How well do you really think they hear?

[g8rvet]

Boogers break branches and boogers (predators) like to eat turkeys.  Turkeys don't snap branches when they walk.  They know that is danger. 

[greencop01]

Each eye orbit (the hole in the skull the eye is in) is larger than the skull capacity in a turkey. Each eyeball is nearly the size of his brain. This shows you what his main defense is, his sight. He can hear, but not to the level of knowing what tree you're under. They hunt you lookin for a hen, they know the general area you are but not exactly where you are. He'ii see you move before he knows exactly where you are by hearing. Check out Doug Camp's book, he has a good section on this.

[upnorth]

I gotta say, I used to give deer just as much credit about hearing, seeing, and smelling. Of course, after killing plenty of deer that were downwind, or even less than 40 yards away while I was sitting against a small diameter tree on the edge of a field (to include the biggest buck that I have ever seen live), I sometimes wonder just how smart they really are...

As far as turkeys go, I think we can tend to put them up to a higher standard than maybe we should. They are just animals, after all.

I have had dogs start barking when I call and they are a half mile away almost. Deer can hear further. Had like Ravens or Sand Hill cranes at extreme distances make vocal comments when I call(now you know I am good at calling ravens and dogs). I think Turkeys probably can hear certain frequencies at great distances.
The thing like deer,turkey's have other things on their mines much of the time were hunting them. Both would be harder to hunt if romance wasn't on there mine. Also like humans they may be daydreaming half the time and do dumb things.

[Farmboy27]

I always laugh when people say "they can tell what tree you're under". If that is the case then why aren't they all looking right at me when they come in?  And why can you still call when they are in sight and not get busted?  They hear well. So do most other animals. But if they can pinpoint the exact tree I'm at, how is it that they still walk into a camo clad bump at that tree. Most people would be amazed at what you can get away with.

[kdsberman]

I don't doubt their hearing one little bit.  I've experienced some pretty amazing hunts that always left me wondering "how did he hear that?"


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[outdoors]

THEY HAVE SOME AWESOME PERCEPTION ON EVERYTHING BUT SMELLING.........

[milertyme03]

I shot a Tom with in the last half hour of NY's season a few years ago.  The amazing part about the hunt was that were watching him from just under a half mile or so.  Whenever my cousin would make a few clucks or yelps with his box call, I could see the bird stretch his neck out and gobble everytime.  We were able to use binos to work the bird, there was no way we could hear him at that distance but he could hear the smallest cluck. 

Oh yeah, by the end of the whole ordeal, he was gobbling in my ear at about 5 feet with a bush between us and he was loud!!  I had to wait until he got a little farther out, then I stood when his fan was to me and shot him when he spun around.  Amazing hunt!

[ilbucksndux]

I was always told a turkey can hear you thinking and see you change your mind. I have also been told a deer walks through the woods and sees a hunter and thinks its a stump, a turkey sees a stump and thinks its a hunter.  With those things being said I think they associate some sounds with danger,others are just sounds in the woods. You walking through the woods quietly crunching leaves,not such a big deal.........you stomping through the woods breaking sticks not so good.

[g8rvet]

After a hard rain this past Saturday, I walked up on three gobblers feeding on a gallberry bush.  I stepped under a blow down and as I stood up, there they were, about 15 yards away, facing away from me and pecking.  My gun was slung on my shoulder (i was at the end of a 3 mile hike, calling every once in a while, had just called 50 yards back with no answer).  I froze and 2 of them fed across the road and behind a thick bush.  #3 walked right at me.  When he got to 8 steps (with me frozen and standing there like a teenage boy waiting to talk to his prom date's father), he said "that ain't right" and eased off, not in a blind panic, but walking quickly around the bend. No time to unshoulder the gun. 

And I was not wearing a HECS suit  .   

I also was moving on a Tom years ago that was hung up on a creek.  I backed out and was trying to circle him.  I stepped on a branch, probably 150 yards from his position and he never said another word. 

[tha bugman]

amazing how that sucker knows the tree you are sitting in front of and decides to walk behind it and scare you to death....I say that their hearing is good but eyesight...top notch

[Erno86]

I sometimes vary my volume intensity with my mouth calling, by cupping my hand partially over my mouth, in different directions, in order to simulate a hen turning it's head while calling. A tom can pick-up on that type of varying sound.

I've heard that smart whitetail bucks can sense a hunter's presence, just by the hunter's brainwaves concentrating on him --- So much, that I called a radio talk show, that had a couple of ESP guests on live air. I ask them...as me being a deer hunter, how do I stop from broadcasting my brainwaves to a wise old whitetail buck? They told me to think of colors swirling in your mind, which should camouflage your brain waves. Probably...this type of mental attitude works on any type of humanoid from detecting your hidden presence as well --- Be they space aliens or homo sapiens.

[Ihuntoldschool]

His hearing and ability to pinpoint your location to the exact tree is remarkable and if you underestimate this ability you are making a serious mistake. There is a reason we try to "throw" our calls in different directions.  There is a reason we call softer as the gobbler gets closer. There is a reason I want him to think I am 40 yards farther away than I really am.  If you fail to believe or recognize his outstanding ability to pinpoint turkey sounds then you have seriously missed the boat and will not likely catch the next one either.   He is not stupid, he knows real hens move and are not chained to a tree for an hour.   Why does he come to a tree where there is a camo clad hunter?  Simple he is looking for the hen he heard but has not seen, he knows exactly where he last heard her but has enough sense to know she is not chained to that tree he last heard her at.               Just use common sense before you doubt his hearing ability.  Call when he is close enough to see the hen and looking right at you and see what happens.  If you use fake turkeys that does not apply, but I am talking about real turkey hunting done fair and square. 
Warrant 423 has it right.