I know this happen all the time just not to me lol... first time in 30 years I've havent heard a gobble in 2 week ends of turkey hunting... anybody else experiencing this or is it just me???
I'm in western Va. Heard at least one Gobbler, every day, the first six days of the season.
Since then I've hunted six days and not a peep. It's tough out there right now.
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Yea I'm not hearing anything on the roost either... hoping this week end I hear something!!! Thanks for the feedback
In Virginia I have been hunting places where I heard birds before the season and have been 8 mornings so far and only heard gobbles 3 out of the 8 hunts. Its frustrating but you never know what your going to hear until you go out there so I will just keep at it, eventually they will fire up on a morning when I am in the woods
Great way to keep things positive...good luck!!!
I'm m in Wisconsin, this last week birds were very reluctant to gobble for my son's season. The birds we were hunting had hens with them and they (the hens) didn't seem like they were in any hurry to leave the strutting Toms.
I finally used a fighting purr on my slate to get a fired up old dominant hen to come hunt us down in the woods. She hung out clucking and yelping for a while. After she wandered out of sight I got on my box call and also my diaphragm call and called very loudly and aggressively. A Tom answered the box and started gobbling occasionally. This actually drove the old hen off. I'm thinking she went to him, at any rate she left us. I went back to a fighting purr and eventually after about 10 minutes called the harem of hens in. They dragged two long beards and two jakes with them. A Total of four hens led the parade. My kid made a solid shot on the biggest Tom. It was a very exciting suspenseful nerve wracking hunt lol.
Not sure if you can take anything away from this but maybe your birds are breeding hens at the moment?
Maybe call to the girls if you already aren't and try to build some excitement. Good luck
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It was tough the first 4 days that I hunted down there, I got on birds but never really crossed paths with a "fired up" one.
I will concede to residents with more knowledge of the area and trends, but my guess from observation and my talks with other hunters would be a combination of factors.
1. Wet and cool spring so far has resulted in not many hens nesting yet, which leaves them with the gobblers for much more of the day
2. Last years poor hatch resulted in low number of jakes, not only do you lose out on the jakes gobbling but I think constant peskiness of jakes keep gobblers more vocal with their hens
3. Hunting Pressure, less birds available means more hunters will concentrate on the few vocal birds resulting in shot or pressured birds.
I am hoping to get back mid-season and see if any of the birds left have warmed up a bit, all day hunting helps if you can swing it once it opens. I know while I was scouting those first few days I heard birds gobbling on their own in the middle of the afternoon.
I have only hunted one day of regular season and had a youth out on Sunday so I can't say for sure what the issue is. I have heard birds both days but they have been covered up in hens so they tend to quiet down pretty quickly. It has always been my experience that gobbling dies off fairly quickly once season opens. However it will start to pick back up later in the season as pressure lessens and hens start nesting. Our spring is actually more " normal" than the last two years which put us in the "pre-rut" phase when gobblers were a little more vulnerable and some hunters got spoiled. We dont have a great hen to gobbler ratio so most birds have company and dont need to make much noise. It can be frustrating but the best is yet to come.
Thanks guys for the reason reply's!!! I feel a little better about next week
Quote from: Happy on April 29, 2019, 02:04:52 PM
I have only hunted one day of regular season and had a youth out on Sunday so I can't say for sure what the issue is. I have heard birds both days but they have been covered up in hens so they tend to quiet down pretty quickly. It has always been my experience that gobbling dies off fairly quickly once season opens. However it will start to pick back up later in the season as pressure lessens and hens start nesting. Our spring is actually more " normal" than the last two years which put us in the "pre-rut" phase when gobblers were a little more vulnerable and some hunters got spoiled. We dont have a great hen to gobbler ratio so most birds have company and dont need to make much noise. It can be frustrating but the best is yet to come.
Totally agree with that last sentence......both parts.
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I've hunted 8 days of Maryland's season so far, Allegany/Garrett Counties. Aside from an action packed opening morning things have been slow at best. I've not heard a gobble on 4 of those 8 hunts with 3 of them being all morning long and totaling 18 miles on the boots. These are areas where I was walking on fresh sign. 5 miles this morning to hear 1 gobble from a bird that wasn't huntable and 3 gobbles from a bird who was a long ways off and never made a sound again as I moved closer. I'm ready for May. Seems May has produced more birds and bigger birds for me the last 5 years.
I hunted everyday since opening day, I was lucky enough to hear at least 1 gobble everyday. But out of those 11 days only 2 of the days produced ground gobbling. Both days birds died. I did have a bird fire up yesterday morning behind my house around 10am. I through on my camo and grabbed the gun, got set up and after only 2 series of calls a hen came right to me and when she couldn't find me she went right to the Gobbler. I have seen this Gobbler a handful of times and he always has a hen. So to find him by himself has me thinking that the hens are finally starting to sit on the nest. I think it's getting ready to get good over the next few weeks. Also I'm in southern Maryland
Definitely hens here. I have been on a gobbler since 7:30 this morning and no closer to killing him now than I was then. 3 times I have been within 80 yards of him and just 20 minutes ago I had him within 60. His old lady ain't having none of it though. Just took a 5 minute cussing from her and they are headed the other way once again. He has gobbled probably 20 times or so but he isn't going anywhere without her.