Gobblers going silent?

[gatortrax35]

I hunt here in north central La. MAN is it ruff. The gobblers, just arent gobbling at all. Tuesday got on one bird. He gobbled for about 30min at daybreak. Wed. cool front and cloudy/rained hard,lightning Weds morning till about 6am. stayed home. THursday nothing(part cloudy, low 48 high 71)tired to go back to that same bird. Drove for miles NOTHING. Stopped every mile or so, nothng. Friday today,went back to same bird, nothing, dead silence. High pressure system, low 48 ,high 80, blue bird sunny day. Didnt hear a bird. Jumped in truck after 45 min. Drove a mile away, nothing, made  different loop , every mile or so stopping listening at every hardwood bottom. NOTHING. Pine trees big hill ridges/then down to hadwood bottoms. NOTHING but crows and birds. Went back to where I started (same gobbler from tuesday/thursday), sat down next to logging rd. Got on box call, and he gobbles 2 hrs after daylight down in hardwood bottom. Gobbled twice, then shut up.
Man this is the only bird Im hearing and im hunt national forest. SEEMS every bird has shut up. BUddy sad he walked up on a hens nest, had 2 eggs in it last friday. I dont understand why we are not hearing gobblers at daybreak. any help please.

[beard collecter45]

sometimes birds shut  up during an overcast day mabye try calling more agressiveley but there still there. Keep tryin 

[Basin_hunter]

They have been pretty tite lipped through out the entire state the last couple weeks from all the reports I have been hearing. The hunting pressure also may have influenced them to shut up also. If you got that bird to gobble mid or late morning, he should be a kill-able bird. Stay after him.   

[open door]

I hunt here in north central La. MAN is it ruff. The gobblers, just arent gobbling at all. Tuesday got on one bird. He gobbled for about 30min at daybreak. Wed. cool front and cloudy/rained hard,lightning Weds morning till about 6am. stayed home. THursday nothing(part cloudy, low 48 high 71)tired to go back to that same bird. Drove for miles NOTHING. Stopped every mile or so, nothng. Friday today,went back to same bird, nothing, dead silence. High pressure system, low 48 ,high 80, blue bird sunny day. Didnt hear a bird. Jumped in truck after 45 min. Drove a mile away, nothing, made  different loop , every mile or so stopping listening at every hardwood bottom. NOTHING. Pine trees big hill ridges/then down to hadwood bottoms. NOTHING but crows and birds. Went back to where I started (same gobbler from tuesday/thursday), sat down next to logging rd. Got on box call, and he gobbles 2 hrs after daylight down in hardwood bottom. Gobbled twice, then shut up.
Man this is the only bird Im hearing and im hunt national forest. SEEMS every bird has shut up. BUddy sad he walked up on a hens nest, had 2 eggs in it last friday. I dont understand why we are not hearing gobblers at daybreak. any help please.

Gator, you must be hunting in Kisatchia Nat'l Forest. I'm just north of ya, in Bienville Parish. I'm experiencing the same thing. I'm kinda new at this, so let me ask - after using the call a while & no response, would a jake gobble call maybe bring an old gobbler to respond? What do you think?

[mountman62]

First thing, the state opened the season toooo early, it should have opened yesterday, second, would you be hitting up on a woman when you have a couple hanging onto you already, the gobblers don't have to say a word, the few that we have been hearing have shut up when their feet hit the ground, had one yesterday that i know had 4 hens go to him, i finally had one respond to calling on thursday only to have to return back to work, my son had a couple respond this morning, ya'll just hang in there, it is fixing to get better, gobblin on a call ain't helped me this year either, i'm in Union Parish

[mountman62]

What about the younger birds?

They won't hardly gobble due to getting whupped by the BIG BOYS, just like at the bars

[open door]

Right, my experience with jakes is they don't gobble, for fear of getting whooped on. They just sneak in, though, and that's where it's helpful to have that hen decoy out.  Three years ago, I had one slip in, and I had to shoot thru a thicket, & hit a small sapling - he ran off but I could tell wasn't scared bad, put another shell in my gun, & here he came back, he was in love with that decoy. I didn't miss that time. Next time you kill a jake, when you clean him, look at all the bruise marks & cuts from being spurred by ole tom. THAT is why they don't gobble before they come in.

