sub-species vocalization?

[bwromine]

For those of you who hunt different sub-species of turkey, is there a difference in the vocalization of yelps and other turkey sounds?  I hunt the Eastern species and know turkeys have, 'different voices', but is there a basic sub-species difference which may guide the pitch of calls used?

[GobbleNut]

This is just my opinion based on my experience hunting all five of the North American subspecies on numerous occasions.  There are definitely discernable differences in the gobbles of the subspecies, although the intergradations are sometimes a bit muddled. 

Other observations I have made:
Goulds turkeys tend to have lower "voices" overall and tend to yelp more slowly, in general.
Merriams turkeys tend to yelp more slowly than the rest of them besides Goulds as noted above.
The fly-down cackle seems to be more prominent in the more easterly subspecies than in the western subspecies. (from what I have seen, Merriams turkeys almost never cackle) 
Cutting seems to be much more commonly heard in the eastern birds.

Of course, there are exceptions to all of this, but again, these are just my observations from my own personal experiences with the subspecies. 

[Happy]

Meriams are the metrosexuals of the turkey world. That's all I have to say about that.

[Jroddc]

 

Meriams are the metrosexuals of the turkey world. That's all I have to say about that.

[Sir-diealot]

Lovett E. Williams, Jr. in one of his CD's (3 or 5) brought that up and played either a Eastern or an Osceola gobble and then played I think it was a Gould's and there was absolutely a difference in the sound. He said that the Easter or Osceola had a more complicated or strung out gobble than the Gould's gobble.

[quackaddict]

Huge difference in gobbles from Easterns/Osceolas and the rest of the subspecies. Barnyard turkeys vs. pissed off, gonna-kick-some-ace Easterns.


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[J.D. Shellnut]

Ive only hunted easterns in la and rios in Texas. And to me its a huge difference in their gobbles. The rios sound like the barnyard toy thing that you pull the string. The turkey says! Then a rio gobbles! lol

[Timmer]

I've only hunted Easterns and Merriams.  In my experience, Merriams are more vocal (likelihood and frequency of calling), but don't gobble as loudly.  I had hunted Eastern's for 15+ years and I predominantly sneak hunt.  In the first couple of seasons with Merriams I got busted several times when trying to get closer as I thought were further away. It took some getting used to.

[BBR12]

Yes just as others have said. I can't say I've really noticed the difference that much with yelps and normal turkey sounds. The gobble though is distinctly different between Osceola/Eastern vs. Rio/Merriam. The O/E have a GOBBLL-LL-LL-LE loud and in charge. R/M more like LOO LOO LOO LOO LOO as in saying Lew not real loud. That's maybe not a great way to explain it bust best I can come up with.