Lonely LongTom

Uncle Jesse

Uncle Jesse

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A friend of mine was seeing a gobbler during deer season and he was always by himself. I rode through his place yesterday and saw him too. I can't recall noticing one be alone all winter before. Is this uncommon or just something that happens?
 
Could be a lot of reasons, some birds are just loaners or it could be a population issue and he's the only mature bird on the property. Generally even the really nasty dominant birds winter with other birds and it is usually with hens rather than other gobblers
 
There are some hens in the area. I saw 3 but they were in a different field.

Somehow I got really close to him and he didn't know whether to run or fly. He alternated between the 2 :D
 
a flock of 3 hens and 1 lone longbeard sounds to me like a low population. But I could be completely wrong
 
Plenty of birds across the creek which is less than a mile. There could've been more hens too. They were across a field at the edge of the woods and I didn't want to get any closer. I was just passing through.

I guess he's roosting with hens. I didn't know they would do that during the winter.

I wonder how he'll respond to gobbler/jake type decoys being an outcast. Or maybe as Setterman said a "really nasty dominant" bird.
 
Uncle Jesse said:
Plenty of birds across the creek which is less than a mile. There could've been more hens too. They were across a field at the edge of the woods and I didn't want to get any closer. I was just passing through.

I guess he's roosting with hens. I didn't know they would do that during the winter.

I wonder how he'll respond to gobbler/jake type decoys being an outcast. Or maybe as Setterman said a "really nasty dominant" bird.
Click to expand...

If he's already roosting with hens the chances are high that he is a super dominant bird, and one that is incapable of dropping back and wintering with other gobblers. If he is, he can keep other birds from using the area and generally be nightmare to try and kill.

However, the decoy thing will probably end his life fairly easily. I would, keep in mind I don't use or know much about decoys, use the strutter and a couple of hens. Challenge him on his turf and I bet he dies pretty easily.
 

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