Gobbling trend over the years

[Cutt]

Have noticed the trend over the years and seem they gobble less overall than years ago. When I first started it wasn't a common occurrence' but have ran into several gobblers back then gobbling on the roost well before first light. Now they seem to wait till first light and never hear them under the dark of the morning anymore.

My takes it's  definitely predators, because that's the main thing that changed from back then till now. We always had hunting pressure back them and now, but never noticed coyotes way back then as I do now. I imagine  the birds wise up to calling yotes in before first light, only to get pounced on at fly down? Also Fishers are becoming more common in many areas too.

[Marc]

On a related note, a couple years back, it seems the coyote population was very high...  I called in a number of coyotes (screwing up my hunting) trying to turkey hunt...

However, I was the only human hunting the area...

The birds were very vocal on the limb before fly-down, but shut the heck up on the ground....

Obviously the birds adjusted and adapted to the situation.  I do think over a long period of time we are likely to create a genetic response in behavior, but I also think that birds will react to immediate situations as well.....

[ThunderChickenHunter21]

On a related note, a couple years back, it seems the coyote population was very high...  I called in a number of coyotes (screwing up my hunting) trying to turkey hunt...

However, I was the only human hunting the area...

The birds were very vocal on the limb before fly-down, but shut the heck up on the ground....

Obviously the birds adjusted and adapted to the situation.  I do think over a long period of time we are likely to create a genetic response in behavior, but I also think that birds will react to immediate situations as well.....

Birds do that alot at my place too. Shut up once on the ground. Sometimes they are fired up all morning too though. I think barometric pressure plays a part too, just my opinion

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[bower7706]

I have a property where the birds dont ever gobble anymore.  Whats strange is 10 years ago it was pretty normal gobbling before daylight and throughout the day.  Now im luck to hear 3 gobbles all season but we still do pretty good they just come in quiet

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[catman529]

I wasn't alive in the 80s but I've only heard em gobble in pitch black darkness a small handful of times. One was a bird that gobbled his head off well after dark and the rest were just random single gobbles before the first crack of daylight


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[Missouri hunter]

I once stepped out of the cabin and heard one gobbling at 3:30 in the morning. This was probably in 2012. Most of the time its getting light enough to see 40yds in the woods before I hear any.

[NCL]

One gobbled this morning at 0615 hours with sun rise at 0729 hours.

[Spitten and drummen]

Glad you heard one. There are exceptions to everything. I am comparing years worth of observation in the areas I hunt. I would like to hear some gobble that early where I can move in close without busting them. In the 80's and 90's I could move in and be set up waiting to get light out to start working them. Very very seldom do I hear birds when its that dark in my area.

[NCL]

Glad you heard one. There are exceptions to everything. I am comparing years worth of observation in the areas I hunt. I would like to hear some gobble that early where I can move in close without busting them. In the 80's and 90's I could move in and be set up waiting to get light out to start working them. Very very seldom do I hear birds when its that dark in my area.

Just curious as to how you set up? I have done this numerous times and it has never worked to my advantage. I probably should explain that this particular property the birds roost in digger pines at the head of a canyon and when they fly down it is usually down into the canyon or onto an adjacent property that we can not access. Probably only one in twenty times will they fly down on a shooting side.

[Spitten and drummen]

Glad you heard one. There are exceptions to everything. I am comparing years worth of observation in the areas I hunt. I would like to hear some gobble that early where I can move in close without busting them. In the 80's and 90's I could move in and be set up waiting to get light out to start working them. Very very seldom do I hear birds when its that dark in my area.

Just curious as to how you set up? I have done this numerous times and it has never worked to my advantage. I probably should explain that this particular property the birds roost in digger pines at the head of a canyon and when they fly down it is usually down into the canyon or onto an adjacent property that we can not access. Probably only one in twenty times will they fly down on a shooting side.

Depends on the time of year and where the bird is at. Most times I figure out strut zones and places they go on a regular basis and I get in those places. Some birds have no pattern as you know. I usually get a 100 yards or so from him. When they gobble before light , i use to get pretty close. Upped the odds of pitching down in my lap.

