Opinions on a harvested birds behavior

[RiverRoost]

I harvested a gobbler this morning and the way he acted had me curious. He gobbled a couple times then hens came to him and he went quiet. Except for the drumming. I listened to him drum and repositioned on him for over and hour before finally getting a shot at him   But the weird part was when he would go into strut he would only go to about 3/4 strut then drop back down. Never went into full strut and wouldn't stay at 3/4 but for a second all the while while drumming. Do y'all think he may not have been the dominant gobbler in there or something the way he never really gobbled much and didn't strut a lot but it was like he wanted to, just kept drumming and 3/4 strut. Just curious how

[Wigsplitter]

That is one trait of an old gobbler— 3/4 quick strut plus the not much gobbling! How old you estimate by the spurs?!?

[MK M GOBL]

Definitely sounds like a subordinate with the 3/4 strut and the gobbling would have gave his position away to the alpha. Once there with the hen, don't really need to gobble anymore, and strutting/drumming would have taken over.
Did you notice head color? I always study this as a White Head is coloration of an alpha at breeding stage.


MK M GOBL

[Spitten and drummen]

I would say he is a subordinate bird. As already mentioned he may have been thrashed so he doesnt want another gobbler to know where he is. No need to gobble when he has lady friends with him. Congrats on the bird buddy.

[GobbleNut]

Either of the first two suggestions given could be correct.  I agree with the idea that evaluating his age by his spurs would be a valid way of making an educated guess as to which might be right. 

Another possibility is that this gobbler has had an encounter with a predator sneaking up on him while he was at full strut that he managed to escape from.  From an experience like that, a turkey might "learn" that staying in full strut for an extended period of time presents a danger and has altered his strutting behavior. 

The explanation could also be as simple as that, on this particular day, the gobbler didn't feel like strutting all that much.  You know the old saying,..."sometimes you feel like a strut,...sometimes you don't".   

[RiverRoost]

I'm thinking the same thing as Mk M GOBL. Haven't measured his spurs yet but I'd say little over 3/4" and sharp. His head never really went white, kept the blueish color and red waddles most of the time......from what I remember ha.

[Mossyguy]

It could be anything, but I've seen subordinate birds do that more than most, especially if there is another bird gobbling. They start to go into a strut, hear another one gobble, and immediately deflate..lol

[Clydetaylor1]

Definitely sounds like a subordinate with the 3/4 strut and the gobbling would have gave his position away to the alpha. Once there with the hen, don't really need to gobble anymore, and strutting/drumming would have taken over.
Did you notice head color? I always study this as a White Head is coloration of an alpha at breeding stage.


MK M GOBL

if he only has 3/4" spurs he's watching out for the boss man.

[RiverRoost]

I'll try to get a tape on the spurs today and a pic uploaded. I'm thinking the same thing that there's a boss in there since I heard another bird gobble in a different direction than this bird was drumming and coming from.

[Dtrkyman]

I'm curious about every turkeys behavior I've ever seen!

They don't always know what there gonna do!


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[dublelung]

I'm curious about every turkeys behavior I've ever seen!

They don't always know what there gonna do!


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That's it in a nutshell. There's nothing for certain when it comes to turkeys or their behavior. They're just turkeys out there doing turkey $#!t and trying to survive.

[TRG3]

On the very last day of the Southern Illinois turkey season several years ago and on my way home, I stopped at a small woods and had a gobbler respond to my yelps at 11 a.m. He came rushing across a picked soy bean field until he saw my Pretty Boy decoy which was in full strut. He abruptly came to a halt at about 70+ yards and when he displayed, the tom would go into a sitting position. Try as I might, he would not come any closer and eventually turned and left. I'm guessing that my Pretty Boy decoy was too much for him. Since then, I've switched to a Funky Chicken and have not experienced any gobblers hanging up because of my decoy set up.

[Gobble!]

I would interpret that to be a sub-dominate bird.

[TauntoHawk]

I would interpret that to be a sub-dominate bird.

That would be my conclusion as well on a bird with sub 1in spurs.

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[GobbleNut]

Unless you are hunting Osceola's, describing the spurs as "3/4 of and inch and sharp" would make me believe that the bird was an older gobbler with a genetic predisposition for poor spur development.  I have never seen a two-year-old gobbler of any subspecies except for the Osceola with anything resembling a sharp spur.  In the four other subspecies, two-year-old gobblers invariably have rounded spurs, and even three-year-olds have spurs that I would rarely describe as sharp.   

Of course, that gobbler could still have been a subordinate bird even if he was older if there was a more dominant gobbler in the area.  However, for a gobbler to take a subordinate posture, it is generally when another dominant bird is close by.  If that gobbler was alone with hens, I personally would doubt that his behavior was caused by concern of another gobbler being around.  Could be,...but that would not be my first guess...