How well do you really think they hear?

[Farmboy27]

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I think that they can hear very well. But their eyesight is what will get you caught!  I believe they trust their eyes much more than their ears. You can get away with a lot more noise than most think if you're in a blind or otherwise unseen. But movement will get ya busted 9 times out of 10. When it comes to hunting, how well they hear doesn't matter as much as how wary they are to what they hear. In my experience, they are much more wary to what they see than to what they hear.

[SteelerFan]

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I've often said a turkey can see you think at 50 yards, when it comes to movement. As to your example and question about that "whisper" to your son / daughter / partner - and the ability of a bird to hear it... ?? In my experience, hunting with my son, I think we give too much credit to how far our whispers can be heard. Not discounting the turkey's ability to hear - I think it's very, very good. I just think low whispers are not that audible at 20+ yards, especially if there is ambient noise like a breeze, song birds, or the bird is walking in dry leaves, etc.

Same thing for deer & deer hunting.

[guesswho]

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I don't have proof but I think some turkeys can hear what your thinking.

The older my son gets the less talking we should have, but it sure is fun.

I agree, whispering back and forth is a blast.   You should hear some of the conversations I have with people hunting with me with birds at 30 yards

[SteelerFan]

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I don't have proof but I think some turkeys can hear what your thinking.

TRU DAT!!!!

I'm pretty sure, looking back on some past failed attempts - I could almost provide that proof! 

[guesswho]

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[jlawson382]

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They sometimes hear better than they listen, if that makes sense.

...oh, like my kids?   

[silvestris]

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They seem not to have the ability to hear a trie whisper, I think it is outside of their frequency range much as we can't hear a silent dog whistle.  I am unconvinced that a turkey can hear the silent dog whistle either, but I have no direct experience with that.

[rblake]

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We have all done it. Locate one on another ridge. (Or some place you can't get to easily)  Get set up best you can, work him, fall asleep, give up, move to the other ridge then BOOM. He is at the tree you lasted called from on your original set up.
I am amazed how well they can not only hear but know where you are.

[crow]

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"they sometimes hear better than they listen"  and "they can hear what we are thinking"

are we still talking about turkeys?,  or is this thread some kind of code for wife talk? 

[Turkeyman]

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Many years ago when i first started turkey hunting I used to "learn" them pre-season. On several occasions I would see a bird(s) out in an open area some distance away. I'd make the softest call I could , box or slate, and increase volume until I got a reaction. I learned at just what volume they could hear...and it ain't much! I never heard it put that way before but I totally agree with the "they can hear better than they listen". This spring, calling in my grandson's first tom, I had to whisper to him just what to do...rather loudly, I thought. I know I was whispering much louder than if I had been running some soft yelps. It never fazed the bird as he closed in from 60 yards to 15 yards.

[Marc]

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So it would appear that the question is not so much their ability to hear as much as their concern with a human "whisper."

I have seen them pay no attention to whispering at times (very close), and I have seen them book out with it as well...  I would guess that their response to it would depend largely on age and experience of the bird, as well as hunting pressure.

As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of birds killed over whispering voices...  I would guess there are a lot of birds still alive because of them as well.

My feeling on hunting with a partner, unless I am communicating a move due to no activity, there is nothing that I need to communicate verbally...  When a bird comes in range, he or she will likely see the bird...  And shoot it.

[g8rvet]

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Back in the beeper days, before cell phones, I had my beeper go off and he was about 25 steps.  My gun was already up and head down and I was enjoying the show.  He made no reaction to it.  He died shortly later.  He HEARD it, he did not HEED it.  It was not a threat to him. 

[Uncle Tom]

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Less we forget, they can hear you thinking and see you change your mind....sometimes in our encounters with these ole boys they will make us...if only for a second...make us think "did he see me change my mind." Have had that happen few times and most of those particular encounters he will live to walk another day. If you have to try to reverse that mistake you just made can almost be assured that you will not kill him....he is just that good. I know of nothing that we hunt that is going to give you the slip if you make that one mistake IF he is close enough to see and hear you...you can take that to the bank.

[Farmboy27]

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Less we forget, they can hear you thinking and see you change your mind....sometimes in our encounters with these ole boys they will make us...if only for a second...make us think "did he see me change my mind." Have had that happen few times and most of those particular encounters he will live to walk another day. If you have to try to reverse that mistake you just made can almost be assured that you will not kill him....he is just that good. I know of nothing that we hunt that is going to give you the slip if you make that one mistake IF he is close enough to see and hear you...you can take that to the bank.

Man, you're really over thinking things!  Lol. They are good at surviving. But they ain't super natural. When we make mistakes we get busted. When we don't we kill them. I'd put an old buck up against an old gobbler in survival skills. Don't believe me?  Try to make a move on a buck that's focused on your position at 30 yards on the ground. The very nature of turkey hunting is to let them know where we are. Of course they're gonna be keyed in when they get there!

[Uncle Tom]

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Farmboy, you been hunting lot of jakes....you need to up your game LOL.