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Anyone like me and can't hear a turkey drum?  Why is that?  I can hear them spit but no drum.

On a quiet day, maybe hear it 50-75 yards away.

More like I sorta feel it more than hear it.

Certain people hear different frequencies better than others. I have tinnitus pretty bad but I can still pick up the spit better than the drum.

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It's - 10F here. All I hear are my teeth chatting? Sitting outside is quite far from my mind! 

Quote from: Bottomland on February 12, 2021, 06:04:04 PM
Anyone like me and can't hear a turkey drum?  Why is that?  I can hear them spit but no drum.

It's a weird noise, kind of like a "tuning fork type" low hum. It's possible that certain people hear can't pick this noise up. I am by no means a med expert, just my guess on a possible reason here. I have watched numerous videos with 2 hunters, one saying to the other, "can you hear him drumming", and the other hunter saying no.....be safe, be well.....

Tom that is what i was going to ask the OP if he had ever been with a buddy that had heard it and he hadn't. I think if someone else heard it and got you to listen close when they have heard it might help unless your hearing has been diminished.

Quote from: Happy on February 12, 2021, 06:17:32 PM
Certain people hear different frequencies better than others. I have tinnitus pretty bad but I can still pick up the spit better than the drum.

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Hearing drumming is one thing, triangulating it is a whole other thing.

 I can hear.....TICK. That's it. 30 yards and strutting, TICK, no drum? My ears ring constantly, really don't even notice the ringing so much until it stops. Has been this way for 15-20 years. But, its amazing to me the turkey I hear gobble that others with me can't? Maybe my ears are conditioned to hear a gobble.

There are frequencies that I do not pick up.  I have seen this before, being around the woman who has undamaged ears. Cant hear much at all with a back ground noise, it usually takes over and drowns everything else out.

I can hear it at amazing distances compared most of the people I hunt with.  Clear calm morning under the right conditions I can pick up on it a couple hundred yards or so away.  That is abig advantage being able to do so.  Pinpointing it is another ballgame.   I can usually narrow it down between 10 and 2.   But have been off by as much as 180 degrees.    Seems like the closer it is the harder for me to pinpoint the direction.  As mentioned earlier, it's almost like I can feel it in my chest.

I've only heard it once in 30 years, I do have hearing loss but wear hearing aids. The only time I heard  it was very loud and the gobbler was at least 35 yds. away. That was 4 years ago.

Quote from: 3bailey3 on February 12, 2021, 06:35:22 PM
Tom that is what i was going to ask the OP if he had ever been with a buddy that had heard it and he hadn't. I think if someone else heard it and got you to listen close when they have heard it might help unless your hearing has been diminished.

Agreed, we also are all shooting enthusiasts that fire guns year after year in our recreational activities. Yes, we wear ear protection majority of the time, but we all know we have all heard too many gun blasts by our ears without same. This could be a bit of the problem too. Great thread, I hope they find out more info about this.....it is truly a sound that could be missed if not being pointed out. Great thought Bailey..

The farthest I've ever heard it in timber while the bird was on the ground was about 100 yards away. I was looking right at him when he was doing it.
I know some people have trouble picking that low frequency up.

I'm 27 and have a very hard time hearing it. May be due to the multitude of gunshots going off near my head during bird hunting or rushed turkey shots by others across my body. I can hear it when he's within 50 yards, but farther than that I can only hear him spit. When I was in the Navy they noticed a good bit of scarring on my eardrums so who knows. I can hear gobbles extremely far though.


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Quote from: guesswho on February 12, 2021, 06:53:28 PM
I can hear it at amazing distances compared most of the people I hunt with.  Clear calm morning under the right conditions I can pick up on it a couple hundred yards or so away.  That is abig advantage being able to do so.  Pinpointing it is another ballgame.   I can usually narrow it down between 10 and 2.   But have been off by as much as 180 degrees.    Seems like the closer it is the harder for me to pinpoint the direction.  As mentioned earlier, it's almost like I can feel it in my chest.

Fantastic. Your ears are still real good. You must wear ear protection most of the time while shooting. I wish I did it more.....

