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What's Wrong With These Birds???

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Buck Assassin

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My brother and I hunted hard all weekend and Monday morning and I could probably count on one hand how many gobblers we heard! I mean they just won't talk for nothin! Yesterday I sat up on a ridge where I could hear all around me and listened till about 8:30 am. Nothing!!! Finally I hit the box pretty hard and I basically got one to shock gobble but he wasn't the least bit interested in my calling. I could understand if they were flying down and we weren't hearing them but they aren't even gobbling on the roost! Anyone got any ideas about whats going on? It's not just this one place either. We have hunted on opposite sides of the county and it's the same at both places.
 
Sounds like my season last year, and so far this year with the exception of Saturday.

Seems like the weather has a lot to do with it, but then again it could just be plain old bad luck. I walked right past one roosted last Friday and it never made a sound until about 45 minutes after I walked past it when it shock gobbled to a crow flying over. I had blew an owl hooter, crow call, and even hit my slate in that 45 minute span trying to get one to do SOMETHING, and the dang thing was within 100 yards from me with sealed lips the whole time. It can get frustrating if you let it. :D

BTW, when it flew down I never heard or seen it... :mad:
 
This is the easiest question with regards to turkeys I have ever answered or seen asked on here.

One word answer......HENS.

We are in or nearing the dreaded silent dark days of the season here in East TN. All the lone birds have gathered a hen or 10, the dominant birds have had hens, and the jakes are being jakes. Nothing is gobbling because they have no reason to, they are roosting with their hens and spending all day with them. Be patient and in a week or 10 days they should start showing up again.

Right on cue I might add, this is the time every year this happens, and hunting sucks for the most part if you like gobbling birds.

Usually the newbies hang it up thinking it is over, while us with a few springs behind us are just relaxing waiting for the slaughter to begin in a few weeks.
 
Setterman said:
This is the easiest question with regards to turkeys I have ever answered or seen asked on here.

One word answer......HENS.

We are in or nearing the dreaded silent dark days of the season here in East TN. All the lone birds have gathered a hen or 10, the dominant birds have had hens, and the jakes are being jakes. Nothing is gobbling because they have no reason to, they are roosting with their hens and spending all day with them. Be patient and in a week or 10 days they should start showing up again.

Right on cue I might add, this is the time every year this happens, and hunting sucks for the most part if you like gobbling birds.

Usually the newbies hang it up thinking it is over, while us with a few springs behind us are just relaxing waiting for the slaughter to begin in a few weeks.
Click to expand...

Ditto ditto and ditto
 
The three longbeards I saw together yesterday afternoon with nary a hen are probably transvestites. And even with that proof that they do exist on our place, I agree that they have gone dead silent. My son killed one that was hammering it Friday, but since then the gobbling has gradually gone to nothing. Maybe the word got out that bad things happen to you when you talk too much! Hearing gobbling is fun and obviously part of the sport and tactics, but "dead" periods do not cause me to stay home. The way that I hunt, it is possible that a mute turkey may stumble into a bad situation.
 
Rockhound said:
Setterman said:
This is the easiest question with regards to turkeys I have ever answered or seen asked on here.

One word answer......HENS.

We are in or nearing the dreaded silent dark days of the season here in East TN. All the lone birds have gathered a hen or 10, the dominant birds have had hens, and the jakes are being jakes. Nothing is gobbling because they have no reason to, they are roosting with their hens and spending all day with them. Be patient and in a week or 10 days they should start showing up again.

Right on cue I might add, this is the time every year this happens, and hunting sucks for the most part if you like gobbling birds.

Usually the newbies hang it up thinking it is over, while us with a few springs behind us are just relaxing waiting for the slaughter to begin in a few weeks.
Click to expand...

Ditto ditto and ditto
Click to expand...
x3 this is the first year i have killed one this early,but partly b/c i love to hear them gobble,and my normal good time starts nxt week !!
 
Lawrence said:
I am headed to Missouri for the opener on Monday
and the birds there are doing the same thing
No gobbles on the limb at all
We will see
Click to expand...
thats my old home grounds what part you headed to ?
 
So what makes them so easy to kill in the next week or so? They start gobblin again? As setterman said the slaughter to begin? What gives?
 
4onaside said:
The three longbeards I saw together yesterday afternoon with nary a hen are probably transvestites. And even with that proof that they do exist on our place, I agree that they have gone dead silent. My son killed one that was hammering it Friday, but since then the gobbling has gradually gone to nothing. Maybe the word got out that bad things happen to you when you talk too much! Hearing gobbling is fun and obviously part of the sport and tactics, but "dead" periods do not cause me to stay home. The way that I hunt, it is possible that a mute turkey may stumble into a bad situation.
Click to expand...
Several things are possible.

1.subordinate birds that know better than to approach a hen or gobble. Very common and pretty likely.

2,. Had hens you couldn't see

3. Your calling, not likely but having never heard you call it could go either way.

4. If you hunt out of a blind consistently, birds will begin to ignore the calling coming from the same location day after day. We all call with our own cadences and rarely does an individual vary much.
 
ImThere said:
So what makes them so easy to kill in the next week or so? They start gobblin again? As setterman said the slaughter to begin? What gives?
Click to expand...
It doesn't necessarily make them any easier to kill for a sedentary guy like me, EXCEPT, you know what you are hunting is in your area, and at least approximately its location. Obvious big help IMO.
 
ImThere said:
So what makes them so easy to kill in the next week or so? They start gobblin again? As setterman said the slaughter to begin? What gives?
Click to expand...

Hens begin spending more time nesting than with gobblers. This results in lonely, susceptible gobblers.
 
ImThere said:
So they do get more vocal? And they begin to answer to calling?
Click to expand...

Yes, and it will reach a crescendo at some point with birds literally losing their minds in hopes of attracting a hen.

There won't ever be the level of gobbling late there is early, due to several factors, many of the mature gobblers are dead, and some will remain with hens until after the season closes. However, a good number do lose their company and become extremely vocal.
 
Poser said:
ImThere said:
So they do get more vocal? And they begin to answer to calling?
Click to expand...

You'll be more likely to get cruising birds during late morning and midday. They may or may not gobble, but they will show up.
Click to expand...
Those are the ones that I have had more success with.
 

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