[NCL]

Glad you heard one. There are exceptions to everything. I am comparing years worth of observation in the areas I hunt. I would like to hear some gobble that early where I can move in close without busting them. In the 80's and 90's I could move in and be set up waiting to get light out to start working them. Very very seldom do I hear birds when its that dark in my area.

Just curious as to how you set up? I have done this numerous times and it has never worked to my advantage. I probably should explain that this particular property the birds roost in digger pines at the head of a canyon and when they fly down it is usually down into the canyon or onto an adjacent property that we can not access. Probably only one in twenty times will they fly down on a shooting side.

Depends on the time of year and where the bird is at. Most times I figure out strut zones and places they go on a regular basis and I get in those places. Some birds have no pattern as you know. I usually get a 100 yards or so from him. When they gobble before light , i use to get pretty close. Upped the odds of pitching down in my lap.

Thank you.  I appreciate the info.

[Andy S.]

I believe turkey densities,...that is the number of turkeys, both gobblers and hens,...plays a significant role in this.  As we have discussed, many areas have experienced declines in gobbler numbers.  Gobbling is an instinctive behavior used to both attract hens and challenge rival gobblers.  That instinctive behavior is also a "triggered" response,...that is, it is, to a degree, involuntary. 

In any given area, there are gobblers that are willing to gobble voluntarily due to that instinctive impulse,...and there are gobblers that will not gobble unless they are triggered.  Decreases in numbers of gobblers in an area eliminates a good deal of that triggering mechanism. 

Anybody that has hunted much in areas with good turkey densities has seen this in action.  The woods are quiet until one gobbler starts up,...and then, within a few minutes the woods are ringing with gobbles.  Conversely, many of us have probably been in places where there were so few gobblers that the only gobbling that occurred was that of the voluntary nature. 

In heavily hunted areas, that voluntary gobbling can be suppressed, which I believe accounts for the decrease and/or later-occurring gobbling activity.  Add that suppression to the fact that there are fewer gobblers around and we see the results that are being discussed here.

My thoughts exactly! Every experience we have in the turkey woods (turkeys behavior, gobbling frequency, which call we think is the best, opinions of a property, hunting pressure effect, etc) ALL has to do with turkey density at the time of our experience. That experience that day/year is just a snapshot in time. I have hunted some of the same properties for the last 20 years and my opinion of them in 2005 compared to 2019 is completely different, due to my wildly different experiences and how much they varied over the years. I'm more seasoned and more patient than even, but the turkey density just isn't what it was back then, thus my expectations have to be managed to fit today's variables, many of which, I cannot control.

[eggshell]

The more I think about it I am convinced my calling is too pretty and sexy. There are a ton of pretty hens out there and they have the attention of all the handsome and young gobblers. What I need to do is sound pure butt ugly on my calls when they are silent.....You know there's always that one guy that will go for the ugly chick sitting at a table by herself while her pretty friend dances with prince charming. So I want to get the attention of that one gobbler that's lowered his standards maybe he's just an old longbeard that will take any hen that'll have him or some young two year old that's ready to hump whatever holds still. Yup I need to practice being butt ugly and desperate ....then I'll get em to gobble

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

I'm going to get on the Density train....but also the pressure game....

In NE Washington the birds will gobble on the limb. I mean for an hour before getting off the roost and hour once on the roost. We have a very good number of gobblers though.

Alternatively when you go hunting in Western Washington where there are so few birds that there isn't a chance for real density them birds still make a ruckus before light and after light. Here there is no pressure because unless your in the know, you can't find them to hunt them. So very few even put in the effort.

Shot four birds off the roost last year; 1 Florida, 1 Oregon, and 2 in Washington. All four were piping off before I could see my hands.

[hotspur]

The more I think about it I am convinced my calling is too pretty and sexy. There are a ton of pretty hens out there and they have the attention of all the handsome and young gobblers. What I need to do is sound pure butt ugly on my calls when they are silent.....You know there's always that one guy that will go for the ugly chick sitting at a table by herself while her pretty friend dances with prince charming. So I want to get the attention of that one gobbler that's lowered his standards maybe he's just an old longbeard that will take any hen that'll have him or some young two year old that's ready to hump whatever holds still. Yup I need to practice being butt ugly and desperate ....then I'll get em to gobble

its not that my call is sexy, I have a dirty mouth and I think those gobblers can't believe a girl is talking like that  so ...... You know