Quote from: SD_smith on February 12, 2021, 07:30:11 PM
I'm 27 and have a very hard time hearing it. May be due to the multitude of gunshots going off near my head during bird hunting or rushed turkey shots by others across my body. I can hear it when he's within 50 yards, but farther than that I can only hear him spit. When I was in the Navy they noticed a good bit of scarring on my eardrums so who knows. I can hear gobbles extremely far though.


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Hearing those gobbles is most important.......great news..

I've only heard a couple drum.  I usually can't hear it. 

I never hear it. Happens at too low of a register for me to pick up. If the 37 year old me could tell the 15 year old me anything it would be, TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN!!!


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I can hear them spit further than the drum. When I hear either they are usually close, getting in gun range.

Used to, it's been many years though. I assume it's from hearing loss. Sometimes I can still hear them spit.

Was just talking about this the other day. Those that can hear the drum from a hundred yards away are blessed. If I hear it, it's fixing to get real! About 30-35 yds is as far as I can hear it, I believe. It would for sure help out if I could here it from a distance further than 35 yds.

For years I was like so many and couldn't hear it. Then one day with 4 longbeards at 5 yards I heard it. Last year I killed a bird in WV in the fog and for 1/2 an hour that bird sent my nerves through the roof with his drumming. There was no doubt about it and I felt that in my chest. This past spring I bought some chickens and got a pair of turkeys too. One didn't make it but the other one turns out to be a gobbler. After standing directly over him while he spits and drums I can hear it consistently. It has really helped me. I think this spring in the woods I'll be able to hear drumming much easier.

What is even more frustrating than not hearing it, I suppose, is trying to get someone else to hear it who cant.
I started taking my son on youth hunts in Missouri and Kansas from the time I felt comfortable with his shooting.  We had many encounters with Toms, but I never could get him to hear drumming. I would do my best imitation of what it sounded like, but he never heard it.  I completely gave up trying to get him to hear it.  Last year, at 18 years of age, on his second Missouri bird, we had a bird hang up just inside the woods in thick buck brush for about 20 minutes before he popped out in the field at about 12 steps. When he shot the bird, he turned to me and exclaimed that he heard it drumming.  Now that his ears are tuned to it, I guess we will find out if it was a one time occurence.
Another time, I was taking a gentleman in his sixties to try to get his first turkey. We got set up in the dark and ended up waaay too close to a roosted bird. I heard the bird drum and I told him to not move a muscle....that we had a gobbler right on top of us.
A few minutes later a bird gobbled about 100 yards down the tree line and he flung his arm around and started pointing towards the gobbling bird, shaking it violently and saying, in a not quiet voice "Naw...hes down yonder way!!" He couldnt hear him drum, but he got to hear what a gobbler pitching outta tree right over us sounded like. We didnt get either bird that morning.

Last one I heard was in TN.  I was walking down a hill on a road.  As I approached a curve I heard what sounded like a distant car radio almost  I'd heard drumming described like that.  Peaked around and saw him about 100 yards away.  He was loud.
The only other one I heard was about 15 yards away and was more a dull humming sound.

I can't hear it at all, never have. Like others have said, I hear the spit but that's it. I have always had the theory that it must be a frequency thing that my ears just fail to pick up. My wife has always said I need a hearing aid. Maybe there's more to what she says than I gave her credit for!!...lol

Quote from: guesswho on February 12, 2021, 06:53:28 PM
I can hear it at amazing distances compared most of the people I hunt with.  Clear calm morning under the right conditions I can pick up on it a couple hundred yards or so away.  That is abig advantage being able to do so.  Pinpointing it is another ballgame.   I can usually narrow it down between 10 and 2.   But have been off by as much as 180 degrees.    Seems like the closer it is the harder for me to pinpoint the direction.  As mentioned earlier, it's almost like I can feel it in my chest.

I too have been blessed with this type of hearing, but have trouble coursing it as well. There have been times where I have kept tabs on a turkey for hours in the Ozarks just by him drumming. There was a time when the wind was blowing so hard in Alabama, that most people would not be in the woods. I told my cousin I heard one drumming. We were in a wide open creek bottom with big mature pine ridges running down to it. He wanted to keep walking and I convinced him to set up and make a call. The turkey gobbles just out of sight and you could barely hear him. I killed that turkey 20 minutes or so later. He still tells that story and that was 20 years ago.

