The Louisiana hunting thread got me to thinking about what folks consider "a lot of turkeys" when some folks mentioned parts of that state holding "a lot of turkeys."
Growing up as a kid in southeast Louisiana, there were times I thought we had a lot of turkeys. If we heard more than one bird gobble in a morning, that was a big deal. I have been fortunate, as an adult, to have lived and traveled to areas of the country that really do have " a lot of turkeys". I never will forget the first time I beheld a fall flock in Missouri that pushed 100 birds.
Obviously, my question is going to vary from area to area and that is precisely the point. So, what I am interested in knowing is what you all consider "a lot of Turkeys" where you live.
I know that I am very much looking forward to this Spring, as one of the properties that I hunt was holding a flock of 18 adult toms this fall.
If I hear 4 birds gobbling on the roost I consider that a lot of turkeys where I am.
I consider one gobbling bird enough, two or more is a lot.
I do get to hunt one place in Kentucky where we may hear a dozen gobbling turkeys at one time. Can't get to all of them but you can hear them. In Alabama I hunt one place about twice a year and there's a chance you may hear 5-7 in a morning.
Recently a lot of turkeys here in the Southern Tier of NY = 3-4 birds gobbling, that is a lot IMO. If we are talking about #'s in general (not just gobbling), flocks of 20-25 get my vote for being a lot (although about 3 years ago in the fall, I had a flock of about 60 birds come through while deer hunting).
I would consider consistently hearing more than 3 or 4 to be a lot now days in SW Mississippi and SW Alabama. In the early and mid 90's that was the norm, but with the pine jungles I hunt now hearing 3 or 4 would get me vey excited in those states. I guess it depends property to property as well, I hunted great ground and I've hunted poor ground within a couple miles of one another and there is a night to day difference.
Two gobblers in front of me is a lot when I only have one tag.
Being surrounded by gobbling birds is heaven and that's happened a couple of times.
I grew up in Western OK. It was nothing to see up to 500 birds in a winter flock. Bachelor groups of 50 to 100 gobblers was commonplace. Once spring hit, they spread out over a several mile area.
Gman
I would consider "us" having a lot of turkeys, in the last 12 years (where I live now) have put down 161 birds! I am hunting 20-25 days a spring and "exceed our state average success rate :) " have had years from a low of 10 to a high of 21! Fall/Winter flocks on the farm (200 acres) will exceed 100 birds in the cows feed lot, these big groups are hens and young of the year. Right now the big gobbler flock is 15 and most gobbler flocks are 7-8. I live in a (hardwoods area 40%) mixed in with grain farms/dairy & beef farms in the mix and some pretty hilly bluff country right on the Mississippi River. I hunt a number of same type farms with same numbers, best I had ever seen was a flock of 52 longbeards, had a late winter storm and they were feeding out of an Ag Bag, well over 200 birds there at the time. Of course this all winter flock talk but we hold plenty of birds thoughout the spring season.
MK M GOBL
If I hear 5-7 I think that's a lot. I used to hear that many commonly but with our population decrease I'm lucky to hear 1 or 2 Anymore.
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If I can hear more than two birds from any of my listening spots a consider it a good day. The farms around here tend to hold a few more birds than the publication lands I hunt in md. Wv is a little better and my best day ever I heard 7 birds at daylight. My jaw almost hit the ground. Typically always hear around two or three around there.
30 birds per 1000 acres is a lot in the mid-west
I live on what we consider a mountain here at 2,000 feet. There's a field on the very top a couple hundred yards from my house, with a telephone pole in the middle of it. From that pole, I can hear birds for a good distance on both sides of our road, across a big valley to our north, and on a series ridges roughly 3/4 of a mile to the west.
I've sat under that pole many mornings before season to get an idea of what was going on and there have been times in the past when I've heard as many as 12-15 birds all gobbling at once. I may be wrong, but I've always figured that for every bird I could hear sounding off, there was at least one that wasn't.
