The Myth of Hunting Pressure

[shaman]

I hunt solely Easterns.   I'm a bit of a shut-in, I guess.

I don't know.  However, it could be these are what I call "gay" turkeys.  Over on the T&TH forum, I used to regale folks over there with the comings and goings of what I called "The Gay Turkey Herd."  There were 10 gobblers that all came from the same cohort of birds.  They had all benefited from a visit of the cicadas . There were turkeys everywhere that next year and for years thereafter.  The GTH all hung together, would not allow hens around them and strutted like all get out, but only for each other.  The ran off any hen that came by and constantly fought and bickered among each other.   It was 10 the first Spring, then 6, then 3 and finally I stopped seeing them one Spring.  They were a stitch to watch.

They had similar habits to what you're describing-- could not stand to have hens calling to them, but you could call them in with deep throaty gobbler yelps and deep clucks.

[WV TURKEY THUG]

i always wondered if some turkeys were gay. called one in one year almost inch and half spurs. i was working him all morning couldnt get him to come in to nothing finanly i said heck with it and used my gobbler call after he gobbled i would give it right to him everytime. he came in on a leash one of my most memorable hunts. he was either madder then a hornet or in love who knows lol

[shaman]

Sorry, I got interrupted. 

Are their Einstein turkeys?  My theory does not preclude it.  All I'm saying is that there might be a naturally occurring ornery trait that makes some turkeys less likely to walk into a shotgun barrel.

This can all get done without presupposing  learning.  An ornery bird is going to survive a good long time, and after he's past a couple of years old, his size and physical development might make him a good harem leader.

[turkey_slayer]

You guys are way over thinking this. It's not the turkeys IQs that save them it's the hunters IQs.

[g8rvet]

I think the ON-OFF is random (just like a turkey), affected by weather-moon phase-etc, what happened to that turkey the day or two before, presence or lack of hens.  I also think that Easterns are Easterns and turkeys are turkeys.  I think that anyone that thinks they have turkeys totally figured out is kidding themselves as a turkey is a random critter.  Some folks get closer, but generalities only work in general.  Specific birds need specific tactics and what works one day may not the next.  I think turkeys "learn" but not in the sense that we do.  They have a complex social order that is disrupted on a daily basis.  A  lot of their behavior is explained by the fact that if an animal eats meat, it will eat a turkey at some stage of that bird's life.  Like someone said in another thread, if a bird never returned to where it was "spooked" it would never leave the limb.

[deerbasshunter3]

You guys are way over thinking this. It's not the turkeys IQs that save them it's the hunters IQs.

That should just about sum it up.

[guesswho]

I think they roost by likely hunter entry points like gates and side roads.  They can see you pulling in and then know it's not a good day to be friendly with the hens.  They also walk roads and look for hunters tracks.  They cut a track and they avoid the direction the foot prints head.  They will recheck said footprints later and if they see tracks leading back out then they go about their normal routine.  A deadly tactic is to hunt with a buddy and avoid gates and side roads.  Once on the property get on a road and have you or you buddy walk in backwards while the other walks in normal.  The gobblers will see the tracks and figure the hunter has left for the day and then they will walk right down the road to your set-up.  But if it happens to be more than one gobbler make sure you kill them all.  If any of them escape then that tactic will be useless for the rest of the year and possibly even next year.       

[deerbasshunter3]

I think they roost by likely hunter entry points like gates and side roads.  They can see you pulling in and then know it's not a good day to be friendly with the hens.  They also walk roads and look for hunters tracks.  They cut a track and they avoid the direction the foot prints head.  They will recheck said footprints later and if they see tracks leading back out then they go about their normal routine.  A deadly tactic is to hunt with a buddy and avoid gates and side roads.  Once on the property get on a road and have you or you buddy walk in backwards while the other walks in normal.  The gobblers will see the tracks and figure the hunter has left for the day and then they will walk right down the road to your set-up.  But if it happens to be more than one gobbler make sure you kill them all.  If any of them escape then that tactic will be useless for the rest of the year and possibly even next year.     

Ahaha!

[Cutt]

1)  There is no such thing as hunting pressure when it comes to turkeys.
2)  There are only a few days every season where gobblers are huntable by conventional methods.

I basically hunt Public ground both in PA and Ohio, where to me birds are much easier to kill early in the Season than late, is this the On-Off timing you speak off? Could play a rule in it, although have killed them the last day in PA, which is a month and a half later than the start of Ohio's opener. To me they are On-Off   throughout the whole Season, but as pressure mounts, they are off more than on. I personally do see where hunting pressure has a negative effect on birds as the Season goes on . I also believe the rise in coyote numbers, play a big rule in turkey behavior also. Turkeys nowadays don't hardly gobble as much as they did years ago, which I believe is due to the rising coyote numbers.

