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South Sound Longbeards


Turkey Tips - Fall Turkey Sounds

Yelp & Cluck:  Turkeys communicate with single clucks and two-note yelps.  Hen yelps may be high-pitched or raspy; toms utter deep clucks and slow, "croaking" yelps.  Calling Tip: To mimic a gobbler, use a box or diaphragm with a noticeably low pitch

Lost Yelp:  Mature turkeys reassemble with loud, pleading yelps.  Hens may yelp in five to 20-note series; toms "croak" a few times as they search for their buddies.  Calling Tip:  Lost yelps from a box or wingbone carry well through the woods.

Kee-Kee:  The "kee, kee, kee" of lost young turkeys.  Jakes sometimes back up whistles with coarse yelps.  Calling Tip: Kee-kee on a single- or double-reed diaphragm;  end with a yelp to mimic a jake's kee-kee run.

Purr:  Turkeys purr softly as they scratch and feed.  Calling Tip:  Purr on a diaphragm or slate when calling to a flock midday.

Gobble:  A Jake or a longbeard may gobble a time or two on a warm fall day.  Calling Tip:  It couldn't hurt to gobble back at a tom;  use a tube call or rubber hose.

Aggravated purr:  Gobblers, especially jakes, often spar to assert dominance within a flock.  Calling Tip:  If you hear jakes "rattling" on the roost one morning, give them a dose of the same with a tube call or a pair of push-peg boxes.  "Fighting purrs" can work as well or better in the fall than they do in the spring.

Turkey Sounds