Went out this morning to listen to some birds on a property close to home. Had one roosted on a field edge by himself. He gobbled for 20 minutes or so on the limb before flying down into the field. He strutted for a moment or so then he began to move. Within 10 minutes he was across the field, up on top of a big ridge where he gobbled for a couple minutes, then across to the next ridge. Was he just lonely and looking for hens? Haven't seen a bird cover that much ground that quickly before. All while gobbling his head off.
Have seen them do it many time while hunting in Mo. I have no idea why?? And I always chase them, several I have managed to get in front of. With them coming and gobbling hard, make a call and they turn and go in a different direction. Who knows why they do what they do ??
A lot of the birds I've seen do this, were two year olds. Others were older birds that had been fooled with to the point that they didn't want any part of a hen call. They would gobble back, but move farther away all the while. Some of the two year old birds would gobble their heads off, but seemed to have no interest in mating whatsoever. I've had them walk right by me, head up on a ridge, over the other side and out of hearing, while gobbling the whole time.
Bob
I see that a LOT. When he folds up and heads for the next field/opening, he'll shut up and march there as quickly as he can. The only chance of getting him is happening to be set up in the cover in shooting range of the spot he crosses, because once he's out in the open, he doesn't budge. He gobbles at calls, but he won't break...with or without decoys.
A lot of times a gobbler will cover a lot of ground trying to gather hens, and showing he's the dominant bird in the area. Most of the time the first bird to gobble of a morning is in most cases the dominant bird. He is covering ground to setup his pecking order and his comfort zone as to say if you come over here looking for my hen's i'm going to kick your butt..Also if a hen yelps back more often and with more excitement shes telling you he the dominant bird nearly every time. He has a reason for covering all this ground as the breeding season is near in most cases.. It doesn't have a lot to do with how young the gobbler is or how old he is it's all about being the dominant bird. People need to understand gobblers and hen's do stuff for a reason it's all about breeding and having babies. That's why GOBBLERS sound off more in the spring time.
Time to run and gun
I've had birds that I nearly had to run to keep up with and actually had to run to try to get ahead of. Made it work a few times, gave up and went looking for another bird a lot of times! You gotta get ahead and sometimes the property just runs out! Sucks!
I'm used to Mississippi birds. When I first hunted Nebraska I could not believe a turkey could cover so much ground .