Pinpointing drumming

[JMalin]

Anyone else struggle determining the direction that drumming is coming from?  Until they are fairly close (within gun range), I really can't tell at all, especially if there's any confounding terrain features/topography changes. 

[paboxcall]

I struggle triangulating the spit/drum for sure, especially once it greens up. Seems to come from everywhere.

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

Here is a post from Mike Battey from some years back.  He mentions the difficulty for humans in locating sounds below 80 Hz and specifically turkey drumming. His advice is to listen for the spit before the drumming.

http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,20787.msg230173.html#msg230173

[JMalin]

The weird thing was I could hear the drumming, but not the spit on my last turkey encounter.

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

The weird thing was I could hear the drumming, but not the spit on my last turkey encounter.

Low frequencies travel further, so that maybe tells you something about how far away he was.  Some folks, and you're young so that helps, can hear drumming much further than others. If you are one of those lucky ones, you could easily find yourself in situations where you can hear the drumming and not the spit. 

[paboxcall]

Here is a post from Mike Battey from some years back.  He mentions the difficulty for humans in locating sounds below 80 Hz and specifically turkey drumming. His advice is to listen for the spit before the drumming.

http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,20787.msg230173.html#msg230173

Thanks Raps for including that link back to Mike's post from 2012 - I had forgotten about that discussion. Lots of great information over the years on this site if you take a minute or two to search it out.

[guesswho]

Seems like I have a harder time pinpointing it the closer it is to me.   I can hear drumming at a pretty good distance, a lot farther than most people I hunt with.    100 yards or farther I can tell where it's coming from most of the time.  Any closer than that I can narrow it down to between about 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock.  Drives me crazy, but it's a fun crazy.

[Turkeyman]

I'm in the same boat...drumming sounds very ventriloquistic. I do know that, verified via range finder, I can hear drumming at least 75 yards.

[1iagobblergetter]

Hell I can hardly tell which way gobbling is coming from. You guys are doing great...

[3bailey3]

I can tell which way he is coming more by drumming than gobbling. I have had my gun pointed right more times from drumming. A lot of times I think I hear drumming but I'm sure when I hear him spit, I hunt a lot of places where you hear some bass playing..

[bear hunter]

I struggle to hear drumming gobbler has to be about 40 yards for me to hear it.

[Marc]

Drumming is a confounding yet exciting sound...

Wind and terrain can fool you...  Birds on a crest of a hill upwind of me, well over 100 yards away were drumming for some time, and I was waiting for that red head to pop up in the crest right in front of me (until I finally saw those birds).

I have also sat frozen for extended periods of time due to a humming bird that sounded like it could be drumming....

I also hunted in low clouds/fog this year...  And drumming carried a long, long ways...

Due to tinnitus and some higher frequency hearing loss, it seems I can hear (or possibly focus on better) drumming...  Hearing that "spit" is a bit more difficult, and if I can hear that, the safety is coming off...

I heard a lot more drumming, and a lot less gobbling this year...  I assume in part due to increased hunting pressure?

[silvestris]

Sometimes a gobbler will spit; sometimes a gobbler will drum; sometimes a gobbler will do both.  Very frequently either option will attract a hen.

[3bailey3]

Hey Sil I heard one drum and spit this season and another bird gobbled it him, first time I had ever heard  one gobble at it.

[silvestris]

They hear it or they wouldn't do it.