Depleting Gobbling Genetics???

[ghosthunter]

I think peolpe are worrying to much about all of this.

I'm defintely a bit concerned when I'm not hearing the gobbling and killing the birds like I use along with the rest of the state and the state says that our flock is ok. They blame our low harvest on weather conditions, but I hunt on many ideal days with little results and the sign I find in the woods seems to be much less than years before.

 

[Huntaholic]

C'mon down here to South MS and turkey hunt. You'll quickly realize that the birds just don't talk after flydown. Sure, you'll get a few gobbles on the roost and a courtesy gobble right after flydown, but that's it. It's extremely rare to call in a gobbling bird here. They almost always come in silent.

The reason? We've actually had a population of turkeys here that dates back to pre- white man. Although the population got low back in the early 1900's, they were never wiped out. Organized hunting for over 50 years. That many years of pressure I believe has resulted in the lack of gobbling.

Heck, it's so boring that I don't even hunt down here much. I'd much rather go back to TN where I can get a bird to respond at 10AM, 2PM, or even 4 PM.

EXACTLY MY POINT!!! Some folks, not directing this at anyone in particular, havent ever hunted the true stockings that GOD put here, not TWRA! Catoosa is one of the few examples of this around here. As far as I know, and Ive talked to some of the old guys that were there, Catoosa has never been stocked with transplant birds. Yes, they tried some of that stuff back in the 60's of releasing pen raised birds, but it failed miserably. The birds there are the ones God put there and theyve been hunted longer and harder than most anywhere else in the state and guess what???? One bird around here will gobble more on an average day than a Catoosa bird will gobble all season! On a rare occasion you will find one that the recessive gobbling gene has came out on, but on average they dont gobble! Turkeys dont HAVE to gobble to attract and mate with hens! I know that may come as a news flash to some, but its the truth.

 

[spitndrum]

Interesting!!!

I dont know how to respond it could be??

 

[Huntaholic]

LOL its all just food for thought anyway folks!

 

[Game Eye]

Hunting pressure fellas, plain and simple... I'm tellin ya...

 

[CopperHead77]

I realize a bird doesn't have to gobble,but come on, at some point,he won't have hens,they'll be nesting,uninterested..whatever..he will gobble!! But again,I've never hunted a spot that was full of gobblers that wouldn't gobble so I'm just going off of personal experience.

 

[CopperHead77]

Hunting pressure fellas, plain and simple... I'm tellin ya...

I agree with you, too many folks hammer their birds pre season and the first week or so, and wonder why they disappear. They put way too much pressure on the birds when the birds are totally locked down with hens.

Agree also.

 

[REN]

TO ME it makes no sense. Rattle snakes yeah because it is a adaptation of survival but turkeys gobbling or not will not make a huge impact on survival so there is no real need to adapt

The snakes not rattling may be mother nature's way of survival for the rattle snakes but I doubt that the snakes are smart enough to say, hey if I rattle I will get killed. Same for the birds. The birds I kill, I'm sure the same is for about eveyone else, are the ones that gobble. If they don't gobble I really don't have anything to hunt, therefore leaving the non gobbling birds to survive. Now if this is the situation I'm not sure and I certainly hope not, but it does make a lot of sense. BTW a gobbler doesn't need to gobble to find hens. The hens will do enough talking themselves.

right but not ALL people hunt turkeys by calling and setting up on a vocal bird. I would even estimate that a large percentage of people deer hunt them which will have no impact on a bird gobbling or not.

again i am not arguing that some areas gobble more then others and that pressure as well as hens will play a MAJOR role in the vocalization of a turkey but IS it genetic that a bird would not gobble because people are killing the ones that do??? I dont think so.

 

[Anonymous]

no. the more gobblers around, the more they gobble. the fewer in an area, less gobbling and more sensitive to pressure.

 

[Hatchee]

Huntaholic, I hope you are directing your post towards me. I have been fortunate to hunt turkeys in the areas which Tom Kelly writes about, and they gobble great when not henned up beyond recognition.

I will say that some parts of the SE birds gobble more then others, the valley birds here gobble like idiots, while the mtn birds are less vocal on average.

Hook, I've hunted a lot of those places too. We hunted an island in the Mississippi River back in the 80's that probably had more turkeys per acre than anywhere I've ever been, I mean every little clearing you came up to, there'd be turkeys in it. I've never heard less gobbling and seen more turkeys. You'd yelp and you'd just as soon shoot over their heads. I was hunting with guys that their Grandaddys had turkey hunted these same woods. (Generational hunting pressure) Genetic or pressure? Probably a little of both. The challenge was to adapt and kill 'em anyway.
I will say that my personal honey holes have gotten harder to hunt (call/work birds) with more hens.