When a gobbler hangs up out of range but continues to respond to your calls, try to switch positions and call from a different angle. (Shutterstock photo)
March 04, 2025
By J.J. Faux
When it comes to hunting turkeys, if anyone is over-qualified it’s Matt Van Cise. As a turkey caller with 16 Grand National championships , 11 World titles and three U.S. Open championships under his belt, the Brookville, Pa., native can call turkeys with an ability few others possess. But it’s his 30-plus years of turkey hunting experience that provides the additional insight needed to seal the deal on any tough turkeys he encounters.
“This past spring I hunted nine states for turkeys, from Oklahoma to Maine, and that’s a typical year for me,” he says. “Getting into all those turkeys helps to hone your ability, that’s for sure.”
Hunting nine different states in one season is a bit like getting nine years’ worth of turkey hunting experience in one spring—and that’s to say nothing of all the other multi-state junkets he’s embarked on over the past three decades. So, what additional arrows are added to one’s turkey hunting quiver with that much experience?
ALL HENNED UP First and foremost, it means Van Cise knows turkeys, which gives him the confidence to be effective regardless of the situation encountered since he’s likely encountered that same situation before. Take henned-up gobblers that won’t leave their harem, for example.
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“When you find a gobbler with a number of hens, you have to first observe. What’s he doing, where’s he roosting, where’s he gobbling in the morning? Successfully hunting this bird might mean you have to put some time into observing him before going back to actually hunt him.
“Observation is a skill in itself, and one of the things I’ve developed most during my years of hunting turkeys,” Van Cise adds. “That bird will tell you exactly what he wants you to do to get him into range—if you pay attention. Pre-season scouting is important when it comes to knowing where the gobblers might be, but that only gets you so far. They’ll move about as the season progresses, so you have to be observant of their moves.”
So, you’ve observed a henned-up gobbler and know precisely where he’ll be in the morning. What’s next?
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“All turkeys can be killed, but you have to be able to get inside their bubble, say within 80 yards or so,” says Van Cise. “Do whatever it takes to sneak into his comfort zone, whether he’s on the roost or on the ground, without him knowing you’re there. That’s where you have to be to kill him. A lot of times you’ll have to hunt the bird a couple of days to observe enough to figure things out before you can make your move into that bubble.”
HUNG-UP TOMS When it comes to birds that hang up out of range, Van Cise will first try moving and calling from a different location to get the bird to come closer.
“Change your angle if you can,” he says. “Sometimes that’s difficult. In many parts of Pennsylvania where I hunt, there are fields with the occasional woodlot, and you just can’t change easily. In the big woods of northern PA where I learned to hunt, however, it’s usually easier to make that move because you don’t have all those openings to contend with. Sometimes it just takes a move of calling location to get that gobbler in.”
You don’t have to be a professional caller to successfully talk to turkeys. What’s more important is finding the cadence and volume that prompts a response. (Shutterstock photo) He’ll also try changing the call he’s using and maybe even the vocalizations he’s making. “I’ll try gobbling, doing jake yelps, even fighting purrs—anything to get a reaction from that gobbler and get his attention so I might be able to work him,” says Van Cise. “If you’re calling more loudly, try soft-calling with clucks and purrs. If you’re already doing that, try calling more loudly. Vary how you sound and keep at it until you find the sound the bird is interested in.”
If the pick-up line doesn’t work, change the pick-up line—or at least pitch it from a different angle. Van Cise is quick to point out that changing calls is good advice, regardless of the calling competency of the hunter.
“While I can make turkeys gobble when others can’t because my calling is more realistic, you don’t have to call at that level to be a good turkey hunter,” he says. “Get a good box call. Trumpets, tube calls and wing-bone calls really make them gobble, likely because not many hunters up North use them, so they represent a new sound to the gobbler. Practice to become familiar with whatever calls you plan to use. You don’t have to be a professional, just be able to use the call in the manner required so that you can work it with a little proficiency.”
TONE IT DOWN Real turkeys seldom sound as “good” as competitors in a calling contest. Sometimes you can screech and squawk and it doesn’t matter, so long as you’re doing it in the proper rhythm real turkeys use. Turkeys are known to make some pretty strange sounds, after all.
They’ll also react to calls you might not expect to perform well. Van Cise recalls a friction call he thought made a strange sound but worked nonetheless.
