Even though the vegetation’s seasonal progress lags behind the turkeys’ change in mood in most cases, things get a lot more exciting at this second stage of the game. The gobblers have split up, and although finding two or more gobblers still hanging together is becoming increasingly common as turkey populations rise, the males become receptive to hen calls and will not only answer, but will come -- sometimes.

It’s at this stage of the spring cycle that it’s easiest to work a gobbler right off the roost. The key still lies in positioning and proper calling. Getting close to a roosted turkey is important, but given the sparse greenery of spring, a hunter doesn’t want to get too close. In most Eastern forest situations, a range of 100 to 200 yards is reasonable.

Set up where you’ve got a good view and a gobbler has a stage on which to show off its finery. Experienced hunters have little trouble recognizing promising strutting areas, but as it’s hard to see such sites in the dark, proper familiarity with your hunting territory is helpful here. Food plots, edges of fields, old log decks (or other such openings in heavy forest), open woods roads on ridges, east-facing ends of ridges or points, pipeline or power line rights of way -- all these make for advantageous setups during this first gobbling peak.

Decoys are sometimes helpful during this phase, but just as at other times, sometimes they cause problems. Subdominant gobblers -- or wise, hook-spurred veterans -- sometimes shy away from decoys and refuse to commit. If possible, set out the decoys so that the gobbler must move past your position within shotgun range in order to close on the bogus birds.

Many hunters overcall to gobblers on the roost. It’s hard to resist calling to a hot-gobbling bird, but this is generally a mistake while it’s still in the tree. Too much calling will often hang it up on the limb, and the longer he stays, the more likely a real hen will show up. A soft tree call or two to get him thinking about what may be up in your direction will usually be all you want until he’s on the ground; then, ratchet up the intensity of your calling to match the gobbler’s mood.

The strategy for the period after fly-down is much the same. Gobblers respond well to crow, hawk and other locator calls at this stage of greenup, and once you get your turkey located, follow the guidelines above to approach as close as you think safe and pick out a likely strutting area for your setup.

THE DREADED MID-SEASON LULL
Enjoy the first flush of gobbling while you can, because with the further advance of greenup comes the inevitable falloff in gobbling activity. When the hens become receptive, the gobblers have all the female company they can handle, and during these quiet days of the season, you’ll sometimes swear that not a turkey’s left in the world.

Now’s the time to revert to the wait-’em-out strategy. At this time, the most sensible techniques are low-key and low-pressure: spending lots of time in favored strut zones, calling quietly, staying alert at all times for the sounds of footsteps in the leaves, soft clucks, or drumming. Still moving through their territories behind their hens, gobblers have little incentive for gobbling. If there’s a part of the spring turkey season you have to miss, this would be it.