I have talked to tons of hunters this year in several states. I struggled very much this year especially in my home state. Toughest season at home ever but I also struggled to find callable/gobbling birds in out of state hunts this year. The odd thing is it seems it was very common. more than normal. Obviously we have population issues but I struggled in spots even where i know for fact i was around birds. I am wondering how everyones season went? thoughts?
A few posts that are very similar recently. Weirdest season I have ever had. Same things you just mentioned. Maybe they are evolving" not to gobble". I saw plenty of toms strutting silently. You were not in the minority bro. This was all over the country. Z
Amen here, had to work 10 times harder to carry em home. Birds were there, but gobbling was minimal. Had to get in their "zone", within 100 yards or so to get them to play and commit. Ton's of end of May rain and cold weather have me extremely concerned with poult survival. Time will tell.
I had a mixture, hit gobbling birds and silent birds!
Killed two that came it silent, one was on a day I heard zero gobbles the whole day, weather was very inconsistent which is why I believe things were quiet!
Had many birds responding and not committing but that is pretty normal in my experience.
Still had a great season despite some quiet and frustrating days.
Hunter interference has not improved!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I concur with all the above. It's been several years since I haven't pulled the trigger. However that being said.... I called in 2 separate toms on separate mornings for my GF's grandkids and we were back home by 8am. All nice adult toms. Good thing ... I got to be in the woods alot.
It was a weird season, but it was also a great learning experience. I just had to hunt longer and be patience.
I filled my tags
It was different. I think a lot of it was weather-driven. One of the coldest, wettest, most miserable springs I can recall.
Filled both tags by the first Thursday of season. But a bunch of guys I know who always kill birds....didn't.
Numbers may have been down slightly. But gobbling was down significantly. If I didn't have trailcam intel of what the tom count REALLY was in my area, I'd have really been concerned.
I am really surpised to see how many people had this experience. The things that people are describing are what I experienced last spring (2024).
This spring was one of the best I can remember in a long time. I hunted 24 days between May 1 and May 29. Was a part of 13 successful hunts, all on different days, in those 24 days. Hunted all accross mid atlantic, NY and New England. Definitely heard below average gobbling on the roost, but when we found birds, they gobbled a lot and came to the call.
Sounds like I stumbled into the right place at the right time a bunch this spring. Sometimes better to be lucky than good, I suppose!
Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk
Totally weird year. Some states, they'd gobble at anything. Other states, never heard a bird with plenty of sign in the area. One state I heard two birds in 4 days, tons of sign.
Just strange. I put tons of miles on my legs and vehicle as well. I had a blast but I have to admit it was frustrating at times. With the lack of gobbles and sometimes strange weather. It was also the first year in a long time that I didn't caught in a storm. I don't recall any storms where I hunted this year. And that too seems strange. I'm just now realizing that. So yea, strange weird season.
It was a very weird season for me also. The only constant that happened be fore all three kills was that I was their for long periods of time trying to coax silent birds onto the turkeyless property and my 82 year old mother called me to invite me to a BBQ shortly before I killed each one. I think I'm on to something there. Mom calls, I'm guaranteed a successful hunt!
Last year, was REALLY TOUGH. 2 buddies and I had 6 tags, we hunted 20 plus days each and had 1 shot. This year was 180. One buddy killed 2 in 2 days, done in the first week. I killed 1 the first week and could have been done the first week as well but passed on multiple birds to get more time in the woods. My second buddy didn't get out much because his wife had back surgery. Great season IMO!
Game cameras saved us also. Bird numbers were steady on camera but gobbling not as enthusiastic as in some years. Lots of Jakes which may account for the big boys not talking as much.
Quote from: joey46 on June 05, 2025, 02:50:55 PMGame cameras saved us also. Bird numbers were steady on camera but gobbling not as enthusiastic as in some years. Lots of Jakes which may account for the big boys not talking as much.
I did have a lot of encounters with Jakes that acted and sounded like grown men. Way more than I can ever remember. Not mad about it!
Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk
I hunted 22 mornings and called 16 gobblers into shotgun range (had multiples several times). I called 9 jakes into shotgun range during that same time (none were harmed). I hunted in 7 states. It seemed to be pretty good overall ...definitely messed with some tough won't budge gobblers along the way. I feel like turkeys are on an upswing in most places I hunted.
Opening morning here in NY I came across two toms gobbling on their own around 9 AM. One came home with me. After that was mostly silence. I think I ran into only 4 or 5 other toms in the month's long season.
I agree with what Yoder said above. I know tons of birds are around but they were very quiet. If you didn't know they were around you'd think they were extinct.
Started out with gobbling birds dying in March and ended May 31st with gobbling birds still running to the gun on the last day dying. Just an average year overall, sure there was ups and downs along the way, but always walked away satisfied! Many birds met thier maker along the way.