“When I worked for Mark Drury at MAD Calls, they had a call named the Egg,” he says. “It was a push-button friction call that must have worked well because it was by far the most popular call we had. I never had one; I didn’t like its sound and thought it sounded odd, but evidently turkeys liked its sound and that’s all that mattered. What’s important is how your calling sounds to a turkey, not how it sounds to another hunter.”
Many veteran turkey hunters reject push-button calls because they’re viewed as beginners’ calls. However, birds that have heard every mouth call, slate or box don’t know that. They just think it’s a different-sounding turkey.
ALL-TERRAIN TURKEYS There are differences between hunting birds on private land versus public land, just as there are differences between hunting birds on farmland with small woodlots versus hunting them in the big woods.
“There’s always more pressure on public-land birds,” says Van Cise. “If you’re hunting a bird that hasn’t been overly pressured, there will come a day when he’ll be ready to work. If you can be there at that time and be where he wants to be, you’ll take that bird.
Matt Van Cise chases gobblers across the country every spring, adding to his knowedge base of turkey behavior with every hunt. (Photo courtesy of Matt Van Cise) “Sometimes gobblers just won’t respond, and your woodsmanship will be what gets you your bird,” he continues. “For example, [in 2024] I hunted Maine in the late season, and the birds had finished gobbling and weren’t interested in mating. Know that there are few states with more public and semi-public land than Maine. Well, I wound up taking a couple gobblers, but I had to work hard to figure out how to get into the bird’s comfort zone. Once I was able to do that, a few soft calls were enough to get both birds to investigate and come within range. In this case it wasn’t really my calling ability that worked, but my ability to get in close.”
BAD BIRDS When asked about the toughest bird he’s ever hunted, one in particular immediately leaps to Van Cise’s mind.
“There was a group of four longbeards that hung out together in one area I was hunting,” he recalls. “I hunted them several times one year and couldn’t get any of them to react. I missed a year hunting that area, but when I returned they were still there, still a band of four longbeards. They acted the same way they had two years prior. They wouldn’t respond and would just turn and walk away when I’d call. I observed them for a few days until I figured out exactly where they roosted in the evening. I went in the late afternoon and set up right where they were going to roost.”
Knowing where the birds were going ahead of time certainly paid off.
“I saw them coming in but it seemed like they saw me because they started to walk off, so I deep-gobbled, but then they disappeared,” says Van Cise. “I thought they were gone, but a couple of minutes later they popped out of the woods close in front of me. This time they did see me and they started to run off, so I dropped the closest gobbler. He wound up having 1 11/16-inch spurs—one of my biggest-spurred birds ever. Hunting any one of those longbeards alone would have been tough. Hunting all four together made it a really challenging proposition.”
Van Cise started making diaphragm calls for himself in 1995 and worked for several call manufacturers over the years before starting his own company, High Class Calls, in 2016. He strives to offer custom-built turkey calls that sound authentic, unique and that faithfully replicate the sound of a wild turkey.
While using one of Van Cise’s calls would be a good way to start this year’s spring gobbler campaign, he offers one last suggestion for achieving success, and it has nothing to do with call brand.
“Be persistent, be observant, be patient with your learning and keep hunting,” he says. “One day that gobbler will be ready and waiting for you.”
The Champ’s Calls When the chips are down, Matt Van Cise goes to a trio of old reliables. SNAKEWOOD AND WALNUT BOX CALL “It’s a great combination of woods and it has a more realistic tone and more volume than most calls. I don’t use it necessarily to kill turkeys, but it’ll reach out there and get a response, which starts the process. It’s especially helpful in the big hills I hunt because its volume really carries. I use it mainly for yelping and cutting to strike up birds.”
CANARYWOOD SLATE “Canarywood’s a great wood when it’s paired with slate, offering good volume and, again, a very realistic sound. I usually use a pot call for cutting, and this call works well for that. I use it mainly for striking or locating birds, and it’s a go-to call for doing both.”
SIGNATURE DIAPHRAGM “I’ve made diaphragm calls since 1995, and the ones I’m making now are the result of a long evolution in my call-making. I use one particular diaphragm call for almost every situation. As a 3 1/2-reed call, it’s a more advanced call; it’s not for the beginner, but it can do it all. It can soft-talk or go loud. It’s great for yelping, cutts, purrs, fighting purrs ... it does it all and really realistically, too.”
This article was featured in the March 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