The road I live on is a mile long with big fields/hedgerows the length of it on both sides, and hardwood ridges beyond the fields. I can see most of the open ground along the road from the pole I mentioned, and at times with binoculars I've counted 8-10 different Toms in these fields at the same time. That's not counting what birds were back in the woods, and way more hens than Toms out in the open ground. From what I've seen here in over 30 years of hunting, I consider that a lot of birds for this area.
Unfortunately, our birds have been declining in recent years and over last winter the population dropped to a low that I've never seen before. The fields and ridges that held all those birds at one time were virtually empty this past spring. Our DEC is currently doing a study to try to figure out the reason behind it and I wish there was some way I could help. On the upside, I did see a few hens and some poults this past summer and fall, and what looked like a couple two year old birds crossed the road in front of me about a mile and a half from home the other day, so I'm hopeful.
Bob
I've hunted ground in VA where you could hear anywhere from 8-20 gobblers standing in one spot on a particular morning. I've hunted ground where hearing 4-8 was a lot.
I've hunted in Wyoming where it was nothing to hear 15+ gobblers standing in one location.
I hunted a spot in Oswego county New York where it was standard to hear 5-10 in a morning.
I hunted a spot in Kentucky where it was standard to to hear 5+ gobblers in a morning.
I've hunted in Nebraska where it was standard to 20+ in a morning and literally watch 12 different gobblers pitch out of a roost with 35+ hens.
And then I've hunted all over the south east where I'm just happy to hear 1 or 2.
All ground is not created equally but in my mind, from my personal experiences, a lot of turkeys is defined as a farm that on an average morning will reveal in excess of 6+ birds gobbling on a high pressure, cool temp, early spring morning.
I've stood in one place and heard 20 or 21 distinct birds gobbling. That's a lot of turkeys. Now I've saw winter flocks of Rios that went around 300 birds that's a lot too. Now what I what to know is how to find the place called Everywhere. You know the place that people talk about where so many of the turkeys live. The one where people always say " there are turkeys everywhere ". Every time I look for it I can't find it.
The US Senate
In the places I hunt, if I hear 5, that's a lot.
One place I hunt it used to be nothing to hear 5 or 6. Now I'm lucky to hear 1. Another place had a treeline along a ditch that seperated two properties. It was about 200 to 250 yards long. The first morning I hunted it with a friend I swear the whole treeline gobbled. He said with a shakey voice, I thought you just saw two birds yesterday evening, how many was that? I replied, I can't count that high. It's dwindled there now too. About 3 birds is a good morning there now.
Last spring I heard 11 different gobblers on the first day...all from one listening spot. They are doing terrible population wise in my area of East Texas but thriving on my leased land.
I can say the same as most guys on here. About 8-10 years ago I would hear in upwards of a dozen on the roost while hunting the Eastern Shore of Maryland. They would even sound off throughout the morning. Can't say the same here recently but my question would be are predator numbers up causing these birds to adapt to them not sounding off in risk of becoming a meal for a coyote?
Quote from: Hooksfan on January 27, 2016, 11:13:10 AM
The Louisiana hunting thread got me to thinking about what folks consider "a lot of turkeys" when some folks mentioned parts of that state holding "a lot of turkeys."
Growing up as a kid in southeast Louisiana, there were times I thought we had a lot of turkeys. If we heard more than one bird gobble in a morning, that was a big deal. I have been fortunate, as an adult, to have lived and traveled to areas of the country that really do have " a lot of turkeys". I never will forget the first time I beheld a fall flock in Missouri that pushed 100 birds.
Obviously, my question is going to vary from area to area and that is precisely the point. So, what I am interested in knowing is what you all consider "a lot of Turkeys" where you live.
I know that I am very much looking forward to this Spring, as one of the properties that I hunt was holding a flock of 18 adult toms this fall.
Depends. I grew up in central Missouri and did not know we had "a lot" of turkeys, but I think we did. Just about any morning I could work multiple birds. now that I'm in southeastern Louisiana, well, that just has not been the case. I heard two birds all season and killed one of them!
Now, when I lived in Washington, I was blown away by how many turkeys there were! I counted 240 in one field in the fall.
when i was deer hunting my place this year i counted roughly 30 birds out in the field feeding.but with that said i dont think they are there year round so id say if i call in 2-3 gobblers thats alot