Photo by John Higley

The Ultimate Fighting Purr, Squealing Hen and Flap & Scratch (left to right) can often help bag a bird when traditional calling doesn't work.

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Odd sounds

Sometimes the best tactic is something out of the ordinary

We've all been there. One minute you have a lusty tom coming to your calls, and the next minute, for some reason, he stops short and refuses to take another step. Sure, he still hollers at your pleading yelps, but he clearly expects the hen he hears to come to him, not the other way around.

For a while you try to change his mind with plain yelps, clucks and even contented purrs, but Mr. Big isn't buying. That leaves you with two options: try something different, even if it's wrong, or give it up for the day.

Suddenly, you have a bright idea. You reach into your hunting vest and retrieve Knight & Hale's Ultimate Fighting Purr call, designed to produce the sounds of two gobblers fighting while using only one hand. Can't hurt, you think, and you start twisting the apparatus back and forth.

The fighting purrs are still ringing in your ears when the tom's gobbles tell you he's now moving from left to right on a path that will bring him into view. It doesn't matter if he's coming out of curiosity or if he's spoiling for a fight, you are ready when he steps out from behind a tree. He never knew what hit him.

It's great when a gobbler answers your initial calls and comes right in, but turkeys don't always play by the rules. All sorts of things can happen during any encounter, and some of them can be quite frustrating. Sometimes a simple change-up, like fighting purrs or some other sound, will turn the tables in your favor. Sometimes it won't. But, you'll never know if you don't try; these pro hunters did.

Preston Pittman

One guy who takes the odd sound concept very seriously is Preston Pittman, of Mississippi-based Pittman Game Calls. Pittman's newest pride and joy is his Flap & Scratch call, a simple camo cloth device stuffed with secret ingredients with which to add realism to your presentation in a variety of situations.

"I have the Flap & Scratch with me whenever I hunt turkeys these days," Pittman said. "At daybreak I'll flap with it and cutt with a diaphragm to make a tom think a hen just flew down. Then, if I think the situation calls for it, I'll make a few scratching sounds to simulate a turkey feeding. While I'm doing that, I'll cluck or purr like a contented hen and possibly follow up with a few yelps."

You can also use the Flap & Scratch to sound like two turkeys hitting each other with their wings while you make fighting purrs. "My goal is to create a realistic scenario from start to finish and to not sound like every other hunter in the woods," Pittman said.

It may seem strange, but Pittman sometimes uses a squirrel barker before or after a calling sequence just to reassure a tom all is normal in his surroundings. He thinks that makes sense because squirrels often sound off when they see some large critter moving through the woods.

"Just be sure to inject some yelps so a turkey that hears the squirrel will think it's scolding another turkey and not a bobcat or something," Pittman said.

Adding to the mix

Hunters tend to approach turkey hunting according to their individual experience. That goes for the calls we use most often, how we like to set up, how we go about finding turkeys initially and how we call to toms under different circumstances. The odd sounds noted here simply add another dimension to our presentations. They do not always work, but they all work occasionally, and they are definitely worth a try when your regular approach fails. — J.H.

Eddie Salter

Hunter's Specialties pro staffer Eddie Salter designed the Squealing Hen call that came on the market in 2010. The call duplicates the sounds some hens make during the breeding process and, according to Salter, some gobblers simply have to see what all the fuss is about.

"It's just something else hunters will find useful under certain circumstances," Salter said. "It won't perform miracles, but it has worked for me often enough to prove it's worth in the field. I've been around turkeys all my life, and I've often heard hens squeal when gobblers tread on them. And now there's an easy-to-blow call that duplicates that sound quite nicely.

"I found the squeals work best early in the season when the turkeys are still bunched up and acting aggressive. I also found that when you get the birds coming you've got to keep squealing until the last minute to keep them interested."

Salter doesn't use the Squealing Hen all the time, but he always has it handy.

"It definitely makes a sound not everyone knows about," he said, "but the turkeys do, and our tests have confirmed that they will respond to it favorably a fair percentage of the time. I'm convinced it's a worthwhile addition to a turkey hunter's arsenal." — John Higley