Even a responsive tom will go silent, leaving you plenty of time in which to contemplate your next move.

ONE THING FOR CERTAIN: VARIABLES
Some hunters may credit silent toms with more intelligence and wariness than they actually have. Maybe, these hunters think, they called too much or too little and tipped off that old longbeard. Or maybe the smart old bird knew the difference between a box call or a diaphragm and the real thing?

Well, probably not. True, there are a lot of variables at work here, but it's unrealistic to give a turkey too much credit when it comes to analyzing a particular situation and adapting to it.

That's because turkeys can do only what turkeys are programmed to do. Their behavior consists of instinctive reactions to a variety of circumstances and needs that have to do with, among other things, food, water, breeding, the pecking order and self-preservation.

As we've seen, one reason that toms keep their mouths shut, especially during the middle of the spring breeding season, is because they're already with hens. Another reason is a sudden change in the weather, which triggers their need to feed, more than breed.

A few years ago, for example, on a day when a fast-moving storm was arriving, I called to three longbeard toms that I could see and watched their reactions. It was rather disconcerting. Despite my best efforts, they kept feeding and never even raised their heads.

Also, at any time during the spring season, some gobblers near the bottom of the pecking order are simply too intimidated by more aggressive toms to make much noise. Others may be quiet, at least for a time, because they were frightened by a predator -- two-legged, four-legged or winged. A turkey reacts in certain ways to predatory behavior, whether the predator is human or otherwise.

THREE PHASES OF SPRING
Despite all the variables, the spring season can be divided, perhaps not neatly, into three overlapping segments.

At the beginning of the season, there's usually a gobbling peak, as the toms challenge one another for dominance and go around looking for females. When gobblers are on the make, and before the pecking order is established, the chances of calling an old tom to the gun are very good.

As the season enters Phase Two, it's not unusual for gobbling activity to drop off dramatically for a variety of reasons, some of them covered above.

However, as the season enters Phase Three, and more and more hens start incubating their eggs full-time, another peak gobbling period is possible when suddenly lonely, still lustful toms go actively looking for females again. In theory, then, the tail end of the season is a great time to call gobblers.

Here are some tactics that might work on those tough, often frustratingly quiet gobblers, no matter when, or why, they're playing hard to get.

SILENT-TURKEY TACTICS
Consider the following scenario. You've done everything according to the book. You located turkeys the day before your hunt and got into position in the morning well before daylight. You listened patiently for a gobbler in any direction to announce his presence, and for all your trouble you were rewarded by -- you guessed it, silence. Now what?