Can anyone else just not hear drumming? I for one have listened to several sound clips. Been on birds that my buddies said drummed (in close quarters) and I just can't hear it.
I have some hearing loss and I can't hear it.
Most hearing loss is at higher frequencies. Drumming is at a very low frequency. Think sub-woofer.
it's a very deep sound and it took me a couple years hunting before I heard one drumming. Some birds just don't make much drumming sound at all, others I can hear from a distance before I even see the bird.
I have some high frequency hearing loss (mostly in my left ear). I'm sure it's from blasting away with shotguns in my younger years in a duck blind and a dove field and the two stroke motorcycles probably didn't help. Seems like they told me I even have a little low frequency loss. I can, however, hear drumming. The first time I heard it back in about 91, I didn't recognize it in all the excitement until after I'd already killed the tom. Then it dawned on me.....what was that humming noise that was so loud..........Ahhh..that was drumming. You can almost feel it as much as hear it.
I've had strutters that came in that didn't do it, but it seems that the majority of the time a strutter comes in...........I hear him drumming before I ever see him. Are you sure that you just don't know what you are listening for?
Hobbes that could very well be possible. I've had it explained to me before and imagined what it would sound like but have ever heard it.
I have a constant ringing in my right ear and I can still hear it. I can actually remember the first time I heard it. It was very intimidating, but I knew what it was (saw it on a Primos video and heard my dad talk about it).
I was hunting in N Arkansas with my dad, I couldn't have been more than 14 years old. My dad was the kind that didn't "give instructions". He just kinda said, "go that way, there is usually something there". Well, this particular day, there were 3 gobblers running together. I was running a Primos Freak slate call (yea, it is embarrassing but I was a kid). I got on their same level because I had heard dad tell stories about that when he killed birds. I purred, clucked, yelped, cackled, fighting purred, and I might have even done a fly down cackle....as I have already stated, I was young. Next thing I knew, the race was on. They were literally racing up that hill to see what this hot little hen was talking about. All 3 of them were hammering, spittin, drumming, and I was FROZEN. I'm talking can't move, shaking like a fat girl trying to twerk. Well, I did finally shoot one when they spotted me, my deeply rooted killer instinct came out. That was my first gobbler. (Killed my first Jake @ 12 by myself). I still go back to that frozen little kid when I hear it....but I can find that trigger a little easier.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQDSrIUaQ2U - Video Tube for YouTube - iPhone/iPad
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The first time I heard it, I heard it and didn't know what it was. A guy had taken me to show me the ropes, and I had only hunted a couple seasons prior to that. When had been circling a gobbling bird all morning, and at our last setup he was really fired up and really close. I never did see the bird, and he went quiet for 10-15 minutes. My friend was behind me calling, so at this point he crawled up and asked what happened, because the bird had been so close gobbling he expected me to shoot. As I was explaining that I'd never seen the bird, he said we don't need to go anywhere I can hear him drumming right now.
For me it was one of those things that once you hear it and know what it is, you can pick it out and there is no mistaking it. We didn't kill the bird I mentioned above, but as we were making our way back towards the truck we ran into a bird gobbling. We made a quick setup and he began to call. I thought the bird would approach to our left because there was a fence only a few steps away, and I thought he was on the other side of it. My friend was sure it would come up in front of us or slightly to the right. I trusted his instinct because he knows more about turkeys than I probably ever will, and I was looking down my barrel in the direction he suggested. Shortly I heard that unmistakable drumming noise that I'd just learned not 20 minutes ago, and I knew he was close. I peaked out of the corner of my eye, and there he stood just on the other side of the fence like I had predicted. I was able to spin and shoot him. I'll never forget that hunt, because a sound that wasn't registering with me was incredibly noticeable only twenty minutes later. I really believe that if it wasn't for my earlier experience I wouldn't have killed that second bird. Since then I have had no trouble hearing it, and I sure love it when I do!
I've only heard it a handful of times. The first time was on the first tom I'd ever killed. It flew in and landed right beside us. He spit, drummed and put on a show for a good solid minute and a half before anxiety got the best of me and I let him have it. Shot a bird a couple years ago that was drumming while on the limb. Heard a bird gobble way before daylight. Wouldn't gobble again so I just slipped into the woods thinking he was across the field. I'd never hunted the place before and ended up setting up about 20 feet away from the tree he was in. He flew down into the neighboring field about 70 yards away and came right back to me. The last one was when Happy and I were hunting together he'd called 2 birds in and they were getting quite close. Put on a decent show up until he shot his bird and I "whiffed" on mine. Man he was upset. I didn't care personally as it was fun to just be there but that fella genuinely wanted me to get a bird as well. Ended up getting him later in a field as we headed back to the truck but not how I really wanted to do it. Now, I plan to make the game a much closer event these days. Hopefully anyway.
I hear the spit better than the drum everytime, its a cool thing to experience though
I can't hear spitting and drumming any more unless they're almost on top of me and I miss it. The direction of a distant gobble can fool me too. Please don't take good hearing for granted and don't scoff at the idea of using hearing protection when shooting or working around loud noises. :z-twocents:
They're not loud sounds to begin with and It's not hard to miss them from any distance at all unless you're really tuned to them.
