Turkey Season 25 thoughts

[Bowguy]

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.

[Happy]

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.

[Zobo]

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?

[BullTom]

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?

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.

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[Tail Feathers]

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.

[GobbleNut]

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.   

[Rio Bandito]

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 . 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  Drought conditions are my "theory of the season" anyways.

[Ol Timer]

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.

Same in my area in SJ. Agree on everything you said.

[TrackeySauresRex]

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.

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!

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I was after em a good bit this year as well over 20 day. Same issue with me on several properties in 3 states. Jake's, Jake's, and more Jake's. I did get a Tom. I was in the game every day except for the last couple of rainy days in Ny.
Overall a great gobbling season.

[Brian Fahs]

I had a great season. Tagged out in 3 states and got humbled in one more.

Very grateful for the opportunity to hunt these birds each spring.

[HookedonHooks]

Turkeys being difficult and/or weird seemed to be nearly nationwide this year in my travels and talks with locals of those places. The weather in most places was not normal, early heat spells followed with late cold and wet stretches could result in a bad hatch. There were piles of jakes and lower gobbler numbers just about every where and I felt that was a contributing factor to the hunt experience in some places this spring for sure.


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[vt35mag]

Killed two in VT and two in NY (only traveling I did).  Also called in two for my dad and one for my grandfather.  Season was hard, but not the toughest.  Believe we didn't have a lot of adult gobblers around, and the ones we did have were pretty well covered up in hens.  Only two of the seven killed didn't have hens around.

[Prospector]

I concur. Around birds. Not as much gobblin and most of that roost. Did get on one late that answered well, but still didn't just " run to the gun". Almost every bird required some level of " out terraining" them to get them to my "magical, mythical" range....