The turkey "gronk" call...does it exist?

[Tail Feathers]

I say yes.  I had 14 birds fly up right behind me one evening last week in northern TN.  The last bird up uttered two "gronk" sounds a few seconds apart.

Info from a buddy shows there is debate whether turkeys even make this sound.  I'm here to tell you they do.  I have never heard it before but there is no doubt what I heard last week.

Some think it's a deep, gravelly gobbler cluck.  Could be.  Maybe he cleared his throat?  I don't know what it meant, but the mythical "gronk" exists.

Anyone else here ever hear it?

[trackerbucky]

Are you talking about drumming?  The deep boom followed by a humming sound? 

[TauntoHawk]

turkeys especially jakes make all sorts of weird noises, never even heard of a "gronk" but I'm sure you heard something unusual.

[BOFF]

Turkey Gas!!

He just ate too much. 



God Bless,
David B.

[redarrow]

Dont know if I ever heard it or not. I did hear the spit drum for my first time last season. He wont do that again.

[Tail Feathers]

Definitely not spit and/or drum.

Turkey goes "gronk" in a deep, gravelly tone.  I had never heard of it until I heard one do it.  I mentioned it to a friend and he had heard of it and sent me some internet links.  Many folks think it doesn't exist as a turkey sound.

I have no idea what it may mean in turkey talk, heck it could be turkey gas for all I know.  Nonetheless, I heard one make the sound from about 50 yards away on a dead quiet evening.  I was hoping someone could shed some light on it.  I may post this for Lovett on his forum.

[TauntoHawk]

Can you post some links to those discussions for curious minds. I mean I've seen hens strut and even try and gobble so I know they do weird things

Maybe he was half goose?!

[Tail Feathers]

I'd post a link but the talk turned kind of unkindly to a certain call maker.   Imagine that...

Generally all I learned was most folks never heard it and many don't believe it exists.

Remember the cartoon "Captain Caveman" from way back in the 70's?  Imagine him saying "gronk".
That was the sound.

[jakebird]

The only "mythical" call i'm aware of (other than the squealing hen LOL) is the much debated "wildcat call", which supposedly means "humans" and will put the entire flock on defcom 1 alert and completely unkillable for a minimum of six weeks and a day. I have to relinquish that mythical call to the same drawer as good old Tink's turkey scent. I'm not sure what you heard, but it doesnt sound like anything Dr Williams has identified as a known vocalization. Sounds like low coarse clucks or tree yelps to me. Every bird has a unique voice. I once worked a gobbler with a hiss to his gobble that sounded plain wicked. Probably due to a stray pellet that damaged a vocal chord in a past season.

[BowBendr]

Back before the forum crashed last year, there was a thread on here about what hunters described as a gobbler "tock".

I can't exactly remember what the posters said they thought it meant in turkey talk, but it was neat to hear them describe how they replicated the sound. The OP was using a mushroom shape tipped laminated striker and dropping it directly into the center of an aluminum pot call from about 1/16" high. The resulting sound was a coarse, gravely "tock". But it definately was described as not being a cluck or a putt, but a "tock".

I don't remember anybody saying they heard the sound made after fly-up though.
Wonder if this is close to the sound you heard ?

[Tail Feathers]

BowBendr, it literally sounded like the word "gronk", given in a coarse, gravelly tone. 

[West Augusta]

A coarse, gravelly "Gronk" sounds like a call that a Raven makes.  We had them move in here several years ago.  Now, you hear that all the time.

[Turkeyman]

Oh no! Now everyone is going to go turkeyless unless they buy a "Gronk" call from the manufacturer's of the "Squealing Hen"!

[redarrow]

A coarse, gravelly "Gronk" sounds like a call that a Raven makes.  We had them move in here several years ago.  Now, you hear that all the time.

I heard that a bunch when hunting bear over bait in Canada. Also them crazy sandhill cranes can make a similar noise.

[bird]

I would have to agree with BOFF.  My wife says I make a Gronk noise all the time when I come to roost but I use the excuse that I can't help it cuz it takes so much effort to fly up onto the limb that I have to fart or I will explode resulting in the Gronk sound.