I think a lot of it has to do with breeding instinct, but several factors must be present too, such as mentioned above....food, cover, etc. As the days begin to lengthen and the breeding season nears, the gobbler flocks begin to split and the fight over who rests atop the pecking order intensifies. So, that also determines where the gobblers gravitate to. Some stick around close and take their place as either the dominant or subordinate, while others may travel a good distance to find their place in the pecking order for that area. That's why as a rule of thumb I always assume that I am hearing only about half of the gobblers gobble that are actually in the area. Regardless, a gobblers main focus during spring is to breed, and depending on availability of food eating may take a backseat at times, thus you sometimes see gobblers with low weights at end of season. In my opinion though they are going to gravitate to the areas that hens prefer to be, which in most cases are areas that provide suitable nesting cover and food.