Bob
My son wouldn't have killed the first bird we killed last weekend on a Youth hunt if I hadn't heard the bird drumming. I tried to get my son, who has much better hearing than me, to hear it and he said he never did hear it, but he also knew that if I told him there was a turkey right behind the cedar in front of us that he better be ready to shoot it.
Quote from: C.Kimzey95 on April 08, 2016, 12:06:49 AM
Hobbes that could very well be possible. I've had it explained to me before and imagined what it would sound like but have ever heard it.
Are you a fairly new turkey hunter? If so, I'd say that you probably just haven't recognized the sound yet. If you've been hunting turkeys for a while now then I'd say it's due to some hearing issue.
Its a difficult sound to explain. Like i said, I can almost "feel" it as much as hear it. A similar sound is made by hummingbird wings (sort of). Can you hear their wings?
I worry about my own hearing and do what I can to protect it nowadays. My son will hear a tom gobble when I can't, but I still had to point out drumming to him. He recognizes it now, but he's up to about 7 years experience now. My youngest heard it for the first time last year.
In almost 25 years of chasing these things in the spring I heard my first strutting gobbler spitting last year but I could not hear him drum. I just think some can hear it and some cannot.
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It all depends on the situation for me. I have heard it on occasion but usually don't. I have a friend of who cannot hear a turkey walking in the leaves 30 yards away but can hear drumming long before the bird shows up. His hearing is not that good but how he hears drumming is beyond me.
Hell, one day he told me we had a bird drumming and coming in and to get ready. No gobbling whatsoever and it was in 30+ mph winds. Two minutes later the bird was dead at 20 yards.
I have heard it, but not often. I always tell beginners that I feel it more than hear it. On one of those YouSpace videos, I had a hard time hearing it though.
I was walking the road back to my truck one day and coming to a bend in the two rut road and heard, beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind, a turkey spit. Had not heard a gobble all morning, but was sure it was a turkey spit. There were some large palmettos around the corner and he had to be close. Still had my mouth call in. I immediately squatted into a sitting position, Indian style, in the middle of the road. Brought my gun up and clucked. He absolutely hammered when he gobbled he was so close. If I had not known he was there I would have probably messed my self. This story would be much better if he cleared the palmettos for a shot, but he did not. He kept going (after tracking later, he had already passed where I was) and would not back track, even 30 yards.
I have a hard time hearing low talkers with deep voices and suspect I have some low range hearing loss, but have felt it a few times.
I hear them drumming before I see em coming most of the time.
g8rvet, It seems odd to me that I hear it so much considering I have a hard time hearing folks that talk quiet in a low voice, especially if there is any bacground noise.
I've heard birds drumming from much farther than shooting range if it's not windy.
I can hear the spit, but not the drum. May just not be something I've picked up on. This is my 8th year hunting and I've taken 8 birds. I for sure heard the spit on the last one I shot Wednesday. But I didn't give him much time to do anything else :z-guntootsmiley:
I really do believe it's a matter of individual hearing. Like others said, some hear the spit, some the drum, some both, some neither!
Hunting with friends, I sometimes get a chuckle at the "argument" we have at a whisper, when I hear the Pfffffttttttttt- Uuuuuuummmm and I tell my buddy to get ready, and they say "why?" :)
I can hear a bird spit from a long ways away a lot of times but cannot hear a drum to save my life. I have my hearing checked once a year at work and everything is just fine. A buddy that hunts with me can hear one drum and we argue all the time because I tell him he is crazy. Several times we have killed birds that I have heard spit long before seeing them, that he could not hear. I think it just varys from person to person. He swears it sounds like subwoofers in someone trunk.
When I was little and hunted with my dad he could always hear it. I never could. One day I finally heard it, and now I hear them before I see them just about everytime.
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Drumming sounds like a deep humming bird... The spitting sounds like... Well spitting.
Look at this video about 2:20 into in, and you can hear this bird drum (turn the sound up, but beware of the gobbling).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQDSrIUaQ2U&nohtml5=False
I never heard it for a long time, till I realized what it was. I have some hearing loss, but can still hear some birds drum for a long ways off (100 yards under the right conditions). Now I hear humming birds and start looking for turkeys...
Here is a commercial for a drumming gobbler call (which sounds nothing like a drumming gobbler to me), but the beginning of the video there is a great example of a bird drumming. Turn up the sound and listen to this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKfgnfIiPdQ
I can hear both of those examples, but barely. With speakers way up.
That is odd Hobbes. I heard a hen sneak up behind me this morning, all she did was purr and I thought "That is a hen, no doubt". A little but later she got close enough to hear well and then she clucked too. Then she was about 10 yards from me. I have actually heard a spit while walking two different times. Froze in my tracks because I knew what it was. Only heard drumming a handful of times, with some of the birds less than 15 yards from me that I could not hear. The best one I ever heard was about 40 yards from me. I am sure, like gobbles and yelps, there is some variation in the frequencies. I am sure some of them were drumming. It just must be a frequency that is hard for me to pick up. I agree, it is odd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSkH45nGuM8
I could start hearing for sure at around 12 Hz. Maybe at 10-11, but would have to be really quiet.
