Last two days of the season I was surrounded by turkeys gobbling everywhere but found the only thing I was every able to call up or have a consistent "conversation" with were hens. 6 different hens answered calls consistently. Brought 3 in. One did have a gobbler which I managed to whiff spectacularly on.
But...Very odd to have that many hens yelping back to me.
A lot of the gobblers seamed grouped up, so is that what was happening?
It's very rare for me to hear this many gobbles on the last couple days of the season.
Tried changing up your calling technique?
Still were yelping like on day one?
Just a question
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Gobblers don't gobble much when they have hens with them. Kind of rude to go yelling in their face I guess. Evidently you still have a lot of hens laying and not yet on the nest.
Seems that you may have to hunt late morning after those hens have left ol Tommy alone to go lay.
You conversed with turkeys and fooled them, so I'm guessing your calling is just fine.
My :z-twocents:
I witnessed a lot of the same. More than two gobblers were killed in the presence of hens, and there was also a miss to boot. It was weird to see a large flick with multiple gobblers so late in the season. We did have two days of serious snow in early May. Maybe some hens lost their nests and were trying again. That's just a thought though.
Quote from: Tail Feathers on May 24, 2023, 05:13:07 PM
Gobblers don't gobble much when they have hens with them. Kind of rude to go yelling in their face I guess. Evidently you still have a lot of hens laying and not yet on the nest.
Seems that you may have to hunt late morning after those hens have left ol Tommy alone to go lay.
You conversed with turkeys and fooled them, so I'm guessing your calling is just fine.
My :z-twocents:
There was plenty of gobbling going on, which is why it was so strange. I can understand henned up. I did bump a ton with 2 hens at 12 yesterday. Sadly the season is over now, just don't usually have hens being that responsive.
Quote from: ManfromGreenSwamp on May 24, 2023, 05:02:04 PM
Tried changing up your calling technique?
Still were yelping like on day one?
Just a question
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I did just about everything I could think of on several sets, admittedly I am no turkey hunting or calling prodigy. I had opportunity to work birds, but it was always by pissing off the hens this last week.
The turkeys heard that the DNR moved the season dates back so they did too.
If I was to guess it would probably be your set up location. Gobblers sometimes will not respond unless your in the right location.
TBT syndrome. Turkeys being turkeys for no reason other than being turkeys because they have nothing else to do and all day to to it
It's gobblers communicating among gobblers ... As guesswho said, turkeys being turkeys ...
Is it possible you have slowed the cadence and the yelp itself in your calling and are sounding like a gobbler and attracting hens?
Quote from: Paulmyr on May 24, 2023, 06:52:56 PM
Is it possible you have slowed the cadence and the yelp itself in your calling and are sounding like a gobbler and attracting hens?
Nah.
I did try Jake yelping a bit though to try and get some interest.
Quote from: Jfowler82 on May 24, 2023, 05:37:05 PM
If I was to guess it would probably be your set up location. Gobblers sometimes will not respond unless your in the right location.
We're talking about 20+ set ups. I don't sit long. But yes, that's what I initially thought also.
Quote from: guesswho on May 24, 2023, 06:13:47 PM
TBT syndrome. Turkeys being turkeys for no reason other than being turkeys because they have nothing else to do and all day to to it
I hate when they do that.
Just was wondering if there was a cycle answer like they were starting to regroup for summer or something.
Try some insistent clucking. Being there on the rite day is the key. Call those hens. More the better. Just stay still in their presence.
Well if the hens are talking back then your doing something right ! Sometimes gobblers just won't respond to anything some days .
Next time, go hit them with a fighting purr sequence. A friend of mine on this forum saw 2 Tom's fighting a week ago. With multiple Tom's, a fight challenge just may break one or 2 of them. It's worked for me when nothing else will. Good luck, thx for sharing.....
Similar situation here and I think many have hit on parts of it in this thread. I think that the torrential downpours we had for 3 straight days and cold temps right after killed some nests and those hens are now available to breed again. This is keeping the Toms busy rather than have them cruising solo as they should be. If you have the birds and the patience, I think less changing spots and letting the gobblers come to you is a good bet. Late morning sounds like our best chance here if you dont get a chance at flydown. :z-twocents: Z
Quote from: zelmo1 on May 25, 2023, 06:58:39 AM
Similar situation here and I think many have hit on parts of it in this thread. I think that the torrential downpours we had for 3 straight days and cold temps right after killed some nests and those hens are now available to breed again. This is keeping the Toms busy rather than have them cruising solo as they should be. If you have the birds and the patience, I think less changing spots and letting the gobblers come to you is a good bet. Late morning sounds like our best chance here if you dont get a chance at flydown. :z-twocents: Z
Sadly the season is over.
I didn't really mention it, but a lot of the hens were very vocal also. But the gobblers were really ignoring them also and talking to each other it seemed....and the solo ones were definitely henned up.
You're right though I do move too much. I don't have patience enough to sit and stare at empty woods though.
Thanks for your input.
This is what my buddies and I talk about every year since we are Retired and hunt every day during our month-long season. With most of the breeding done (75% or better) by our opener, we see gobblers with hens most mornings hoping to get lucky, especially off the roost. When the hens move off to lay their egg for the day, we will get some mid-morning action, or a 2-year-old will come our way. As the season progresses and the hens feed and head back to set on their nests, the Gobblers and jakes will group back up, and we know our season is coming to a close. The gobblers will gobble at your calling but normally won't come because they expect that lone hen to go to them for breeding. As others have said, you have to change your calling tactics or be right where they want to be (In Their Bubble) to fill that tag or tags. What we have found is as the season progresses the turkeys will move and don't follow that early season pattern, so YOU have to SCOUT and be where they want to be not where they were the first week or two. Change tactics, change your calling and Scout hard will put birds in front of you. This is why we enjoy this Sport so much, it's hard to match wits with a walnut sized brain that only has 2 things on its mind, SURVIVAL and propagating the species.
Quote from: bbcoach on May 25, 2023, 11:03:50 AM
This is what my buddies and I talk about every year since we are Retired and hunt every day during our month-long season. With most of the breeding done (75% or better) by our opener, we see gobblers with hens most mornings hoping to get lucky, especially off the roost. When the hens move off to lay their egg for the day, we will get some mid-morning action, or a 2-year-old will come our way. As the season progresses and the hens feed and head back to set on their nests, the Gobblers and jakes will group back up, and we know our season is coming to a close. The gobblers will gobble at your calling but normally won't come because they expect that lone hen to go to them for breeding. As others have said, you have to change your calling tactics or be right where they want to be (In Their Bubble) to fill that tag or tags. What we have found is as the season progresses the turkeys will move and don't follow that early season pattern, so YOU have to SCOUT and be where they want to be not where they were the first week or two. Change tactics, change your calling and Scout hard will put birds in front of you. This is why we enjoy this Sport so much, it's hard to match wits with a walnut sized brain that only has 2 things on its mind, SURVIVAL and propagating the species.
Thank you, this was the reply I was looking for.
I got in real close and maybe would've gotten it done if a hen didn't creep up on me while I was setting up.
The behavior is just a new one for me so I was curious what caused it. I think unlike many states we had a very good breeding cycle in MD that had them on a new routine.