I knew of the term 'drummin', but I'll admit I didn't really know what that sound was even though I was getting into, and killing, birds for several years. The spit is easy to pick up, but even on YouTube videos the drumming part was a mystery to me.

Then one morning a couple years ago I got into birds and I heard it. And ever since then, I've heard it a lot more often. I have to believe that I had been hearing it before, but never realized what it was.

Anybody else have that Eureka moment and then heard it regularly from that point on?

Quote from: mcw3734 on February 13, 2021, 12:03:09 AM
I knew of the term 'drummin', but I'll admit I didn't really know what that sound was even though I was getting into, and killing, birds for several years. The spit is easy to pick up, but even on YouTube videos the drumming part was a mystery to me.

Then one morning a couple years ago I got into birds and I heard it. And ever since then, I've heard it a lot more often. I have to believe that I had been hearing it before, but never realized what it was.

Anybody else have that Eureka moment and then heard it regularly from that point on?

Eureka moment:
18 years old. Working a bird all morning. Kept hearing this annoying hum. Thought it was some kind of airplane or equipment running. Had no idea what it was. I could feel it and it almost hurt it was so loud. Finally I realized it was the turkey making that noise. We killed him (he was obviously close).

I can hear it at pretty good distance, probably 75 yards or so.  With that being said, I had a buddy that I had been mentoring for about 2 years.  We were hunting one morning and I had called in a bird from about 400 yards away.  When he approached, I heard him spitting and drumming.  I ask my partner if he could hear the bird spitting and drumming and he said, "What?."  I said listen.  After he listened intently, he ask, "What is that?"  I told him, THAT is the sound of a Gobbler spitting and drumming.  He had never heard it so he just didn't PICK up on it.  He now knows the sound and pays particular attention for the sound, especially when a bird comes in silent.

   I do hear the Spit + Drum from a few of the Gobblers,  I feed every morning. 

I can hear it and can do pretty good job at pinpointing it. I feel very sorry for the folks that can't.  I like it almost as much as a gobble.  Kit-OOHHHMMMMMMM

I can hear them drum long ways off but cant hear my wife in the same room, seriously my wife has mentioned numerous times having my hearing checked.

Quote from: 7shooter on February 13, 2021, 01:22:48 PM
I can hear them drum long ways off but cant hear my wife in the same room, seriously my wife has mentioned numerous times having my hearing checked.

My wife can hear me start drumming from a ways off..it usually gives her ample opportunity to avoid me.  Lol

Quote from: 7shooter on February 13, 2021, 01:22:48 PM
I can hear them drum long ways off but cant hear my wife in the same room, seriously my wife has mentioned numerous times having my hearing checked.

I can save you the Doctors visit.  You have two hearing deficiencies.  #1 is you have selective hearingidis.  And #2 is you have creative hearingidis.  No known cures that I know of.   Same diseases also affects the memory glands, some people are afflicted with both hearingidis's and memoryidis's. 

Quote from: Happy on February 12, 2021, 06:17:32 PM
Certain people hear different frequencies better than others. I have tinnitus pretty bad but I can still pick up the spit better than the drum.

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Yep. After 34 years in the fire department, my hearing isn't very good, and my ears constantly ring with tinnitus. With that said, if I can hear drumming he's close!! But I don't ever hear the spit, just the drumming.

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

Quote from: guesswho on February 13, 2021, 02:10:03 PM

Quote from: 7shooter on February 13, 2021, 01:22:48 PM
I can hear them drum long ways off but cant hear my wife in the same room, seriously my wife has mentioned numerous times having my hearing checked.

I can save you the Doctors visit.  You have two hearing deficiencies.  #1 is you have selective hearingidis.  And #2 is you have creative hearingidis.  No known cures that I know of.   Same diseases also affects the memory glands, some people are afflicted with both hearingidis's and memoryidis's.

lol

Only hear it if they are in VERY CLOSE like 30 yards. Wife gets tired of repeating herself, ringing in ears gets worse every year so hearing aids prob coming soon.    Hunt mostly with my adult kids so depend on their much better hearing on long range stuff.   Most likely too much 70's rocknroll and shooting guns without hearing protection.

I normally can hear it before others that hunt with me . I hope my hearing doesn't start failing me like my eye sight is ... wearing glasses while in woods suuuucks !

