The 4 Phases of the TN Spring Turkey Season

[hooks]

Stumbled upon a couple of Youtube videos from Dale Outdoors where he was talking about the different phases of the spring turkey season. I thought it was pretty informative, and one thing really stood out to me. In the videos (links below), he states that the time when gobblers are henned up the most is around the third week of April to the first of May (the third phase). In my early days of turkey hunting and listening to people talk over the years, it always seemed like most people complained about henned up gobblers the first week or so of the season. As I have gotten older and hunted more, my experience has aligned more with what is said in the videos than what I heard growing up. It seems like it always starts getting tough around this time of the season. Is it because of hens? Or is it because of pressure and hunter success? Wanted to hear y'all's thoughts since there is so much gray hair and experience on this forum!

Links to the videos:

https://youtu.be/rx8t-HALEX8

https://youtu.be/7NZKwGPaJeo

 

[megalomaniac]

Hunting was much easier for me this past trip to TN esp late morning around 10am. We caught several birds without hens after they had broken off to lay.

But we still had some birds since I closed down my farms for 2 weeks to hunting after the 3rd day of the season.

I think hunting is much harder statewide simply because so many toms have already been killed.

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[REN]

where I hunt that holds true most years. Right now till may is always tough and the gobbling slows down even more after fly down. Early season they are henned up yes but they are still fairly grouped up which can make it easier to hunt them due to patterns are easy to figure out then. By now they are much more separated and less vocal (again just based on the areas I hunt)

 

[Boll Weevil]

I absolutely find that while I often hear more gobbling early in the season, actually killing birds can be more difficult than later in the season. My setup/kill ratio goes up by about the 3rd week.

 

[hooks]

Hunting was much easier for me this past trip to TN esp late morning around 10am. We caught several birds without hens after they had broken off to lay.

But we still had some birds since I closed down my farms for 2 weeks to hunting after the 3rd day of the season.

I think hunting is much harder statewide simply because so many toms have already been killed.

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I agree that the high kill numbers for this year are a factor for this year. It just seems that hunting always gets tougher around this time of the season even if the kill numbers are average or below average. I honestly have never heard anyone attribute it to gobblers being henned up. I believe I have read somewhere in the past that average nest initiation is around mid April so I have always been under the impression that peak henned up time is the first of the season versus now. Turkey biology is definitely not my expertise though so I am just trying to soak up all the information I can.

 

[hooks]

I absolutely find that while I often hear more gobbling early in the season, actually killing birds can be more difficult than later in the season. My setup/kill ratio goes up by about the 3rd week.

I am hoping that is the case for me! Season started off well, but it has been a struggle since last Tuesday for me.

 

[Bone Collector]

I've always had more luck towards the end of season.

 

[Setterman]

There are certainly phases but putting timelines on those is ludicrous. It varies from year to year, and property to property. These all knowing you tubers many times don't know jack, but convince people they do because they made a video.

 

[hooks]

There are certainly phases but putting timelines on those is ludicrous. It varies from year to year, and property to property. These all knowing you tubers many times don't know jack, but convince people they do because they made a video.

Can't put a timeline on a lot of things. I was just curious what others experiences are around the state and the experiences of people that have hunted more than me.

 

[Setterman]

There are certainly phases but putting timelines on those is ludicrous. It varies from year to year, and property to property. These all knowing you tubers many times don't know jack, but convince people they do because they made a video.

Can't put a timeline on a lot of things. I was just curious what others experiences are around the state and the experiences of people that have hunted more than me.

My experiences are that throughout the course of the season there are days when they gobble well, and days when they don't. There's not much you can surmise from any given day as these birds make no sense. Henned up birds some times hammer at calls, and other times never make a peep. Sometimes single birds don't make a gobble, and other times they'll run you over.

IMO any view other than this game is constantly changing from hour to hour is based on lack of experience. A day may start silent but explode mid morning.

Bottom line, hunt hard and hunt as much as you can. Forget all the stages of breeding bs these so called experts claim to know all about. Most times they don't know much of anything.

