As a turkey hunter, it’s absolutely critical to understand the various vocalizations turkeys make, especially the common yelp. But what exactly does a turkey yelp mean and when should you use yelps when calling? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about the meaning of turkey yelps and how to apply that knowledge in the field.
The Basics of the Turkey Yelp
The yelp is a short, high-pitched vocalization that wild turkeys make, usually consisting of 2 notes – a higher “kee” followed by a lower “yuk.” It’s one of the most frequently used turkey calls.
Both male and female turkeys yelp. However, hen yelps are higher pitched, faster, and contain more notes than gobbler yelps. Gobbler yelps sound deeper, raspier, and have a slower cadence.
What Does a Hen Yelp Mean?
Hen yelps serve several communicative purposes
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Locator Call – Hens yelp to identify the location of other turkeys and call the flock together
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Brood Assembly – A hen will yelp to gather up her poults (baby turkeys) and keep the brood together.
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Mating Call – In spring, a receptive hen uses eager, excited yelping to signal to gobblers she’s ready to mate.
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Flock Talk – Hens yelp for general flock communication and to maintain contact with other turkeys.
When to Use Hen Yelps When Calling
As a hunter, it’s vital to know when employing hen yelps is most effective:
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Early morning after fly down to announce your presence to any gobblers nearby.
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When you hear a gobbler sound off, yelp back eagerly like a lovesick hen.
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If a gobbler hangs up and won’t come in, try pleading, urgent yelps.
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In between calling sequences, use yelps and clucks to reassure a gobbler as he approaches.
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With real hens present, use hen yelps to mimic natural flock talk.
What Does a Gobbler Yelp Mean?
While less common than hen yelps, gobbler yelps also convey important information:
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Signaling location to hens and other males.
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Responding back to a hen call rather than gobbling.
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Communicating dominance during interactions over flock hierarchy.
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Sneaking in close to a hunter’s setup before switching to soft yelps instead of loud gobbles.
Using Yelps Effectively When Calling
Now that you understand the meaning of turkey yelps, here are some tips for incorporating them into your calling strategy:
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Use hen yelps sparingly and only when needed. Overcalling sounds unnatural.
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Make your hen yelps sound eager, upbeat and excited like a lovesick hen.
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Yelp with purpose, as if actually communicating with a turkey.
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Mix yelps with clucks and purrs to sound more natural.
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Adjust your yelping based on how the gobbler responds. Get more excited if he hangs up. Call less if he’s quietly approaching.
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Use gobbler yelps cautiously to locate birds or draw in competing males.
The Takeaway
Having a solid grasp on what a turkey yelp means is critical to calling in and tagging spring gobblers. Use this knowledge of turkey vocabulary and when to employ specific yelps to take your turkey hunting skill to the next level.
Basic Turkey Calling Sounds: Plain Cluck and Yelp
When you make turkey calling sounds, you speak a second language.
To do so effectively, you need to know the calling sounds to imitate birds and fool them into range. While roughly thirty call distinctions can be heard in the wild, fewer than half of these turkey vocalizations are usually used. Some hunters make just several. Others employ as many calling strategies as possible.
Many spring gobbler hunters make two basic calls: the plain cluck and hen yelp. Others include roost clucks and tree yelps (a.k.a. tree calling), fly-down cackles, cutting (loud and fast clucks), lost yelps, purrs, gobbles — even the kee-kee sounds of young birds to enhance their turkey calling game.
Clucks differ by sex. Gobbler clucks are often low-pitched when compared to a hens. Clucks for both turkey hens and toms can be spaced out, often two to three seconds or more between calls. Sometimes the bird might make just one. This sound may be soft or loud, situation depending.
The plain hen yelp is roughly three to eight notes long, and its the calling option most often employed by spring turkey hunters to lure gobblers to setups. As with other vocalizations, turkeys make it to indicate their position.
Hen yelping is higher-pitched than the deeper, coarser yelping of gobblers. Tom turkeys yelp with a slower cadence as well and yelps are generally fewer in number — often three notes: yawp, yawp, yawp. In the spring, a jake (juvenile male turkey) will sometimes yelp rather than gobble on the approach.
When looking for flock mates, or other lone hens and gobblers, turkeys call. Its an effort to get another bird to call back, step into view and reveal its exact location. Its basically a wild turkey asking, Where are you? or saying, Come over here where I am.
By making turkey calling sounds while hunting, you can communicate directly with the spring gobbler youre after. Other times you can try to lure a territorial hen into range, hoping this boss bird will drag a strutting tom along to your gun or bow. Fall birds respond well to calling too.
Vary the turkey calling sounds you make the same way real birds do. Listen to turkeys as they call too. Theyll teach you plenty.
Steve Hickoff is Realtrees turkey hunting editor and blogger.
Learn How to Yelp in 3 Steps | Turkey Mouth Call 101
FAQ
What does it mean when a turkey pecks you?
Turkeys may attempt to dominate or attack people that they view as subordinates, and this behavior is observed most often during breeding season. They may also respond aggressively and peck shiny objects like windows or vehicles, interpreting their own reflection as an intruding turkey.
What does it mean when you hear a turkey gobble?
It’s a loud, shrill, descending, throaty jumble of sound that lasts about 1 second. Males often gobble from their treetop roosts, where the sound carries better than on the ground. They use it to attract females and in response to other males—sometimes one male’s call can lead to a group of others joining in.
What does it mean when a turkey is a gobbler?
To gobble something typically means to eat it quickly or greedily, but gobble has a specific turkey-related sense in reference to the guttural sounds the bird makes. Gobbler is a common nickname for a male turkey, in addition to the generic meaning “one that gobbles.”
What is the difference between a Yelp and a cluck?
Like the yelp, the cluck is also commonly used in a series. Unlike the yelp, it is less uniform and more erratic. The cluck can be heard in conjunction with purrs when a turkey is milling about at peace with the world. In the video below, you can hear this hen clucking and purring.
What does a Turkey Yelp mean?
The two-note yelp might be the most basic turkey sound. Yelps can mean about anything depending on a variety of factors such as number, cadence, volume, and more. To keep it simple, just remember they’re primarily used by hens as locator or brood-assembly calls, and they’re also used as a vocal indicator that a female is ready to breed.
Is a Turkey Yelp a sound of pain?
A turkey yelp is not a sound of pain. While yelping is one of the sounds made by turkeys, it does not signify pain like the yelps made by dogs or other animals. A female turkey uses her yelp to communicate her location to a male and express her eagerness to meet him. Yelps are loud turkey sounds produced by connecting single notes.
Why do turkeys Yelp?
The first yelps are brief, soft, and muffled because a turkey makes them with its beak nearly closed. Turkeys use tree yelps to communicate with other birds in a flock, and as the flock awakens, they become louder and louder until they evolve into full-fledged yelping as birds prepare to fly down.
Can a Turkey Yelp with a mouth call?
There are a variety of words hunters will use to imitate a yelp with a mouth call. “Yelp,” “chuck,” and “shock” are just a few of the words commonly used to humanize the turkey vocabulary. Yelping is not exclusive to the female turkey. Toms will also yelp. This is an example of a jake yelping. Notice how the tone is deeper than most hen calls.
What is a gobbler Yelp?
The yelp is sometimes referred to as the “love call’ of the hen and is the one call every hunter should master. This call is used by both hens and gobblers. The gobbler yelp is slower and more deep throated than the hen. A long series of yelps (10 to 20+) used by turkeys when they are lost and trying to call other turkeys to them.