I'm sorry & saddened for those who can't hear drumming.  It is without a doubt my favorite sound on the planet (with the sound of a bra being unhooked being a close second).  I heard it the first time I ever went turkey hunting from a gobbler putting on a show.  Didn't know what it was, but I realized it was from the gobbler because it was happening the same time his low breast feathers were rippling.

I have heard drumming many times long after a gobble when drumming was the only clue he was close by. My high-pitch hearing is bad, but I pick up low frequency at great distance (mostly helicopters, diesel engines down shifting, & gobbler's drumming) for some reason.  Drumming translates to "Take the safety off" in my book, because he's close.

Jim

I have tinnitus in both ears. However I'm still blessed that I can hear the Drumming of the wild turkey.

Last year hunting with Shane Simpson and his daughter Brooke. We had a gobbler so close. It felt like it rattled my insides! I could feel it in my chest. Kinda like those MTX Blue Thunder speakers I had in my Ford Ranger, LOL

I'm surprised that it wasn't picked up on the audio. None the less. I'm thankful to God for giving me the experience to share the woods with such great people. I'll never forget those hunts.

God bless y'all and stay safe out there.

Although I've never heard of anyone checking drumming with a frequency meter it sounds around 50Hz to me...just a bit less than a power transformer. So, if you can hear the transformer you should be able to hear drumming...now it's just a matter of the volume. I've verified via rangefinder that I can hear drumming at least 75 yards. As others, when I first started turkey hunting I heard drumming but didn't know what it was...leaving some birds I'm sure. Now I concentrate to hear it.

I can always hear them spit but the drumming is so hard to hear..

I can't hear the spit unless they're really really close, the drum i can hear from quite a ways away. Probably 100 yards or so.

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At one time I could hear both the spit and drum but hearing loss due to military service has changed that.  My ears ring ALL the time now.  Not sure I could hear it at this point in my life.  I am positive I will be a good candidate for hearing aids down the road. :(

I can hear it well... Not able to tell where it's really coming from in most cases. It's almost like I feel it more than hear it, if that makes any sense.  Definitely hunted with others who never can hear it but it seems like most can, as long as they are listening for it.

My 23 yr old son can pick it up, i'm 59 and no longer can.

I have never heard either sound which prompted this question. Is the sound unique to species or all they all the same regarding producing the sounds?

The best way I can tell someone to hear it and know what it is is two ways. The way I first heard it and knew what I was hearing was I had a gobbler well within shotgun range and felt pretty confident that he was taking a ride with me, so I told myself to hold off shooting and make a conscious effort with my ears to see if I could pick up any kind of "noise" while he was strutting and in close range as he was. When I made myself "focus" on listening for this noise I could hear it and it's like a light went off that that was the drumming sound and I've been able to hear it/pick it up from distances since then. I guess because I "knew" what to listen for from that in-field experience.  The other way to Atleast get "exposed" to the sound of drumming is watch a video either with EarPods in or over a surround sound/sound bar whatever, at home with speakers that will pick up and amplify bass, just like a surround sound home system will do and if you find a video with a bird strutting or YouTube Turkey drumming the subwoofer and surround sound will pick up that drumming sound and make it MUCH more noticeable than just watching the video over regular tv speakers. This way will Atleast let you hear it so that you have a general idea of how low the tone can be and exactly what it will sound like to be listening for in the woods.

I've only heard it once and I was maybe 10 yards.

I've heard some birds can do it louder then others.

I was doing some hunting in Wisconsin late season, so I'm sure that bird new to keep quiet and drum instead. As I was leaving the area about 10 yards to my left in the thicker woods I heard a spit and drum. Too late, my reaction to it did me in.

Yea I can't hear it.


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You're not missing anything

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I've heard it a few times in the past.......always in back of me and with bad results..now I can't hear nothing , but you never think you are in a bad spot.. ;D

When I first started hunting, I thought it was some farm kid way off in the distance playing with subwoofers.  Since it's so bass heavy, I can't tell which direction it's coming from, but I can hear it LONG before I can hear the higher pitched spit.  It will wake me up from a nap.

