I'm from WNY and had a good season filling both my tags by the first week of the season. However, the birds here reacted strangely. Where normally you would hear birds gobble from roosting like clockwork, silence... I'm not the only one with this observation. Many hunting buds report the same observation—another observation: Birds sighted on trail cams right up to the season start, disappearing completely. I also traveled to upper Michigan and harvested a nice bird there, but had a hard time finding them. But my buds there also had the same issues with birds disappearing. They said during the fall deer season, they saw flocks of good populations, more than they ever saw in the past. They said the hatch was great and winter was very light so the Spring hunt would be ideally great. But their birds also disappeared. Where normally you would see local flocks in town feeding in backyard feeders, gone! One of the best turkey guides in Michigan there lived 5 minutes from our camp and we stopped to "pick" his mind, he was complex himself. No one had an answer...What say you?
Once the winter flocks come together and hen's and gobblers pair up and go in different directions, you will usually have less turkeys in one area, compared to what you were seeing in the winter flocks. Turkeys have an instinct to survive until all are depleted or they are fortunate to have a good survival in a particular area.
Some years turkeys are not as vocal as other years.
A good habitat / food source plays a part also...
IMO ...
Saldu .
Numbers are way down here so are the hunters cny