[turkey_slayer]

I hunt the national forest here almost exclusively.  I agree with Roy, I go deep and where its rough so I dont have to deal with pressure.  Most of the time though its just henned up birds.  You could have had a bad hatch 2 years ago also and that can cut the gobbling way down cause the 2 year olds are responsible for most of the gobbling.  Your season has been open for a bit so most of those have probably been killed anyways.  

IME pressured turkeys still gobble though.  I've been busted, missed them, and go back the next day and they still gobble and answer a call they are just more reluctant to come in.

One advantage here though is where it is steep, you can get on the ridge tops and hear any bird within a mile on a calm cool morning.  I'm assuming its flat where your at so maybe there are some gobbling but your not hearing them?

Those are just a few possibilities.  By spending a lot of time in the woods like you are doing though you will eventually figure out why they are doing what they are doing.  Good luck and remember it just takes 1 day for the switch to flip and you can be covered up in them  

[Basin_hunter]

Turkey Slayer has a very good point. Normally following bad hatches gobbling is wayyy down. According to the NWTF report Louisiana has suffered several consecutive years of poor hatches. I hunted an area 2 years ago and it was almost impossible not to hear a gobble on the roost, then with the river rising 3 straight years, the hatch was down, then the gobbling became almost nonexistent. The older birds do gobble. Its just to catch them on the right day.

[Tomfoolery]

First off someone already said it. Season should have opened this weekend. Second I'm pretty sure you an I are hunting the same forest. It doesn't take long for the birds to associate that hen with a vehicle. Park your truck and put some miles on your boots. You will be doin yourself and other hunters a service.

[Basin_hunter]

First off someone already said it. Season should have opened this weekend. Second I'm pretty sure you an I are hunting the same forest. It doesn't take long for the birds to associate that hen with a vehicle. Park your truck and put some miles on your boots. You will be doin yourself and other hunters a service.

One bad thing about that forest is there are roads everywhere ! You can't walk very deep in without hitting another road. I had somebody flying down the road off where i was hunting last year and lay on his horn at every bottom he came up on. The bird I was hunting actually started gobbling at it ! But I guess the bird was too far off the road for him to hear it. After opening day it gets very hard to hunt in there with everybody flying down every road and then laying on the box call. Tomfoolery is right, put some miles on them boots.

[Ol'Mossy]

I hunt here in north central La. MAN is it ruff. The gobblers, just arent gobbling at all. Tuesday got on one bird. He gobbled for about 30min at daybreak. Wed. cool front and cloudy/rained hard,lightning Weds morning till about 6am. stayed home. THursday nothing(part cloudy, low 48 high 71)tired to go back to that same bird. Drove for miles NOTHING. Stopped every mile or so, nothng. Friday today,went back to same bird, nothing, dead silence. High pressure system, low 48 ,high 80, blue bird sunny day. Didnt hear a bird. Jumped in truck after 45 min. Drove a mile away, nothing, made  different loop , every mile or so stopping listening at every hardwood bottom. NOTHING. Pine trees big hill ridges/then down to hadwood bottoms. NOTHING but crows and birds. Went back to where I started (same gobbler from tuesday/thursday), sat down next to logging rd. Got on box call, and he gobbles 2 hrs after daylight down in hardwood bottom. Gobbled twice, then shut up.
Man this is the only bird Im hearing and im hunt national forest. SEEMS every bird has shut up. BUddy sad he walked up on a hens nest, had 2 eggs in it last friday. I dont understand why we are not hearing gobblers at daybreak. any help please.

If that is the only gobbler you are hearing hunt him.  What I do when they quit gobbling or slow down is get there a little before daylight and set up. If he only gobbles on the roost then quits when he hits the ground, most likely he has hens with him, or the season is winding down. What I do is cluck three times and then silence for about 20 minutes. I'll do this all morning long or until he comes in. Patience is the key here. He may never gobble he'll more than likely come in silent. Just keep your eyes peeled and gun ready. Try it what do you have to lose?