Idk I thought the season was solid. Only hunted home state 1 day. Birds were responsive but it was first day. Than out of state was fantastic. Kinda took the desire out of me to hunt NY as I was stepping down in a sense but I heard decent gobbling the couple times I was there. I can't tell direction of sound and was alone so idk if they were even on the property I was on or next one but within couple hundred yards.
Killed about the same amount as usual. They definitely acted "off" but they were still killable. Had a few that should have been killed that weren't as well.
For me normal.
But I'm not a traveling go getter.
Idk, but every year it seems as though more and more out of state travelers are complaining about lack of birds. Maybe stay at home and shoot two or three and be satisfied???
Of course bird populations are declining,look in the mirror.
Savor the lives you take. More is not better imo,
maybe it's excessive?
Quote from: Zobo on June 05, 2025, 10:04:45 PMFor me normal.
But I'm not a traveling go getter.
Idk, but every year it seems as though more and more out of state travelers are complaining about lack of birds. Maybe stay at home and shoot two or three and be satisfied???
Of course bird populations are declining,look in the mirror.
Savor the lives you take. More is not better imo,
maybe it's excessive?
I dont turkey hunt because I want to "kill 2 or 3 turkeys". I turkey hunt because I am obsessed with the experience that I only get from hunting turkeys. I would hunt turkeys 365 days a year if I could. Been that way since I was a little boy. I travel out of state to hunt turkeys, because it means I get to hunt more days a year, not because I get to kill more turkeys.
That said, turkeys have been in decline since long before traveling to turkey hunt became fashionable. I think in general, most turkey hunters arent that good at killing turkeys. I hunt a lot of heavily hunted public ground, all over the mid atlantic and northeast every spring. Despite seeing a large increase in hunting pressure since 2020, I hear very little shooting every spring. I do however think these new hunters are very good at pressuring and educating turkeys, causing them to gobble and come to the call less frequently.
Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk
I hunted in KY the second three days of the season there. The birds didn't gobble. Finally found one the last day and got him killed.
The outfitter and his son kept saying it was a weird season. No gobbling hardly. The outfitter said it was like the end of season when the birds went quiet. He said the epic flooding they experienced a couple of weeks before season may have had this effect.
Here locally, they gobbled good early. Tagged out quick so I don't know how the season progressed for anyone else.
I can't really say I have seen many changes in turkey/gobbler behavior around here other than, over the last decade or so, hunting pressure has increased...resulting in more gobblers being taken out of the population...resulting in fewer gobblers "out there" with increasing frequency.
Fortunately, we have had relatively stable reproductive success...which translates into there being a few gobblers around most springs even with the increased pressure and harvest. Of course, I am mostly hunting Merriam's turkeys which are more inclined to gobble than some of the other subspecies.
Bottom line for me is that, if I was going through an entire season without hearing gobbling, I would stop turkey hunting. Turkey hunting without gobbling turkeys would be the end of the attraction of the whole thing for me. ::)
Mixed bag here. I think our drought had a lot to do with what I saw & experienced. A couple places I hunt were extremely dry. Pic below from first week of season. Didn't seem like the birds ever got going. Luckily it's been raining since the end of April, so I still have some hope for a hatch.
My main leased property has good numbers. Great gobbling from January and they're still going. Piles of jakes this year. I called in at least 2 different jakes every single day I hunted. Strangest part of that property was a trio of longbeards I couldn't ever crack. The two lookers would never leave the strutter for whatever reason. Tried different positions, setups, calling, silence, decoys, none, etc. Worked on lots of other birds, just not those 3. The strutter marched straight to a feeder off the roost most days ::) . I won't hunt them around feed so that trio all lived. Luckily other birds there were more cooperative.
Weirdest hunt of the season was on a different property in a different county. Was another property with good numbers that isn't turkey hunted. Had great weather conditions the few days I hunted. Covered almost the entire property several times and did not hear a single gobble on that property the whole trip. Heard multiple birds hammering deep into neighboring properties. Landowner texted me one afternoon and had 9 different toms on different cams that same afternoon ??? . I finally saw one at a distance in a field, so I followed him and his hens and eventually put them to bed. Next morning, not a peep from the whole roost ??? . Ended up killing a good bird mid-morning by going back to that field and just waiting. Had 20 hens and 2 strutters work into the field, and they eventually worked my way. Again, not a peep through the whole thing.
Here's a pic from one of my spots. I've killed birds in that field when it's been knee high in wild flowers. You could have hit a golf ball and watched it bounce as far as you could see :z-dizzy: . I think these conditions had them acting off early on. The property with all the birds and silence wasn't this bad, but it was very dry also. Not sure how they're supposed to eat or nest in that :anim_25: Drought conditions are my "theory of the season" anyways.
(https://i.postimg.cc/d0JXkSMp/IMG-7011.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)