NY gobblers?

[WNY Bowhunter]

Havent hunted up that far this year.  Been into good hunting in cortland with no reason to run farther.

My brother and his buddy killed 2 this morning at my cortland spot.

Congrats guys!!! 

[turkeyfeathers]

 

Everywhere was dead this morning. That and the wind killed any volume I had.

bird gobbled on roost at about 6:15. Maybe 8 more times til 6:30  He'd hit me but believe he's pretty content with the harem he has. I am about 400 yards from where he roosts toting property line as it is so no cutting the distance.  Even the crows couldn't fire him back up. Took my 10 yr old daughter, with the cold temps, wind and full moon we bagged it at 8. She wants to go Monday now too : )   Saw red fox with 2 pups, few deer that snorted and foot stomped and wood thrush sang from almost in our blind. Great morning even though no lead in the air.  Brother hunted this morning to elsewhere. Gobbled on roost and shut down too.

[nyturkeyhunter]

Birds had been silent for the middle two weeks of the season. They started gobbling again last Saturday in Saratoga County. I had been watching a gobbler and hen feeding in a field for 4 days in a row. Got permission from the land owner last Wednesday and killed the gobbler on Thursday morning at 5:40 am.
He never gobbled on the roost and I never called until 5:30. I clucked, nothing. I started cutting and got a response from across the field ~ 150 yards. Saw movement coming through the grass and a light bulb head. He stopped at 75 yards, saw my hen and jake decoy and came running in. I killed him at 18 yards. 20 lbs, 10" beard, 1" spurs.

Good luck.

[troutfisher13111]

Everywhere was dead this morning. That and the wind killed any volume I had.

Saw red fox with 2 pups, few deer that snorted and foot stomped and wood thrush sang from almost in our blind. Great morning even though no lead in the air.  Brother hunted this morning to elsewhere. Gobbled on roost and shut down too.

Sounds like a great morning!!

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Saw red fox with 2 pups, few deer that snorted and foot stomped and wood thrush sang from almost in our blind. Great morning even though no lead in the air.  Brother hunted this morning to elsewhere. Gobbled on roost and shut down too.
[/quote]

Sounds like a great morning!!
[/quote]

We must have different perspectives on this thing we call turkey hunting. Any morning without a bird in gun range is a crappy morning....  You can get all that on a nature walk without the sleep loss and money in hunting gear.

[troutfisher13111]

We must have different perspectives on this thing we call turkey hunting. Any morning without a bird in gun range is a crappy morning....  You can get all that on a nature walk without the sleep loss and money in hunting gear.

With only two tags to fill per person, turkey-less mornings are best spent enjoying all nature has to offer.

[CrustyRusty]

Turkey hunting in NY has been on a steady decline for years in my opinion.  I would like to see NY stop the fall season or at least stop allowing hens to be taken.  I am sure many here will disagree with this but this is my opinion.  I used to see flocks of turkeys while deer hunting, now I rarely see any. Last deer season I saw NO turkeys.

I am VERY fortunate in that my family owns a dairy farm, about 1200 acres, and turkeys are plentiful there, but I dont always have the time to drive several hours to hunt so I hunt where I am locally.  5 or ten years ago I would see tons of birds, but now due to overpressure and poaching and predation, the turkey population where I live in Dutchess/Putnam is way down.   

I have heard some birds but havent seen any by my home, but I was fortunate to be very succesful at the farm. 

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Turkey hunting in NY has been on a steady decline for years in my opinion.  I would like to see NY stop the fall season or at least stop allowing hens to be taken.  I am sure many here will disagree with this but this is my opinion.  I used to see flocks of turkeys while deer hunting, now I rarely see any. Last deer season I saw NO turkeys.

I am VERY fortunate in that my family owns a dairy farm, about 1200 acres, and turkeys are plentiful there, but I dont always have the time to drive several hours to hunt so I hunt where I am locally.  5 or ten years ago I would see tons of birds, but now due to overpressure and poaching and predation, the turkey population where I live in Dutchess/Putnam is way down.   

I have heard some birds but havent seen any by my home, but I was fortunate to be very succesful at the farm.

They slaughter them up there in the fall and I think it's finally being reflected in the population/ harvest numbers.

[njdevilsb]

We've heard at least some gobbling every day we've been out, which is about 10 days.  Very henned up and pretty quiet on the ground except for a couple.  I had a big ol' longbeard about 65 yards out this morning but his hens didn't come in and neither did he.  The jakes did though.  We know exactly where they came out so we're gonna be in tight on them first thing in the morning and hope for a repeat.  Not sure where the big spurred one we were seeing went.  A friend of my dads told us to come out and hunt this other bird because he's been seeing him pretty regularly.  He put on a great show.  Watched him strut and chase the jakes for over an hour and he gobbled maybe 15 times between the tree and on the ground.

[turkeyfeathers]

Saw red fox with 2 pups, few deer that snorted and foot stomped and wood thrush sang from almost in our blind. Great morning even though no lead in the air.  Brother hunted this morning to elsewhere. Gobbled on roost and shut down too.

Sounds like a great morning!!
[/quote]

We must have different perspectives on this thing we call turkey hunting. Any morning without a bird in gun range is a crappy morning....  You can get all that on a nature walk without the sleep loss and money in hunting gear.
[/quote] had my ten year old daughter with me. Woke her at 3:30. She was in kitchen at 3:32 ready to go. She gave the thumbs up when the bird ripped. Had we killed that bird today I wouldn't be able to try again on Monday with her. And if turkey hunting was easy I wouldn't do it.

[njdevilsb]

I ended up getting the bird from my above post first thing this morning.  He was gobbling at 4:40 on his own, just about non stop.  He was off the roost at 5:15 and I shot him right at 5:30.  I'll post pictures and the story later.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Congrats, buddy!

Way to get it done!

[troutfisher13111]

Congrats! Late season kills are the most rewarding in my opinion.

I tried a spot today that I save for late season, and hunted till 10:30 without even a gobble. I am racking my brain for a game plan for tomorrow.

[mspaci]

Get close early dont call too much, if they dont come down to you, note where they do come down for the next day. Fall season has nothing to do with decline in turkey numbers, 3 bad nesting seasons in a row & too many coyotes are to blame. It will come back quickly with a few good  nesting seaons in a row. Mike

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Get close early dont call too much, if they dont come down to you, note where they do come down for the next day. Fall season has nothing to do with decline in turkey numbers, 3 bad nesting seasons in a row & too many coyotes are to blame. It will come back quickly with a few good  nesting seaons in a row. Mike

That's a pretty ignorant statement in my opinion.  If you have fewer hens, you have fewer poults.  They hammer the hens in the fall and consequently less hens to contribute to reduced poult production in the spring. 

Fall hunting is a very much a cultural phenomenon but it needs to go as turkey biologists face increasing challenges and population decline everywhere.

Furthermore, coyotes are an easy scapegoat but coyotes are opportunistic  feeders.  They kill everything including animals such as coons and possums that prey heavily upon turkey eggs while they are in the egg phase.  There are too many places with abundant coyote populations and plentiful turkey numbers to blame the decline on coyotes. 

The decline is definitely due to fall harvest, avian pox, lvm and poor poult production.  The only variable that can be controlled is fall harvest and new York is doing way too much of it.