T]

Here in Ms, in the spring, your will hear 4 or 5 gobblers in a group gobbling on the roost.  A lot of times, you will hear one more dominant gobbling though.  When they hit the ground is when you hear the non dominant birds gobbler yelping.  They do not want to get whooped but they also want to attract hens also.  I think is why they will coarse gobbler yelp.  A lot of times the dominant bird will work his way over to that bird, just to keep him in is place in the group.  I believe that is why I have been so successful using it.  There is no mistaking the yelping. It has a hollow coarse sound too it.  I have had old non dominant birds as well as young two year old gobblers  yelping.   I have heard their coarse gobbler clucks also.  Jakes in groups especially in the fall will start off with yelping and go into a gobble or vice versa.   Maybe I have been fortunate enough to hunt where the population is plentiful at times.  I have young college kids though, taking my boxes with gobblers on one side and killing a lot of public land turkeys using the gobbler yelps mixed in after the hen yelping.   

I agree, I hear more Jake yelping than I do gobbler yelping, but I hear gobbler yelping. 

When I hear gobblers yelp, it is usually right after they get on the ground and in the early season.  They usually follow a gobble right at the end of a gobble.  In usually a 2-4 note yelp and mostly 3 notes.  It is a 'HOLLOW' yelp.  I will occasionally gobble with a mouth call and follow it with a 3 note yelp.  I have killed a turkey or two doing that, but I can't say that it was the REASON I killed him. 

Anything you can do to imitate "turkey talk" will increase your odds.  It is usually the subtle things that kill birds and not all of the "show cutting."

[drabndouble]

I've been hunting the same public land since '98.  I have heard very few hens yelping in the spring . But , the jakes yelp a lot .
 I get a kick out of those tag-a-long jakes . They are up in the trees with a dominant gobbler nearby . The old bird gobbles and them jakes try everything they can muster to get involved . Heard one last spring making the most horrible squealing .
 Then when they all pitch out and regroup the only jake calls to be heard are those ''RETREAT CACKLES'' as the big boy gets after 'em.

 I haven't had any success yet using gobbler yelps . But have used a jake gobble in the mix to fool an old bird .

 Last spring I was standing in the dark waiting . Someone was coming up the slope toward the saddle where I stood . I just stood still by a tree and he walked right up to me . Sorta startled the old boy when I whistled . We talked a few minutes and he told how he had killed a jake up on this ridge the year before . So he and I agreed to go opposite directions and we split . A few minutes later I could hear him running his mouthcall ,,,,,sounded just like a jake yelping .

[Dcoleinpa]

 

[Zumer]

I was looking on the collectiblecalls.com site and I assume Ralph Permar had a Roanoke trumpet that he told about working turkeys with gobbler yelps.  I consistantly use my boxes with a mature gobbler yelp to work turkeys and have done so with a lot of success in quite a few different situations.  I was wondering how many on here have used the call with success and the situations that you use it.

 Us lucky PA hunters have a fall season to chase turkeys......

      Finding the elusive fall gobblers can be tough, but when you do, it's paramount that you use, know how to, & present gobbler clucks and yelps to entice them over to your local for a bite to eat or just to hang out.....

     I use a couple different calls to do yelps & clucks like an ole' gobbler.....I have an Ernie Fetters (Gobbler) scratch box, a Ralph Snodgrass gobbler wingbone bone, a Tony Ezolt jake wingbone, a Bush paddle call and my Gulvas mouthcall....I've spent an awful lot of time watching Denny Gulvas fall hunting tape & listening to audio of gobbler/jakes yelping.....then hours of practice time as well, to insure, that when I do have contact, I'm ready to do battle.....

   Nothing beats hearing/listening to real turkey talk to help you become a better caller......

   In the spring, I've used gobbler/jake yelps & clucks during the latter part of our season....The birds here have heard everything made to call turkeys.....Most of our hens are nesting depending on the breeding phase, we're in and the jakes are grouped up......The gobblers become allot more tolerent with each other & spend time together during mid day.....The gobblers aren't responding to hen talk very well anymore, so what's left is jake or gobbler talk.....

   Presenting  gobbler talk is just another tactic used, when nothing else seems to work......


    How many of you fella's have ever seem/heard a adult gobbler kee-kee in the fall?

  It was a sight and sound, I'll never forget....70 yards away and I'm  without a tag.......I was so flabergasted, that I just sat there watching him walk away after not getting a response from the bird, he had heard in that area.....Me!!! The fella that was hunting with me was just as dumbfounded as I was......Swinger beard and made the most beautiful med. pitched  kee-kee, I've ever heard..... He even threw two of those bugle like yelps on the end for good measure....Oh, to have a video camera.....

