On Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 51 (How 2 Tuesday #15), I follow up on last week's turkey episode with my good friend Graham Tayloe for part two on turkey hunting strategy. This week Graham breaks down the calling that builds on the woodsmanship he covered in part one. He walks through how to work a henned-up gobbler you cannot call off his hens, how to handle a lone tom with light calling and the fly-down cackle, why you should often call only once and sit still, and when it is smart to use the terrain to ambush a bird. Graham thinks like a turkey, and he sounds like one too.
Listen now: Spotify · Apple Podcasts · or press play in the player above.
Graham Tayloe says you cannot, and he does not soften it. Once a gobbler is henned up, nothing you pull out of your vest, whether an aluminum, slate, cherry box, or diaphragm call, will pull him off those live hens. The play in that situation is not louder calling. It is closing the distance carefully, then using woodsmanship to set up where he is likely to walk.
Get tight rather than sitting back too far and being out of the game, even with leaves on the trees. Graham talks to the gobbler with light, subtle calling so he knows a hen is there, while trying not to intimidate his real hens. If he will not respond, leave him alone, circle around, and try to kill him a different way using your woodsmanship.
The fly-down cackle imitates a hen pitching out of the roost, and Graham uses it on a lone gobbling tom. It can be done in clear woods or laid right over the top of a gobble so the bird hears it but cannot pinpoint you. Done that way it gets the best of him, and he often walks toward where he thinks the hen landed.
On the first call the tom usually cannot tell exactly where you are, so he commits and walks your way. Every time you call again you teach him your exact location, which gives him a reason to hang up. Graham would rather give a bird one good call and then sit still, because over-calling shrinks your odds with each note.
Sit still and wait far longer than feels natural. When you think you have waited long enough, give it thirty more minutes, then thirty more, and you will probably kill him. A tom that starts the wrong way is often just checking an old spot, and if you hold your ground he tends to circle back to a secondary location where you can take him.
Graham believes using the terrain to ambush a turkey makes you a better hunter, not a lesser one. If a gobbler walks over a hill or down into a dip and puts himself in a spot to be intercepted, slipping over the rise to take him is fair game. He calls it Wile E. Coyote stuff, harder to pull off than simply calling one up.
Here is the strategy Graham lays out in this episode, in order.
Graham demonstrates each call and the timing behind it in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Part one with Graham was all about woodsmanship, and this follow-up is where it pays off in the calling. Graham is a friend of mine who genuinely thinks like a turkey, to the point that he sounds like one with a mouth call and a crow call. I wanted listeners to hear him connect the reading of a bird to the actual sounds you make, because that link is where most of us lose turkeys. He covers exactly when to talk to a bird and when to shut up, and you can hear all of it in the episode. Press play in the player above.
This is the scenario that breaks most hunters' hearts, and Graham does not pretend there is a magic call for it. He walks through getting tight on a henned-up tom, giving him just enough light calling to know a hen is nearby, and reading whether he reacts at all. When the bird ignores you, Graham's answer is not more volume. It is to leave him alone, circle, and lean on woodsmanship instead. He explains why no call in your vest will pull a gobbler off live hens, and what to do instead, in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Graham's take on a solo gobbler runs against the instinct to keep talking. On that first call the bird usually cannot tell where you are, so he commits and starts walking. Every call after that teaches him your exact spot and gives him a reason to hang up and wait. Graham layers in the fly-down cackle, the patience to sit thirty minutes past the point you want to move, and the discipline to let a bird circle back on his own. Hearing him explain the timing is worth far more than reading it, so press play in the player above.
The day after recording this with Graham, the thing that stuck with me was how much of turkey hunting is restraint. Closing the distance, giving a bird one honest call, and then sitting still longer than feels reasonable is harder than running a call non-stop, and it kills more turkeys.
I am already thinking about the upcoming season and running these calls in the car where my wife cannot hear me, which Graham and I agree is the right place to practice. If you have questions, email me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com and press play in the player above.
Graham Tayloe · turkey hunting strategy · henned-up gobbler · fly-down cackle · turkey calling · diaphragm call · slate call · box call · aluminum call · crow call · owl call · woodsmanship · ambush hunting · How 2 Tuesday · Tom Rowland Podcast · Saltwater Experience
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
Graham Tayloe is an avid turkey hunter and a friend of Tom Rowland who is known for thinking like a turkey and for the realism of his calling. Across this two-part How 2 Tuesday he pairs woodsmanship with hands-on calling, demonstrating hen talk, the fly-down cackle, and even crow and owl calls made with his mouth. His approach leans on reading a bird's behavior and the terrain rather than relying on volume, treating patience and an honest setup as the tools that ultimately put a gobbler in range.
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