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I've never encountered so many hard gobbling jakes where I hunt in Texas before.  In years past, if I struck a gobbling bird, it was almost assuredly a Tom.  This year has been much different experience.  Do jakes get more vocal when there's a lack of mature birds around to put them in line?

On average, teenagers seem get mouthier when not under the surveillance of adults.  Same probably holds true with turkeys. 

Happened to me twice last year.  First time it was a bunch of gobbling jakes that had the mature Tom on the run.  They'd chase him away as a group and he always stayed about 30-50 yards off from the group.  Once I figured that out I killed him.  Near the end of the season in our "honey hole" I had one that was giving me a fit.  My son and I had already killed a couple of mature birds from that spot and we had seen another that we were after.  That one jake gobbled enough for 1 birds.  Didn't know it was a jake until he showed up twice.  Maybe he'll be a nice Tom in a year or two.  Gobbling jakes are aggravating.

If they do what they are suppose to do I usually shoot them If they gobble well or strut I tend to shoot them if they come in silent I let them walk.

It's just nature being nature ... Jake's one year and gobblers the next.. Good crop of Jake's means gobblers next year ..

It has been my observation hunting Rios in California, that jakes will often be more vocal than toms, if those toms have secured the hens.

Just last week, I observed a pair of toms that was with a group of hens in a residential setting.  I yelped at them, and those toms went into strutt but remained silent...  Just up a ways, a trio of jakes hammered back, and came running up to some invisible boundary (probably that boundary where the toms run over to open up a can of whup-azz on them).

It is impossible to my ear to discern the difference between a jake gobble, and a tom gobble...  In fact there have been many times when I get a "nervous" gobble that sounds like a young bird, only to have a mature bird come in.

Long hikes, hunting steep terrain, and wasting time and resources on a jake...  Happens to me all the time.  Opening day I worked multiple birds and groups of birds, all of which were jakes.  A couple of them played the game like mature birds and had my hopes up until they finally appeared.

Monday I was scouting in pennsylvania and encountered 6 Jakes together raising hell. I heard at least one in the tree at gray light gobbling. I rode around to check a couple spots and came back by around 10. I was walking a plot and heard some gobbling so I crept in for a look. Only one of the Jakes was strutting but all were gobbling a lot. I ghosted them for a while and saw they were by themselves. That one was definitely the boss. He won't last long if we have our season because he was on a heavily hunted piece of public.

Had a "flock" of jakes come into some calling last year. All five did their thing in terms of gobbling. I could only see 3 of them but my partner got to see all 5. He asked if I saw the Strutter but he didn't crest the little knoll like the 3 I could see already had. They're still very much alive. I'm hoping that they're still there this year. Once they reach 2 years old, they're fair game. Heck, in the not so distant past, they would've been too. And I can't say that I'll never shoot another. Sometime, if one plays the game correctly, I might just let some shot fly their way. Switching to the 20 this year could change things. If I were carrying a 410, I'd probably roll one just to get the 410 itch out of my system. Heck, I'd probably shoot one if I had the 16 ga in my hands. Something about a bird that reads the playbook that just gets me going.


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Quote from: guesswho on April 08, 2020, 03:32:22 PM
On average, teenagers seem get mouthier when not under the surveillance of adults.  Same probably holds true with turkeys.

:icon_thumright:

I grew up hunting Easterns. It's obvious to me with them if it's a jake or mature bird gobbling.

I live and hunted Merriam country for years and couldn't tell the difference. Live in Rio country now and same thing. The birds that sound like "barnyard" turkeys, I can't tell a difference. An Eastern, no problem.


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Quote from: quackaddict on April 08, 2020, 09:50:35 PM
I grew up hunting Easterns. It's obvious to me with them if it's a jake or mature bird gobbling.

I live and hunted Merriam country for years and couldn't tell the difference. Live in Rio country now and same thing. The birds that sound like "barnyard" turkeys, I can't tell a difference. An Eastern, no problem.


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I guarantee I could've put you on a few in the past you'd never known the difference. Fully understand what you're saying because often enough, their gobble is abbreviated to some extent. But, that hasn't been the case with every jake I've had come to the gun. Some have had a full, mature sounding gobble from beginning to end.


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Quote from: bghunter777 on April 08, 2020, 04:13:17 PM
If they do what they are suppose to do I usually shoot them If they gobble well or strut I tend to shoot them if they come in silent I let them walk.

We called 2 long beards in for a first timer Monday and he wasn't able to get a clear shot, a Jake slipped in while the gobblers were moving off and in the midst of the excitement we didn't notice him. Stood up to make a move on the long beards and the Jake putted 10 yards in front of us lol. Clucked and gobbled at him and he threw a full on gobble at us I told the guy if he wants to act like a 2 year old you treat him like one.....boooom.

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Quote from: wvmntnhick on April 09, 2020, 02:51:08 AM

Quote from: quackaddict on April 08, 2020, 09:50:35 PM
I grew up hunting Easterns. It's obvious to me with them if it's a jake or mature bird gobbling.

I live and hunted Merriam country for years and couldn't tell the difference. Live in Rio country now and same thing. The birds that sound like "barnyard" turkeys, I can't tell a difference. An Eastern, no problem.


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I guarantee I could've put you on a few in the past you'd never known the difference. Fully understand what you're saying because often enough, their gobble is abbreviated to some extent. But, that hasn't been the case with every jake I've had come to the gun. Some have had a full, mature sounding gobble from beginning to end.


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I agree with this 100%

I noticed that in Texas last week. Called up over 30 jakes. I would listen in the morning try pick what I thought was a mature bird only to have a pile of jakes come with at least one gobbling and drumming as if he had a 12 inch beard! Very cool experience though and was nice to see they had a good hatch.

Quote from: wvmntnhick on April 09, 2020, 02:51:08 AM

Quote from: quackaddict on April 08, 2020, 09:50:35 PM
I grew up hunting Easterns. It's obvious to me with them if it's a jake or mature bird gobbling.

I live and hunted Merriam country for years and couldn't tell the difference. Live in Rio country now and same thing. The birds that sound like "barnyard" turkeys, I can't tell a difference. An Eastern, no problem.


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I guarantee I could've put you on a few in the past you'd never known the difference. Fully understand what you're saying because often enough, their gobble is abbreviated to some extent. But, that hasn't been the case with every jake I've had come to the gun. Some have had a full, mature sounding gobble from beginning to end.


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I guess I should have said, more often than not it's obvious. You're definitely right.


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Quote from: quackaddict on April 08, 2020, 09:50:35 PM
I grew up hunting Easterns. It's obvious to me with them if it's a jake or mature bird gobbling.

I live and hunted Merriam country for years and couldn't tell the difference. Live in Rio country now and same thing. The birds that sound like "barnyard" turkeys, I can't tell a difference. An Eastern, no problem.


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I hunt easterns as well in MS/Alabama and I have been able to discern a difference at times and I have also been fooled multiple times. Some Jakes can really surprise you and I have also had several mature gobblers that I thought sounded like jakes and or were jakes until they got to the gun.

In general you can tell a difference but you will run into a few that will fool you.