ESTIMATING GOBBLE DISTANCES

[hoyt]

My hearing is so screwed up I'm lucky to hear a gobble much less know where it's coming from and how far off. I've run under the tree gobblers were in several times and on one bird ran under and past him one way and then did it again from the other way.

I can't hear high frequency sounds, right ear drum has a hole in it and have tinnitus (ears ring 24hrs. a day) to boot.

I was sitting 10 foot from my phone and my next door neighbor was out side and yelled at me "Your phone is ringing" I told him it wasn't, but picked it up and it was a relative calling. I then changed ring tones and can hear it now.

[ground control]

If I get excited when he gobbles, he's within ear shot. If the hair stands up on the back of my neck he's probably within sight. If I crap my pants I either better have the safety off or an appointment with the doc.

[Jay]

  Only time I can really tell is when they are less than 50 yards. A lot of good answers, and it is almost impossible to guess distance on this. I've been fooled many times. Had one gobbling overlooking a deep gully, which I figured was around 150 max. As I followed the gully towards him I realized the wind was carrying the sound down the rock gully towards me, and the bird ended up at at least 400 yards from where I started.

[deerhunt1988]

I consider myself pretty good at estimating gobble distances, but I always refer to the topographical maps on my GPS after hearing a gobble and measure the distance on it.  ha. In places like the Missouri Ozarks, I can tell probably 80% of the time which finger of a ridge the bird is roosted in. Here in Mississippi it is a bit harder though as the terrain is not as well defined. What throws me off the most is long,gentle sloping terrain. I hunt one spot in particular where birds roost in a bottom about a 1/4 mile from a road. The entire terrain to that bottom is gently sloping. Early in the season you can barely hear the birds gobbling in the bottom from the road. Once green up occurs, you someones can't even hear them from the road. It is also a lot harder for me to judge distance in bottomland hardwoods early in the season. They are always farther then I first think they are. Once green up occurs in bottomland hardwoods, if I can hear the roll good, I know they are plenty close and to set up immediately.

Now in places like the jungle swamps of Florida, I just can't explain how those gobbles travel. At times I thought I couldn't hear a bird more than 400 yards, and then been proven wrong that same day by hearing one a 1/2 mile. If he is in the thick palmettos, it nullifies the gobble drastically. However as soon as he gets in a cypress dome or large, more open pines, that gobble can travel a long ways.

Either way, a GPS with topo maps has helped me judge distance more than anything.

[bow junkie]

the direction they are facing also palys a part in this. If they gobble facing away from you it will not be as loud as if they were facing your direction.

[flintlock]

" per TreeRooster:

One good way to get a better fix on a distant gobble is to circle in towards it so you hear the next gobble from a different angle. The helps you sort of triangulate the position."

Red Dawn:  WOLVERINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One shot, they know it came from somewhere but not sure.  The 2nd shot and now the jig is up.

Wess

[Passintime]

It's my the hardest thing in tukey hunting for metro do. I always under estimate them..

[Duke0002]

If I know the landscape or likely travel routes, I estimate the distance of the bird by where I think he's standing/walking in the landscape.  Too difficult for me to judge by sound only.

Birds can sure show up in a hurry!

[WFI79]

I hunt Vermont and the trees are usually still bare at the beginning of season (May 1st) but by the end (May 31st) we have full foliage.  This makes a big difference cuz when the leaves are all out and you hear one its usually a lot closer than you think.  I know I'm real carefull when moving in on one not to spook him. When the trees are bare you can hear them a long way off and usually other hunters do too and everyone is moving in at the same time, usually results in a spooked bird.   

[surehuntsalot]

been hunting them for over 30 years and this is still one of the hardest things for me to do