Gobbling trend over the years

[Spitten and drummen]

I was talking with a buddy today and we were talking turkeys of course. During the conversation , gobbling came up. I remember in the late 70's and 80's turkeys gobbling well before daylight. I am talking 430 and gobbling great on the limb. Fast forward to present day , the birds where I hunt down in the South start gobbling when it starts breaking light. It is hard to slip in tight on them. I wonder if they have adapted to avoid predators like us for example. Its been several years since I have heard birds gobbling in pitch black. I loved that you could in in tight under the cover of darkness. Has anyone else noticed this trend?

[3bailey3]

I have been hunting them since late 80's and only the last year or two have I ever had some gobbling in the pitch dark, I had to hear him more than a few times before I believed it! I was still scared to move close because I had never experienced it.

[guesswho]

Your spot on.   I don't have any data to back my thoughts, just years of observations.   I have two theory's.   The increase in coyotes is one.   The other is the increase in yelping hens (hunters).    If I was a gobbler in the 60's and 70's where I hunt, I'd be an early riser and have my feet on the ground at the crack of dawn.   If I was a Gobbler where I hunt now, I wouldn't say a word or come out of the tree until at least 10:30. 

[LaLongbeard]

Here in Louisiana it is common for Gobblers to wait until full daylight before gobbling. I believe it is hunting pressure. I think the turkeys have adapted to the pressure and years of people trying to sneak up on them when on the roost. I'm not sure if coyotes are a factor. I've hunted places up north that had plenty of coyotes and the turkeys gobbled in the dark.

[Greg Massey]

I think it has to do with hunting pressure, the birds have had from jake to adult gobbler.  I think weather and moon phase player part also , those nice and bright moons i think help get them fired up way before daylight. It's nature at it's best and of course hens play a part with how active they are also. Predators are problems also.

[shatcher]

Never heard them in the dark unless the moon was bright.  Not a lot of pressure on my place.  I just think it's a daylight thing.

[StruttinGobbler3]

Interesting topic. Could be related to predator pressure, hard to say. Maybe we have fewer gobblers now than we did then. I know this for a fact- I used to hear a much higher number of gobbling turkeys on our farms 12-14 years ago than I do now. Have places that used to be slam full of turkeys that are ghost towns now. I blame a lot of that on the infestation of wild hogs in recent years.


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[Rzrbac]

Been hunting since the 80s and I have definitely noticed the later gobbling times. I just chalk it up to hunting pressure. I figure it's the gobblers way of adapting. I suppose it could be that the birds that gobbled early stood a better chance of being killed or at the least disturbed. Perhaps the birds that possessed that trait have been killed out over the years. 

I certainly miss those predawn gobblers.

[Spitten and drummen]

Been hunting since the 80s and I have definitely noticed the later gobbling times. I just chalk it up to hunting pressure. I figure it's the gobblers way of adapting. I suppose it could be that the birds that gobbled early stood a better chance of being killed or at the least disturbed. Perhaps the birds that possessed that trait have been killed out over the years. 

I certainly miss those predawn gobblers.

This is my same thought.

[Spitten and drummen]

Your spot on.   I don't have any data to back my thoughts, just years of observations.   I have two theory's.   The increase in coyotes is one.   The other is the increase in yelping hens (hunters).    If I was a gobbler in the 60's and 70's where I hunt, I'd be an early riser and have my feet on the ground at the crack of dawn.   If I was a Gobbler where I hunt now, I wouldn't say a word or come out of the tree until at least 10:30.

Yeah. This kind of reinforces what I believe.

[ThunderChickenHunter21]

At my place they start hammering a little before daylight most of the time but on a very cloudy or rainy morning they may not make a peep. Tried to post a video and couldn't get it to load up

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[Tom Threetoes]

When I first started turkey hunting, in the late 80s, if I was careful I could nearly slip under the roost tree. Now they seldom gobble before day light.

[Jfowler82]

I like the ones that gobble in the pitch black maybe a half hour or twenty minutes before the rest ! They tend to be fairly receptive to the call !

[Marc]

Pheasants used to hold, and roosters used to cackle upon flushing...  Today the vast majority of roosters will run you to the rubber on your tennis shoes, and a cackling bird is a rare pleasure...  The birds that held and/or cackled got shot, and we have literally bred that out of them...

Turkeys that gobble early get pin-pointed by hunters, and get shot...  Birds that do not have a better chance of surviving and passing on their genes...  It only makes sense that quiet birds would live more to pass on their genes...

Get rid of hunting, and birds that gobble early have a better chance of attracting hens, and we would see it turn around.

[a_jabbo]

I certainly don't have as many years under belt, so I really have nothing to go off of in comparison to that. Birds I have hunted here in PA have always gobbling around first light, or day break. There has only been one or two times I recall hearing a bird gobble in the pitch dark of the early morning.