Dealing With Henned-Up Gobblers

The most common problem we turkey hunters experience is dealing with henned-up gobblers.

Henned-up by the way, just in case you are new to turkey hunting, is just a turkey hunter's way of describing a gobbler with hens. As in I would have had that old boy, but then he went and got himself all henned-up and that-was-that.

The problem is simple. A gobbler already in the company of a hen or multiple hens, really has no reason to come to your call. And no, it really does not matter how well you call. It has been my good fortune to have hunted with many of the best turkey callers in the nation, and even these guys can only very, very rarely convince a gobbler to leave his hens and come to their calling.

Dealing with henned-up gobblers would not be such a big deal if it were not so gosh-darn common. But in a week of turkey hunting, it is not unlikely that most of the gobblers you will see or hear are already with hens. So it is not like this is just one of those problems where you can say, Oh well, I'll just go find a gobbler, which is all by his lonesome.

I've hunted turkeys an awful lot over the years and I have lost track of the number of days when every single bird I saw or heard was with hens. Dealing with henned-up gobblers is just one of those things that a turkey hunter is going to have to learn how to do if he or she hopes to be consistently successful. Here are the best ways I know of dealing with this common problem.

Henned-Up on the Roost

This is not a good way for a turkey hunter to start the day. When a gobbler is roosted with hens, he will simply pitch down with the hens and then follow them wherever they lead him. How do you know if a gobbler is roosted with hens? Usually, you will hear the hens softly yelping when they first wake up in the morning. Sometimes, if I have put the gobbler to bed and he was in the company of hens when I last saw him, I assume those hens will be roosted near him. If I suspect that a gobbler is roosted with hens, I will try to sneak in as close as I can while the birds are still roosted. The only real chance you have right off of the roost is to get in close and then start doing some excited yelping as soon as it is light enough to shoot. Sometimes you can entice that gobbler to fly down right into your lap.

I'll warn you now, that you are going to bump some birds off of the roost when you are trying to get in within 60- or 70 yards of them. But I figure it is worth the chance, because even if I do flush the gobbler, there is a chance that he will fly off in a different direction than the hens. Then you have a gobbler out there who figured he had a sure deal for the morning and is now left all alone. When this happens, I'll move as fast as I can towards the gobbler and try to get him gobbling with crow calls or excited cutting. If you get to him before his hens do, you have an excellent chance.

Talk Back to the Hens

If you can get one of the hens mad enough to come looking for you, she will drag the gobbler with her. The best way to do this is to mimic exactly what the hens says. If she yelps three times, you yelp three times right back at her. Then when you really have her going, cut her off in mid-sentence. They really hate that. If you can keep her talking, she will get irritated with your back-talk and come looking for you.

Ambush

Sometimes the best way to deal with a gobbler with hens is to pull an ambush. This is where being familiar with the ground you are hunting really pays off. If you know that the gobbler and his girls are headed for an open gate, a certain creek crossing, a small field, or an old field road for instance, you can get around ahead of them, set up an ambush and wait. OK, I'll admit that an ambush is not as fun as calling them to you, but sometimes, it is the only way to get the job done.

Jake and Hen Decoys

For many years I hunted over either a single hen decoy or a pair of hens. I can count on one hand the number of times a gobbler would leave his real hens to come to my fakes. But since I have changed to a jake and hen set-up, I've had pretty good luck pulling a gobbler away from his hens. I'm guessing that when a gobbler see's a jake with a hen, jealously rears its ugly head. The gobbler just can't stand the idea of a good looking lady like that hanging out with a mere teenager, so he comes over to kick a little butt and take care of the problem.

I've used full-strut, half-strut and erect position jake decoys and all seem to work, but I'm partial to the half-strut position. In fact, my taxidermist buddy Larry Lawrence just mounted a jake in half-strut for me and I'm betting that when I place that jake decoy alongside the hen Larry did for me a few years ago, that even a gobbler with a harem of hens will find the set-up hard to resist. I'll let you know how it works.

Leave them and Come Back Later

If a gobbler is out in the middle of a big field parading around a bevy of feeding hens, it might be hours before they get back into the woods where you have a chance of working them. When I find myself in this situation, I just leave them and go looking for other turkeys. But I don't forget about them, and I'll come back in an hour or so and check on them. Maybe by then they will have fed across the field and be nearing a position where I will have a chance to decoy them in or ambush them.

A henned-up gobbler is tough to deal withthere is no getting around thatbut they are not impossible. Be patient, bide your time and don't try to rush things. Turkeys are not in any hurry. We should not be either when dealing with henned-up gobblers.