Barometric pressure

[Spring Creek Calls]

Cool experiment. A few years ago I started suffering from migraines during severe barometric changes. Its jokingly referred to as "my super power" accurately predicting the weather, but it gets miserable unless I take meds. I saw quite a bit of research supporting pressure changes affecting fish, animal (and now my) behavior too. I never thought to correlate it to gobbling!   

I also suffer from migraines during these barometric changes. Thank God for today's treatments! Very interesting post on the correlation of gobbling and barometric pressure.

[GobbleNut]

As others have stated, I have always heard that barometric pressure plays a role in wildlife activity.  Unfortunately, I think few of us have the luxury of being able to plan our hunting trips around that.  It is good to know that, if I could choose when I get to go, I should take the barometric pressure into consideration.  I anticipate that will happen exactly zero times in my hunting future.

In summary, that is great information to catalogue for "academic" purposes, but in actual application for me, personally,...not so much.   ...Actually, I am just jealous of those guys that get to hunt so much that they can plan their hunting activities on the spur of the moment around things like barometric pressure change.  ...Must be nice. 

Come to think of it, though, I am planning some out-of-state trips for next spring.  I think I will take a look later today at what the barometric pressure will be when I am looking at dates for those trips.... 

[silvestris]

If you feel better on high pressure days (cool, still, pleasant) then why would not the turkeys as well.  For many years I have hunted the weather.  If it will be enjoyable, I go.  If my experience is likely to be uncomfortable, I stay home.  The turkeys need a break to continue their patterns and their behavior.  It is the pleasure of the experience,  not the kill.

[LaLongbeard]

As others have stated, I have always heard that barometric pressure plays a role in wildlife activity.  Unfortunately, I think few of us have the luxury of being able to plan our hunting trips around that.  It is good to know that, if I could choose when I get to go, I should take the barometric pressure into consideration.  I anticipate that will happen exactly zero times in my hunting future.

In summary, that is great information to catalogue for "academic" purposes, but in actual application for me, personally,...not so much.   ...Actually, I am just jealous of those guys that get to hunt so much that they can plan their hunting activities on the spur of the moment around things like barometric pressure change.  ...Must be nice. 

Come to think of it, though, I am planning some out-of-state trips for next spring.  I think I will take a look later today at what the barometric pressure will be when I am looking at dates for those trips.... 

I assume you don't really believe that the barometric pressure can be forecasted 9 months in advance?
One of the ways it could be used would be in scouting. Instead of spending a low pressure day blowing yourself hoarse on your crow call a morning with spike in  pressure would greatly increase the opportunity to find  Gobblers and if your scouting time is limited you could have fewer silent days. And if your hunting a new area and looking at a 5-10 mile walk into a place you've never been knowing a low pressure day would most likely end in nothing but a dull  nature walk might seem less academic at about mile 8 especially if you know 2 days later the pressure will be rising and the chances of a good Gobbling day increase.

[ChesterCopperpot]

I think the science has been pretty clear that there's a direct correlation. I wondered this year whether that directly affected the entire season where I live. Birds gobbled very little all year and looking back we had high winds and rain, both indicators of low pressure systems, almost the entire season. A month before when there was better weather, colder air, high pressure weeks on end, they were gobbling their heads off.

[greencop01]

I bet if you combine rising barometric pressure with those lunar graphs that measure peak and low animal activity you would have a fire-cracker measure of gobbling activity. Like Tom Kelly's "Better on a Rising Tide".

[bbcoach]

I think the science has been pretty clear that there's a direct correlation. I wondered this year whether that directly affected the entire season where I live. Birds gobbled very little all year and looking back we had high winds and rain, both indicators of low pressure systems, almost the entire season. A month before when there was better weather, colder air, high pressure weeks on end, they were gobbling their heads off.

I have to admit, this was one of the hardest years I've experienced turkey hunting.  We had birds that would gobble on the limb, fly down gobble a few more times, gather their hens and that was it for the rest of the day.  This year, on the MAGICAL days I call them, when the barometer was rising, some birds would gobble up until 830 to 9 am but wouldn't come to a call at all.  We seem to associate gobbling with killing but this year that wasn't the case where I hunted and for what I'm hearing from most of the guys on here, that was the case in many places.  I hunted over 20 of our 29 day season and had a Blast everyday even though the birds weren't gobbling much and definitely wouldn't come to our calls.

[Happy hooker]

It definitely makes an impact on musky fishing activity,,,,has does moon overhead or underfoot.

[LaLongbeard]

I bet if you combine rising barometric pressure with those lunar graphs that measure peak and low animal activity you would have a fire-cracker measure of gobbling activity. Like Tom Kelly's "Better on a Rising Tide".

That might be an interesting comparison. When I was a kid I remember reading all the "moon phase" articles in bow hunting magazines when it was popular.When I was still bow hunting a lot I kept track of the moon phases and deer activity. Sometimes it matched the "moon phase" theory a lot of times it did not, to the point I quit bothering with it. I put the barometric pressure and Gobbling theory in the same category. Although it's a small sample but 60 some consecutive hunting days this season it's been right on everytime. I will add this is roost Gobbling the pressure didn't seem to make a difference later in the day. In other words if the pressure was low and Gobbling was sporadic and then the pressure spiked at say 11 am I didn't notice it made them fire up.
      Like I mentioned before I'm gonna hunt every single day of April and May anyway but I find anything Turkey related interesting especially when it has to do with Gobbling.

[Happy hooker]

Fishing tournaments have very much confirmed this,,,fishing tournaments that have judge boats where you call for a judge boat to verify your large species catch and release,,overwhelmingly the most judge boat calls come during a major
Lot of repeat evidence to support this..

[GobbleNut]

I assume you don't really believe that the barometric pressure can be forecasted 9 months in advance?

I am honestly not aware that it can be forecast much more than a week or two in advance. If it was/is possible to project it even a month in advance, I would most definitely be looking at those projections for future trips.  For example, I plan on hunting some locations that are 1000+ miles away from home in the coming years and will have some flexibility in choosing dates within a couple weeks period.  However, those plans will have to be finalized a month or more before the hunts.  Are there realistic methods of accurately predicting a rising or falling barometer that far in advance?

One of the ways it could be used would be in scouting. Instead of spending a low pressure day blowing yourself hoarse on your crow call a morning with spike in  pressure would greatly increase the opportunity to find  Gobblers and if your scouting time is limited you could have fewer silent days. And if your hunting a new area and looking at a 5-10 mile walk into a place you've never been knowing a low pressure day would most likely end in nothing but a dull  nature walk might seem less academic at about mile 8 especially if you know 2 days later the pressure will be rising and the chances of a good Gobbling day increase.

Good point here.  The larger "window" of time a person has for choosing when to scout or hunt, the more important it would be to take into account the forecasts.  And as you point out, in those situations where a lot of effort would be expended, it would be wise to choose those scouting and/or hunting days based on rising pressure.  Again, it is just a luxury that I suspect many of us don't have.  Admittedly, however, I am at a point in life where I do have more flexibility than I used to have.  I will have to pay closer attention to this factor. 

[marshboy]

LaLongbeard,
Very interesting observation.  Thanks for sharing.
Greg