Skip to main content
The Language of Turkeys: Vocalizations & Call Types Core

Kee-Kee & the Kee-Kee Run

Lesson 16 of 55 · Module 3, lesson 6

Assumes the Hunting Primer. New here? Start there first.

Your objective

By the end, you'll be able to explain what the kee-kee and kee-kee run communicate, recognize the three-note whistle-plus-yelp structure, and judge when this call is and isn't useful for a South Carolina turkey hunter.

Concept ~7 min

It’s a gray November afternoon in the Piedmont and a covey of young turkeys has just blown apart — a fox, a dog, a hunter, something scattered them. Minutes later a thin, pleading whistle drifts up from the creek bottom: kee-kee-kee. A lost youngster is begging the flock to call back. That whistle is one of the most distinctive sounds in the turkey woods — and one of the most misunderstood by new hunters. Let’s make sense of it.

Quick recall

Quick recall from earlier in this module — the kee-kee run ends in a few yelps. What is a plain YELP, in one phrase?

Quick recall from earlier in this module — the kee-kee run ends in a few yelps. What is a plain YELP, in one phrase?

What the kee-kee actually says

The kee-kee is the lost call of a young turkey. Through fall and winter, turkeys live in family flocks, and when something scatters them, the young birds (called poults when small, then jakes and jennies as they mature) want desperately to regroup. The high, whistled kee-kee is them pleading: “I’m lost — where are you?” (NWTF, “The Sounds of the Wild Turkey”).

Why a whistle and not a yelp? A young turkey’s voice box hasn’t fully developed, so the assembly call comes out as a thin, high whistle instead of the rolling yelp an adult would give. As the bird matures into late fall, more of the yelp “fills in” behind the whistle — which is where the run comes from.

The why The biology: why young birds whistle

A turkey’s calls are shaped by its syrinx (the bird voice box) and the air it can move. A young poult simply can’t produce the full, broken cadence of an adult yelp yet, so its assembly call escapes as a clean, high whistle — the kee-kee. As the calling apparatus grows through the fall, the bird starts adding ragged yelps onto the end, giving you the kee-kee run. By the following spring those same birds yelp like any adult, which is why the kee-kee is mostly a fall-and-winter sound (NWTF, “The Sounds of the Wild Turkey”).

Kee-kee vs. kee-kee RUN

These two names trip up beginners, so pin them down now. They’re the same call — one is just the longer, more grown-up version.

  • Kee-kee — the bare whistle, usually three high notes: kee-kee-kee. Pure “lost youngster.”
  • Kee-kee run — the same whistle with a few yelps added on the end: kee-kee-kee, yelp-yelp. The “run” is those trailing yelps “running” out of the whistle (NWTF, “Perfecting the Whistle”).

That’s the whole distinction: run = kee-kee + yelps. Everything else you’ll read about it builds on that one structure.

Diagram of a kee-kee run plotted as pitch over time. On the left, three short rising whistle strokes sit high on the pitch axis, labeled 'kee - kee - kee', three high whistled notes. On the right, two lower rolling strokes sit nearer the bottom, labeled 'yelp - yelp'. A caption ties them together: kee-kee plus yelps equals a kee-kee run.
High whistle: kee-kee-kee Lower yelps trail off the end
Diagram (not audio). The kee-kee is three high, whistled notes; the kee-kee RUN tacks a couple of lower yelps onto the end. Pitch drops as the call shifts from whistle to yelp.

Jakes sound different from jennies

By fall the young birds aren’t identical anymore. A jake (young male) has a larger calling apparatus than a jenny (young female), so his voice is coarser and lower-pitched, and he often runs a distinctive four- or five-note kee-kee. Jennies stay high, clean, and nasal (NWTF, “Kee-Keeing: Jakes and Jennies Differentiated”).

This matters because, in fall, birds tend to answer their own kind — a young gobbler is drawn to jake calls, a young hen to jenny calls. A skilled caller will start with one, listen for what answers, and immediately match it. You don’t need to master that nuance today; just file away that “kee-kee” isn’t one single sound, it’s a young bird’s voice — and young birds come in two flavors.

Where this fits for a South Carolina hunter

Here’s the part most calling articles skip. The kee-kee run is fundamentally a fall flock-reassembly tactic — scatter a flock, sit, and call the lost young birds back. But South Carolina has no statewide fall turkey season.

So why learn it at all? Two honest reasons:

  1. The change-up. In spring, the kee-kee run is an occasional tool — a soft, non-threatening sound to coax a hung-up or call-shy gobbler that’s ignored every hen yelp you own. It says “young, harmless bird,” not “rival.”
  2. Reading the woods. Even when you’re not allowed to hunt fall birds, you will hear this call while scouting, deer hunting, or just walking the Piedmont in fall. Knowing what it means makes you a better woodsman.
Deep dive How the whistle is actually produced on a call

You don’t have to run one today, but here’s the gist. On a mouth (diaphragm) call, you clamp down to a high squeal and pulse “pee-pee-pee” three times at that pitch, then drop into “yelp-yelp” for the run. On a box call, it’s tiny movement — about a quarter-inch of paddle travel without crossing the lid’s center captures the whistle. On a pot/slate call, you draw the striker in a short straight line, then hook toward center to roll into the yelps. The universal beginner mistake is too little control — a weak, incomplete whistle. Minimal motion, maximum control (NWTF, “Perfecting the Whistle”).

A fall afternoon in the Piedmont

You’re scouting, not hunting — SC has no fall season — and you want to test your ear and your judgment.

Read the woods, make the right call

Mid-November, scouting a Piedmont creek bottom. You hear a thin, three-note 'kee-kee-kee' float up, then a couple of rough yelps behind it. What are you most likely hearing?

Check your understanding

Knowledge check

What exactly turns a plain kee-kee into a kee-kee RUN?

What exactly turns a plain kee-kee into a kee-kee RUN?

Knowledge check

A spring gobbler has hung up out of range and ignored every hen yelp. Why might a soft kee-kee run be worth a try?

A spring gobbler has hung up out of range and ignored every hen yelp. Why might a soft kee-kee run be worth a try?

Take it to the woods

Kee-kee field task: train your ear and your judgment

0/5

Sources

All South Carolina regulatory specifics (seasons, dates, legal methods, limits, licenses) must be verified against current SCDNR regulations before hunting — they change year to year.

If you remember nothing else

  • The kee-kee is the lost whistle of a young turkey trying to regroup with its family flock in fall and winter.
  • A kee-kee RUN is the same whistle with a few yelps tacked on the end — kee-kee-kee, then yelp-yelp.
  • It's mainly a FALL flock-reassembly call; South Carolina has no statewide fall season, so for most SC hunters it's a niche spring change-up, not a core tool.
  • By fall, jakes sound coarser and lower than the high, clean jennies — and birds tend to answer their own gender.
  • Calling pulls in other hunters too: positively identify your target, never stalk a call, and never wear red, white, blue, or black.

How ready do you feel?

How confident are you that you could explain what a kee-kee run means and decide whether it belongs in your South Carolina hunt, without reaching for a script?

Before you go — a quick look back

Distributed practice: one fast recall from an earlier lesson keeps it from fading.

Quick recall

From the Yelp lesson — the kee-kee run ends in a few yelps. What does a plain yelp communicate, and which bird most often gives the assembly yelp those young birds are answering?

From the Yelp lesson — the kee-kee run ends in a few yelps. What does a plain yelp communicate, and which bird most often gives the assembly yelp those young birds are answering?

Done with this lesson?

Mark it complete to track your way through the path. Saved on this device — no account needed.