Quote from: fallhnt on February 17, 2021, 07:03:57 PM
You're not missing anything

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100% not true. Now that I've heard it I realize it's No telling how many turkeys I've spooked by moving and whatever that I didn't hear drumming and not see them. What you are missing, is an opportunity to try to pinpoint and incoming bird that's gone silent or whatever the situation may be but if he's coming in and strutting he's more than likely drumming as well and with a proper setup where he can't see you and is searching you may heard the drumming before you actually see him and you have them Atleast pinpointed or acknowledge that there is a gobbler REAL close. I've killed a bird that I got set up on and he went silent and after several several minutes of silence I heard the drumming and began trying to pick him out with my eyes. Bird never gobbled coming in and only strutted and drummed and had I not been able to hear the drumming I never would have been so intently focused on that area trying to spot him

Quote from: fallhnt on February 17, 2021, 07:03:57 PM
You're not missing anything

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Hardly. When you hear the drumming, he's close. For those of us with impaired hearing that means take the safe off super close.

This is what I wrote last summer in another thread about drumming:

QuoteFor me, its much less hearing the drumming, and more becoming aware of the drumming. Like its suddenly everywhere around me. Its not like you hear a gobble - and think that's a gobble. Or hear a whipper-will - and think that's a whipper-will.

I just suddenly become aware I'm immersed in the drumming vibration. And that's when the adrenaline dump happens because I KNOW he's close, super close, my rational thinking brain turns off, and I too often do something stupid, like move my head to try and pinpoint him.

If I'm hearing drumming, I'm having a good day in the spring woods.

Quote from: fallhnt on February 17, 2021, 07:03:57 PM
You're not missing anything

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I think when you hear a bird drum it's more exciting than a gobble because it's so hard to pinpoint. You know he's close but you don't know where.

I haven't heard it in years. When I was younger I would hear it once or twice each season. Even on the video's when they say "the drumming is deafening" I can't hear it. Doesn't exist anymore for me and my hearing isn't all that bad. I can hear a gobble when lots of others can't. I guess its just that particular frequency.

Quote from: Happy on February 12, 2021, 06:17:32 PM
Certain people hear different frequencies better than others. I have tinnitus pretty bad but I can still pick up the spit better than the drum.

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You aren't the only one......it seems that when I get in the woods my tinnitus is even worse because it's so quiet. My hearing tests are starting to look pretty bad as I age. 

I used to hear it when I first starting turkey hunting in my teens.  However, after many years of shooting guns with no ear protection, dirtbikes, chainsaws, a radio for work blaring in my ears for years, I'm lucky to hear the tick tick anymore, even under 30 yards.  I even struggle with gobbling.  And I'm only 41.

I did hear one spitting and drumming last year before I shot it, and that was the first one in years.  The funny part is I hear grouse drumming exceptionally. 

Turn 37 in a month, and I can still hear drumming well.  Somewhere in the 75-100yd range in the woods.
I can hear that, but for some reason, most of the time I can't hear my wife 10ft away.

Quote from: vt35mag on February 19, 2021, 10:36:54 AM
Turn 37 in a month, and I can still hear drumming well.  Somewhere in the 75-100yd range in the woods.
I can hear that, but for some reason, most of the time I can't hear my wife 10ft away.

Sounds like to suffer from close proximity hearing loss.   Here is a cure that doesn't require an RX.  Have her walk a hundred yards away and see if you can hear her.   If not have her walk another 100, and so on and so on. I have a feeling once you do that exercise you will be able to hear her loud and clear.   

Quote from: guesswho on February 19, 2021, 10:50:44 AM

Quote from: vt35mag on February 19, 2021, 10:36:54 AM
Turn 37 in a month, and I can still hear drumming well.  Somewhere in the 75-100yd range in the woods.
I can hear that, but for some reason, most of the time I can't hear my wife 10ft away.

Sounds like to suffer from close proximity hearing loss.   Here is a cure that doesn't require an RX.  Have her walk a hundred yards away and see if you can hear her.   If not have her walk another 100, and so on and so on. I have a feeling once you do that exercise you will be able to hear her loud and clear.

:TooFunny:

I've only heard it 3-4 times. About 5 years ago, I had one hang up about 10 yards behind me on a small fallen pine tree. He walked back and forth for 20 minutes 15 of those were very loud. Almost like a hummingbird flying past you. I could see him and tried to inch around every time his tail was blocking for me when he was walking away from me. I never could get a clean shot but it is one of my best memories.