I always heard drumming during spring and thought it was turkeys that was doing the drumming but one time i spotted a Grouse drumming in some pines, so i'm not sure if i can say i've heard drumming.
I hear it before fly down too
Typically I have to be within 60 yards or so to hear drumming. I can hear the spit easier. Course my hearing isn't that great and birds typically sound further away than they really are to me. To much time around heavy machinery.
Quote from: NYlogbeards on April 09, 2016, 03:21:49 PM
I always heard drumming during spring and thought it was turkeys that was doing the drumming but one time i spotted a Grouse drumming in some pines, so i'm not sure if i can say i've heard drumming.
The drumming of a turkey and the drumming of a grouse are two distinctly different sounds. A grouse drums by flapping his wings. This leads to multiple "thumps". A turkey on the other hand sounds (to me) more like a muffled vacuum tube at the bank drive through.
Quote from: wvmntnhick on April 10, 2016, 12:45:34 AM
Quote from: NYlogbeards on April 09, 2016, 03:21:49 PM
I always heard drumming during spring and thought it was turkeys that was doing the drumming but one time i spotted a Grouse drumming in some pines, so i'm not sure if i can say i've heard drumming.
The drumming of a turkey and the drumming of a grouse are two distinctly different sounds. A grouse drums by flapping his wings. This leads to multiple "thumps". A turkey on the other hand sounds (to me) more like a muffled vacuum tube at the bank drive through.
I love that sound Grouse make, sound like someone starting a lawn mower... I've never heard a Turkey drum but I do notice when they spit they also stomp their feet.
I for what ever reason can hear it from a very long ways away. Usually 300 yards if there is no wind.
Quote from: Gooserbat on April 10, 2016, 10:27:49 PM
I for what ever reason can hear it from a very long ways away. Usually 300 yards if there is no wind.
Sir, you got ears of a whitetail :-)
Quote from: Tennessee Lead on April 08, 2016, 12:40:23 PM
I hear them drumming before I see em coming most of the time.
Same for me, I swear that the Missouri gobblers I can hear them from 100yds. And have killed many that never gobbled
just heard the drumming and sat down.
My absolute favorite turkey sound is drumming...you know the game is being played! If you can hear a 60 Hz power transformer at any distance you can hear drumming...about the same frequency; find one that's humming and see how far away you can hear it. When he shuts up that's what I concentrate on. As far as distance, several years ago I ranged a couple gobblers drumming in a field with a hen; they were 75 yds.
The first time I really heard it I never made the connection till he gobbled and scared the crap out of me!!! Since then I can hear it when my other buddies can't. Except one. He's like Gooserbat when he says I hear one it may be a mile away but its there. I've apologized many a morning for calling him liar! lol
There is no other animal noise like it. We all love a thundering gobble in the timber, but when I hear drumming I turn to jello. Nothing is more exhilarating than being in the heavy timber and hearing drumming close to you but you can't see him! People call the first part "spitting" but it sounds more like a very short "chick" sound. The drumming follows and has a unique rhythm to it. I usually hear a low frequency "pulse" followed by a second low frequency pulse, rising in frequency. I also can hear the distinctive sound of wings dragging from a long ways away. I am excited just thinking about it. Listen to the video link that KYFrid posted. If you can't hear the drumming, you may be listening on a computer that has small speakers. Otherwise you may have low frequency hearing loss.
I can hear them spit an drum from a distance usually. but I know people who cant even in close quarters!
I have no problem. In most cases if they are inside 50 yards I can hear it. I've killed turkeys that was sneaking in and not gobbling and all I heard was them drumming.
I have been after turkeys for about 10 years now, and I have never heard one spit or drum. I sit and listen every time I go because I know that a bird can slip in and be strutting behind me or some where. Even after listening to the video link that was provided I could not hear any drumming.
Quote from: 101st501 on April 11, 2016, 10:48:13 PM
I have been after turkeys for about 10 years now, and I have never heard one spit or drum. I sit and listen every time I go because I know that a bird can slip in and be strutting behind me or some where. Even after listening to the video link that was provided I could not hear any drumming.
I know I am kind of late to the party but I wanted to tell you I could not hear anything from the clips provided on my regular computer or phone. But I tried it on a cheap sub/speaker my roommate has and I could hear it clear as a bell....you may be tired of trying to hear it but if you have something that has a good bass system try it one more time
Had a bird in the field with me this morning and could hear him spitting at 120yrds but couldn't hear the drumming.
From the clip I posted. If you can turn the volume up with headphones on you should be able to hear it better.
It's one of those things once you hear it, you'll be able to pick it up a lot more when in the woods hunting. Least that's been the case for me.
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Just the other morning on the youth hunt we had a big bird come in and strut at 10 yards. It was almost impossible not to hear. I have seen birds in close, that I didn't hear anything from, I guess it depends on the bird
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I can hear it in these video examples pretty clearly! I'll be listening for it!