As I said, it's much easier to kill one the opening week of Ohio, than the last week of PA a month and half later, but it can be done, where I have to disagree. And I'm not hunting South and North, which can effect timing, I basically hunt within 30 miles directly East and West covering both States. I agree somewhat with your conventional methods, but I'm not talking ambushing. As the Season goes on, one might have to leave the convential methods behind and try some more off the wall tactics to be sucessful, but to me turkeys are killable this whole span of time, just more spotty later in the Season than the start of it.
Some off the wall tactics are very basic, and not so off the wall many don't think off. One thing I've keyed in on hunting Public ground, is the "Chained to the tree Hen". I can't tell how many times I hear hunters on Public land, calling and calling from the same spot for hours. Where I honestly believe your older warier Toms pick up on this. My better birds late in the Season usually come from moving calling setups when possible , even if just a few yards at a time. Not too many hens call from the same spot for hours, and I believe they key in on this as the Season goes on. Might have to be a bit creative at times, but they are killable all Season, but that dosen't neccessarily mean everyday.

[turkey_slayer]

I think they roost by likely hunter entry points like gates and side roads.  They can see you pulling in and then know it's not a good day to be friendly with the hens.  They also walk roads and look for hunters tracks.  They cut a track and they avoid the direction the foot prints head.  They will recheck said footprints later and if they see tracks leading back out then they go about their normal routine.  A deadly tactic is to hunt with a buddy and avoid gates and side roads.  Once on the property get on a road and have you or you buddy walk in backwards while the other walks in normal.  The gobblers will see the tracks and figure the hunter has left for the day and then they will walk right down the road to your set-up.  But if it happens to be more than one gobbler make sure you kill them all.  If any of them escape then that tactic will be useless for the rest of the year and possibly even next year.     

Quit giving away my secrets. You done let the badonka donk out of the bag

[owlhoot]

I think they roost by likely hunter entry points like gates and side roads.  They can see you pulling in and then know it's not a good day to be friendly with the hens.  They also walk roads and look for hunters tracks.  They cut a track and they avoid the direction the foot prints head.  They will recheck said footprints later and if they see tracks leading back out then they go about their normal routine.  A deadly tactic is to hunt with a buddy and avoid gates and side roads.  Once on the property get on a road and have you or you buddy walk in backwards while the other walks in normal.  The gobblers will see the tracks and figure the hunter has left for the day and then they will walk right down the road to your set-up.  But if it happens to be more than one gobbler make sure you kill them all.  If any of them escape then that tactic will be useless for the rest of the year and possibly even next year.     

i could only believe this if i heard it from your MOM

[jakesdad]

I think they roost by likely hunter entry points like gates and side roads.  They can see you pulling in and then know it's not a good day to be friendly with the hens.  They also walk roads and look for hunters tracks.  They cut a track and they avoid the direction the foot prints head.  They will recheck said footprints later and if they see tracks leading back out then they go about their normal routine.  A deadly tactic is to hunt with a buddy and avoid gates and side roads.  Once on the property get on a road and have you or you buddy walk in backwards while the other walks in normal.  The gobblers will see the tracks and figure the hunter has left for the day and then they will walk right down the road to your set-up.  But if it happens to be more than one gobbler make sure you kill them all.  If any of them escape then that tactic will be useless for the rest of the year and possibly even next year.     

You're not foolin' anybody.Any turkey hunter worth his salt knows this only works if you setup with 1/2 dozen funky chicken decoys set up in a circle all facing in so the other birds will come in to see what their looking at.The key to this setup is to call but only and I mean only after you have mastered the squealin' hen.

[WV TURKEY THUG]

I think they roost by likely hunter entry points like gates and side roads.  They can see you pulling in and then know it's not a good day to be friendly with the hens.  They also walk roads and look for hunters tracks.  They cut a track and they avoid the direction the foot prints head.  They will recheck said footprints later and if they see tracks leading back out then they go about their normal routine.  A deadly tactic is to hunt with a buddy and avoid gates and side roads.  Once on the property get on a road and have you or you buddy walk in backwards while the other walks in normal.  The gobblers will see the tracks and figure the hunter has left for the day and then they will walk right down the road to your set-up.  But if it happens to be more than one gobbler make sure you kill them all.  If any of them escape then that tactic will be useless for the rest of the year and possibly even next year.     

You're not foolin' anybody.Any turkey hunter worth his salt knows this only works if you setup with 1/2 dozen funky chicken decoys set up in a circle all facing in so the other birds will come in to see what their looking at.The key to this setup is to call but only and I mean only after you have mastered the squealin' hen.

wonder if a turkey would come to that heck if i was a turkey and i seen a bunch of other turkeys looking at something i would come over and see. might have to try that on a slow day

[Ihuntoldschool]

I got to thinking about this again this morning.   Think about the bird that was shot at and missed, then just 3 days later two birds were called in and 1 was shot but 1 was leery. Now assuming the 2nd bird that was leery was the same bird missed 3 days earlier, what says more?  What is more striking, the fact that he was coming but leery, or the fact that there he is 3 days later responding to the hen sounds just like he did before when  he got shot at?  If he "learned" to avoid or shy away from hen  calling after being shot at, why would he come at all ?  I mean seriously, why would he sat there and think, I will come back to this same sound which caused me to get shot at 3 days ago, but instead of coming to 40 yards, I'm stopping at 50, cause I am a little "leery".  What sense would this make?   Must be a slow learner.

[shaman]

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties."
? Francis Bacon