How many birds have you killed that came in silent?

[LaLongbeard]

How many birds have you killed that came  in silent?

A lot... I don't know were all these gobble all the way to the gun turkeys are but most Gobblers go silent before they come in, sometimes for 30 minutes or more. It is a rare occasion when you start to work a Gobbler and he continues to gobble all the way into sight.
If your talking about just setting up blind calling then the percentage of silent arrivals will be near 100% most of which will be subdominant Gobblers sneaking in to steal a hen. You hear nothing and then there standing there slicked down and looking red head no strutting or drumming the "walk on" Gobbler Tom Kelley wrote about.

[coyote1]

I have killed 4 than came in without making a peep. 2 came in without strutting or anything, just showed up looking for the hen. The other 2 were fanning and stopped in a open spot or 2 strutting on the way in. 2 of the birds were 2 year olds and 2 were 3 year olds.

[Spurs]

I can remember 1.  If you haven't experienced a blind call setup, where you all the sudden hear drumming, then you haven't experienced turkey hunting IMO.  To me, that was the one time where a season full of knowledge of this tom all came to a strenuous ending. 

This tom had eluded me all season and had likely cost me other birds throughout the season. He would roost in a bottom that was wide open almost daily, unless I was in there.  It was like a chess match without any chessman.  He would sound off 4-5 times on the roost, give a few courtesy gobbles on the ground, then radio silence.  Different direction daily.  I attempted blind setups a few times near his typical roost and watched him fly up several times, just for him to move trees during the night and be 50-100 yards further the next day.

It finally game to a close on the last evening.  I hadn't been in a couple of days, but was giving myself one last chance.  After calling every 15-20 minutes, I heard drumming.  Like many know, drumming isn't a sound, but a feel.  I couldn't pin point it, so I froze.  For what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only moments, drum after drum deafened my all my being.  With every blink of my eyes, I strained to make out a moving limb, a leave move, or an angry song bird.  Like a ghost, he appeared 50 yards away, like a statue, para-scoping the bottom from a small mound.  Frozen, sore, and shaking, I attempted to cool my nerves.  With every closing step, my heart skipped.  When he finally struck the "no fly zone" he made his final stand behind an old bull pine.  There, I could only make out the outer edges of his fan on the occasional pop strut.  Slowly, ever so slowly, I attempted to mimic an inch worm.  Finally, the final step.  One that he regretted for about a half second before I welcomed his mistake with a slight pull of my left index finger.

Great story, Spurs.  "No fly zone",...I love it!  I adopting that one into my turkey hunting vernacular.   

[Takeaim1st]

Just about all of the late fall season gobblers that I have harvested have came in silent, with the exception of 2 or 3, they made only two or three clucks. My experience with (mature) late season gobblers has been such that they do very very little vocalizations other than a cluck now and then. I use one or two loud slow deep coarse yelps and maybe a loud deep hollow sounding cluck very very sparingly. I hunt them where the deer hunting has been super pressured. The razzle dazzle of Spring ,ain't gonna happen, with mature pressured winter gobblers. Not in the areas I hunt . Practice moving like a rock or stump. In other words , they are a whole different game.

[Mossyguy]

The two kills this season have both been silent. Mine showed up about an hour after daylight, and my dad's was about an hour after we got set up. My 3 from last year were the same. So to make a long story short- too many to count!

[wchadw]

alot.  in ms you can hunt daylight to dark.  i don't think i have ever had one gobble after 1 or 2 pm or if they did that late in the afternoon it was one time?

[ahfox16]

I killed 2 in Nebraska a few years ago that came in gobbling their heads off.  That said, in Virginia I'd say half have been noisy and the other half have have just slipped into where the hen was.   One minute they were not there and the next minute they were strutting and drumming.   Guess 50 50 for me.  The fun ones are the one's that come in gobbling their heads off.

[Gobble!]

If your talking I never heard them make a gobble only a couple. If you mean I heard a gobble setup and then they came in silent, then thats more common. 

[Muzzy61]

I've killed several that came in silent, in fact killed one yesterday morning that never made a sound.

[BrowningGuy88]

A heap pile of them. Probably 50-75 that I've been in on. Most subordinate toms coming in strutting with no gobbling while working other birds.

[singlestrand]

Many of the birds I've shot have snuck in silently, I would say about 50%. Enough that when a bird goes silent, I just assume he is on his way in.

I agree. Some never gobbled and those that did usually didn't gobble as they neared shotgun range. Saying that if they didn't gobble then you didn't call them is absurd. They don't just leave hens, cross fences, wade through thick cover, break away from flocks, or climb to the tops of ridges for nothing and I just always happen to be at the right place at the right time. They don't walk around strutting everywhere they go and just accidentally walk straight into my setup. I am guessing there are a whole lot of turkeys that see hunters before the hunters see turkeys.

[randy6471]

  I've killed quite a few that came in silent.

  We called one in on Saturday that my buddy shot and he never gobbled. It was a late morning hunt and we actually heard him drumming before we ever saw him.

[IAGobbler87]

Every Tom except one.... They seemed to always be quiet once they hit the ground on my old land. Would sure give you a show though!  Last year on the new land, well, they aren't quiet!

[davisd9]

A few but not enough


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[Fullfan]

Going to say prob 30-35. They came after I had worked them, then they went quiet. Love it when they have not gobbled for an hour, and you see a fan coming up through the woods.  I hate the pricks that come walking in and never let you know they were coming..