[fargobox]

How does one do a gobbler yelp on a short box.  I think I have a fair idea based on descriptions in this thread, but wondered if someone could elaborate a bit more.  Guess it is on the lower end with short crisp stroke?  Thanks.

[Ryan T]

The cadence is all together more drawn out.  I rarely hear more than a 3 yelp sequence once on ground.

more of a yaaawwwk as opposed to a yeeaaawwwk... I know that's an ignorant way to explain it, but that's the best I can do! 

[Zumer]

The cadence is all together more drawn out.  I rarely hear more than a 3 yelp sequence once on ground.

more of a yaaawwwk as opposed to a yeeaaawwwk... I know that's an ignorant way to explain it, but that's the best I can do! 

Ryan,

           That's a great way to describe it.......

          Gobbler yelps have a more bugle like effect.....A beagle chasing a bunny with it's drawn out bawl is allot like a gobbler yelp.....

       A  Fall turkey hunting video by Denny Gulvas from PA. has some recordings of gobbler yelping, that really helped me....You can order it on Midwestturkeycalls.com

       Zum

[fargobox]

Guys that actually helps...a yawk comes later on the box after roll-over...I started playing around and I believe I alerady have a sense of what your saying and the beagle anology also helps for context.  I used to hunt snowshoe rabbits with beagles, man was that ever fun up in the Adirondack Mtns of NY and I can relate to the bawling when one of the old girls hit a hot track.  Thanks.

[Jake St. John]

Haven't looked at this thread since I posted it, but I will say that I accidentally put a mature gobbler yelp on that second box with all the notches.  I would rather not tell how it is accomplished on a short box as that is one of my secrets, but I will tell you how I describe the sound of a 2 year old or older yelp.   Zumer and Ryan are right on.  I will tell you how I describe it.  It is usually 3 or 4 notes long mostly 3.  It is usually given in where you have a no. of 2 year olds with a mature bird.  You may have a group of 3 year olds with a dominant bird.  They stand around the big boy as satelite gobblers trying to steal a hen off of him.  They do not want to gobble for fear of the big boy, so they will try to get the hens attention with these gobbler yelps or just acerting their pecking order as subordinates.  The way I accompliish these yelps is on the low yawk end of the note.  It does not start out with any high pitch, all low raspy and drawn out longer than hen notes, but with the close of the box in conjunction with the way I tune it.  It has the hollow sound of an old gobbler. This is the beagle howl Ryan is refering to.   Hens never and most jakes only have a touch of the hollow sound, but the with the big boys, its all coarse raspy and hollow.
I use stacato or abrupt strokes to make it, all done from the breaking point to the raspy close of the box.  One of a kind sound and OH how effective.
That's how I describe it.  

[Jake St. John]

That's your box, right?  Come on up to Tupelo and I'll play a few good sounding calls for you.

I'm far from an expert, but know enough about a turkey to know it's ignorant to make absolutes.  

Lee Dulaney

That is my box, the recording was made by a friend of mine.  I will tell you the TRUTH,  he went out midway in the Spring Season last year with the very box that you and Frank are trying to discredit. (You are welcome to contact Joey Buchanan in Oxford and ask him what he thinks of the box that he got from me. He is very familiar with turkey calls considering he makes calls, and has called up and killed the Royal Slam with his own handcrafted bows.)   I'm sure he will tell you that he used every call that he had with him that day and the only one that the particular gobbler that he was working would answer, was my box.  Did he kill the bird.  No ---- I know, and any turkey hunter worth his salt will tell you, that nothing is absolute.  Did I make any absolutes in my post.  Certainly not.  Did I say that my box will call in a turkey every time.  Certainly not.  What I said was, that by accident I discovered a secret to a mature gobbler yelp.  Will it kill a turkey every time you use it, Certainly not.  Did I say that the mature gobbler yelp is a valuable tool in working an old gobbler.   I certainly did and will stand behind that statement until I die young man.

I am sure that you are a very good caller.  Could you be a better caller with a box of mine with a mature gobbler yelp?  I think that you could.  That is a question that you will have to answer. So, go ahead and try to discredit me and my calls that you have not played.  What I say is the truth, and I stand behind it.  I will stand behind it until I die.  I will say that this is last that I am going to say on this subject. That is the same that I told Frank after he called me a liar, Mr. Ellis (that taught me how to turkey hunt) a liar, Steve Turpin a liar, and Earl Michael.    I know that you read Steve Turpins response to that episode.  I find this one Very, Very similiar.  DON'T YOU.

Oh and just a PS.  I am in Tupelo tonight, and I do not care to hear your calls.