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Listen for gobbler thunder from a ridge top, knoll or similar high spot at dawn. The higher you hunt the easier it is to hear and course faraway gobbles. If a bird roars on a nearby oak flat or just off the point of a ridge, great! Sneak quietly down into calling position. 

The first time a turkey gobbles, don't tear down the woods running to him. Keep cool; slip 25 to 50 yards in the direction of the gobble; and check up. A tom will usually gobble 2 or 3 more times, and hopefully more than that. Listen to those calls and draw a solid line to the bird's roost tree. 

Using ridges, hollows and foliage for cover, you should have no trouble sneaking within 200 yards of a roosted turkey. Whenever possible, try to cut the distance to 125 or even 100 yards. The less terra firma between you and a bird, the better the odds that he'll pitch down and drift to your calls at daybreak. 

For some strange reason, most toms are reluctant to pitch from their limbs and strut downhill to calling. Try to position above a roosted bird, or at least on the same gradient plane with him. 

As you approach a gobbling turkey, scan the woods for a fence, creek, gully or strip of thick brush, and maneuver to take any hazard large or small out of play. Strive to set up where the terrain is gently rolling and fairly open, which makes it easy for a tom to strut toward your calls. 

The best strategy of all is to anticipate where a gobbler will go to gather hens, then set up to block his way. Is there a field, food plot, clear-cut, burn or open creek bottom within a half-mile or so of a tom's roost tree? If so, beat feet over in that direction and settle in. When the turkey flies down and heads for his strut zone, you'll be in good position to cut him off and coax him with calling. 

Early Morning Calling 

Let's say you do it right and slip within 100 yards of a roosted turkey that is gobbling hot and heavy. The more the bird roars, the more you feel an uncontrollable urge to cluck and yelp. But be careful! Too much calling at first light can hang a tom on his limb as he waits for the hot "hen" to sail or walk beneath his roost tree. And the longer he sits up there and fails to see a girl, the more he smells a rat. When the bird finally flies down 30 minutes later, there's a good chance he'll run the other way. 

So fight the urge to call too early. Wait until pink illuminates the sky. Then give a bird some pillow talk to let him now you're there. A couple of sultry tree clucks and yelps are about right. 

If the turkey bellows shut the heck up! He has honored you as a hen, he likes what he heard, and he knows where you are. Let him fly down and come looking for you. But if the tom fails to gobble, cluck and yelp a little louder to focus his attention in your direction. 

If he still doesn't talk, it's no big deal. Listen for the bird to fly down, then hit him with a spirited hen cackle. Try flapping a Primos turkey wing against your leg to sound like a hen pitching to the ground. If the tom gobbles and steps your way, you might not need to call again. But if he hangs up after 5 minutes or so, cluck, yelp and purr a little louder. As long as the turkey hangs around and gobbles keep playing the game. Most hunters move too quickly on toms that might eventually strut to their calls 30 minutes or so after fly-down time.