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Toms still bunched up around here

Popcorn said:
Stewart county Tn and Trigg county ky I am beginning to see a few single's scattered about. Still plenty in larger groups but finding those outliers is my thing.
Many around here wear them out calling to them before season. Put your call away and scout, watch and listen. Those singles out there are the birds many of you do not know exist. Humans have taught them to not gobble
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LOT of truth in this
 
ZachMarkus said:
Drove by that spot again today. 19 long beards in the field 😲
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Somebody is corn'ing around there!!!!

Most I've ever seen is 12 at once... but that was in an 80yos backyard and he hand feeds 100lb a week scratch grains to his birds.

Most I've ever seen in nonbaited wild bird spring flock was 8 toms in a group... and that was back in the late 90s.

I have seen a group of 35 jakes once in the spring and a group of 20 toms once in a winter bachelor group. Early 2000s.

But this is why I'm so excited about the season delay this year.... Those that bait will see greatly diminishing returns this year as hens leave bait sites in preference to nesting/ brooding habitat... and the toms WILL follow them. Throw a pile of corn vs a pile of grasshoppers on the ground. 99% of turkeys are going after the grasshoppers!!!!
 
megalomaniac said:
Somebody is corn'ing around there!!!!

Most I've ever seen is 12 at once... but that was in an 80yos backyard and he hand feeds 100lb a week scratch grains to his birds.

Most I've ever seen in nonbaited wild bird spring flock was 8 toms in a group... and that was back in the late 90s.

I have seen a group of 35 jakes once in the spring and a group of 20 toms once in a winter bachelor group. Early 2000s.

But this is why I'm so excited about the season delay this year.... Those that bait will see greatly diminishing returns this year as hens leave bait sites in preference to nesting/ brooding habitat... and the toms WILL follow them. Throw a pile of corn vs a pile of grasshoppers on the ground. 99% of turkeys are going after the grasshoppers!!!!
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They might be but this is a pretty big farm and there isn't supposed to be anyone on this place. I seen a group of 54 toms 3 years ago not far from here and 33 in that same field the next year. Wish I would have filmed the 54, that was something to see. It was in January in a cut corn field. I'm sure that group of 54 spread out in the spring and populated no telling how many farms. I know a big 2k acre lease right down the road killed 22 that year.
 
ZachMarkus said:
They might be but this is a pretty big farm and there isn't supposed to be anyone on this place. I seen a group of 54 toms 3 years ago not far from here and 33 in that same field the next year. Wish I would have filmed the 54, that was something to see. It was in January in a cut corn field. I'm sure that group of 54 spread out in the spring and populated no telling how many farms. I know a big 2k acre lease right down the road killed 22 that year.
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Are they actively feeding cattle something that might be attracting them?
 
I listened in SW TN yesterday and heard 4-5 on limb, but nothing after 6:45, and I hung around to almost 8. I drove down the road a mile or more and saw 18 hens and 6 LBs pecking in a field, of which 2 were strutting. I did not hear those turkeys from where I listened.
 
ZachMarkus said:
I know a big 2k acre lease right down the road killed 22 that year.
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2k is not big for "turkey hunting". Killing 22 LBs on 2k acres in one season and folks wonder why some areas are near void of turkeys. Just think if everyone had that mentality. I had buddies that had an unbelievable lease in Houston county 15 years ago. They once put up numbers like that for several years, then over a few years, they claimed they did not have the turkeys they once did. Hmmmmmm.......wonder why.
 
That's partly why I think we have a decline We just kill too many in certain areas. You get an area with a bunch smaller farms and everyone is killing whatever they can get a shot at. Don't take long to whittle them down I know it happens in my area
 
Andy S. said:
2k is not big for "turkey hunting". Killing 22 LBs on 2k acres in one season and folks wonder why some areas are near void of turkeys. Just think if everyone had that mentality. I had buddies that had an unbelievable lease in Houston county 15 years ago. They once put up numbers like that for several years, then over a few years, they claimed they did not have the turkeys they once did. Hmmmmmm.......wonder why.
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I've told this story before... but back in the early 2000s, neighbors bragged about killing 17 longbeards in the first 3 days of season (hunting over bait). Strangely enough, the population collapsed after that. They haven't hunted that 500ac farm in the past 5 years, just not enough turkeys to make it worth their while.

And yes, it was possible to kill that many... a couple years before, I worked 29 longbeards in 1 day (only around 10 or 12 came into gun range). Limit was 2, so I wasn't pulling the trigger on a bird unless it was the biggest on the farm. My 2 that year were a 26lb bird with 1.75in spurs and a 25 lb bird with 1.5in spurs. But I had the entire month of April off and turkey hunted every day except for 2 days.

I learned more about turkey hunting in that 1 spring due to number of encounters with toms than I could have learned in 20 springs in MS.... (except patience... there was no reason to be patient... if a bird didn't start coming in 15 minutes, just move on to the next tom over the hill and work him... hunting MS taught me patience for sure!!!!)
 
Just some tips from an old fellow.
1. Don't call to them before the season. If you need to use a locator call to get them started, use something you aren't going to use during the season.
2. This goes for during the season too. Give the chance for the turkey to wake up and sound off, not all turkeys sound off when the first cardinals start singing, some are like people, they need time to wake up before wanting to talk to someone. If you want to get them started, use a gobble box that you aren't going to use during the season.
3. Don't go harassing the turkeys by following them for hours, just find out where he wants to generally head when he leaves the roost.
4. All bets are off when the hens start nesting, birds will be in one area at dawn and can be a mile or two away by 8-9 central time, 10-11 for you eastern time zone folks.
5. A long time ago we went through it where there weren't a lot of birds, this isn't new. My tips for this, find a good bird and stay on him until you kill him. Don't hound him with a lot of calling, just enough to let him know you're interested. Remember, we are trying to make a turkey do something that is totally different from what happens in the woods, when a gobbler sounds off the hen is supposed to go to him, and he knows this.
6. Early in the season when you see these gobblers together, you can kill them by just deep clucking like a gobbler or gobbling to them. They are looking for a buddy to hang out with right now. I have killed one and called another up for a buddy that missed one yesterday, I haven't yelped yet.
 

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