 

[gobblesandgrunts]

All I know is I've had my butt kicked all year, especially yesterday morning. Made a mistake at daylight to chase after a bird 200 yards, came back to setup to 4 toms destroying our decoys. Couldn't carry them or use them where we went. Then went to another farm, called few different sequences and not a gobble. Topped the hill and 50 yards were two lone longbeards. Don't know if ill even kill one this year the way my seasons going lol seems like each year there are less and less birds on my families farm. When I started hunting, you could hear 15-25 different birds on roost and each year its dwindled. Don't know what to do honestly.

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[Luckybuck16]

The farm I hunt in east Tenn is loaded with hens and when I say loaded I mean 60-70 hens in one picture early spring with 4 long beards.. they have since busted up and I've only heard hens a handful of times.. they are super hard to kill off the roost being with hens and the lay of the farm. I've killed 2 off this year simply bc I found their strut zone and patterns.. most hens are laying and I've not heard a gobble in a week over there .. who knows where they went I guess under ground from the pressure they are getting from all the neighbors.. hopefully the population will continue to grow .. I've gotten pics of gobblers so I know they are close

 

[woodsman04]

About April 23 through May 5th seems to be the best to me. This seems to be about when most hens are incubating. I think after that in my places it's just so dang hot and the gobblers are just so pressured or dead they get hard and tough.

But like setterman said, just because most hens are incubating don't mean the day that you go the gobbler doesn't have some hens. It's all fluid and you never know about turkeys.


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[timberghost3591]

I have killed 4 birds off 4 different public places and need 1 more (bonus bird from a draw hunt). I have been on birds all yr until this wk. Its like they just vanished. No gobbling, no tracks, no scratching, nothing. I know a couple of the WMAs I hunt have had record harvests this yr. I think a lot of the reason I have went cold is plainly the gobblers are dead. Plain and simple.

While typing this, I had to stop as a gobbler fired up. I mean HOT!! Three soft yelps, and he came damn near running. Only to get to 25, and realize it was a super Jake. He almost got some #9s just for making me sad...

 

[hooks]

I have killed 4 birds off 4 different public places and need 1 more (bonus bird from a draw hunt). I have been on birds all yr until this wk. Its like they just vanished. No gobbling, no tracks, no scratching, nothing. I know a couple of the WMAs I hunt have had record harvests this yr. I think a lot of the reason I have went cold is plainly the gobblers are dead. Plain and simple.

While typing this, I had to stop as a gobbler fired up. I mean HOT!! Three soft yelps, and he came ***** near running. Only to get to 25, and realize it was a super Jake. He almost got some #9s just for making me sad...

I think so too. I have hunted 16 days so far this season. Only four of them have been on private. The public land has really shut down the latter part of last week and this week. Gonna keep on trucking though! There are some out there somewhere!

 

[hooks]

About April 23 through May 5th seems to be the best to me. This seems to be about when most hens are incubating. I think after that in my places it's just so dang hot and the gobblers are just so pressured or dead they get hard and tough.

But like setterman said, just because most hens are incubating don't mean the day that you go the gobbler doesn't have some hens. It's all fluid and you never know about turkeys.


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Woodsman, what part of the state do you hunt? I have seen a lot of lone hens this week after leaving the woods to head to work. Believe the majority of hens are nesting or starting to nest in the areas I hunt.

 

[cowhunter71]

Everyday in the Spring Turkey woods is different, and as stated above, can often change from hour to hour.

 

[woodsman04]

About April 23 through May 5th seems to be the best to me. This seems to be about when most hens are incubating. I think after that in my places it's just so dang hot and the gobblers are just so pressured or dead they get hard and tough.

But like setterman said, just because most hens are incubating don't mean the day that you go the gobbler doesn't have some hens. It's all fluid and you never know about turkeys.


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Woodsman, what part of the state do you hunt? I have seen a lot of lone hens this week after leaving the woods to head to work. Believe the majority of hens are nesting or starting to nest in the areas I hunt.

I hunt in Lincoln, Giles, and some Wayne and Lawrence. Most hens will start incubating within the next 5-10 days.
Incubation is about 28 days, and the last week of May is usually when you start seeing poults.


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