Where the heck are they?

catman529

catman529

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Past week or so it's like the birds have gone dormant. Except for one I've hunted 3 times that I call Mr Jake Gobble, I haven't heard any. And I've stopped seeing strutters in the fields wherever I drive. Anyone else had this kind of tough hunting lately? I don't get to hunt em fresh off the roost like I used to, so I'm hunting mostly mid mornings and afternoons till sunset. I would like to hear one at least.


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Still hearing gobbling birds and seeing them in fields more while driving.
I've been bow hunting since the 2nd week and have called 6 longbeards since then.
 
It's a roller coaster over here, one day they are on fire then dead quiet for several days. Thursday it was nuts, this morning lots of different birds gobbled, but only once or twice each. The east winds are killing us right now, and the cool temps aren't helping either.

After fly down I stayed in the woods until almost 1:00 pm today and it was unusually quiet.
 
Today was retarded quite and a Tom acted retarded when called he hunkered down acted completely weird until he CRAWLED off to private land
 
ImThere":vl4rh9jb said:
Today was retarded quite and a Tom acted retarded when called he hunkered down acted completely weird until he CRAWLED off to private land
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dang now that's a pressured bird


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Right behind the barn, strutting with 3 hens when I got home today. The boss bird I have had trouble with on the main property this year too. He is getting into his old pattern. Think I'm going to break out the bow and set up on him Wednesday morning.
 
Fleet Fox":ft77t3d2 said:
Right behind the barn, strutting with 3 hens when I got home today. The boss bird I have had trouble with on the main property this year too. He is getting into his old pattern. Think I'm going to break out the bow and set up on him Wednesday morning.
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Time to get in the barn it sounds like :)
 
Setterman":2tqmkatr said:
Fleet Fox":2tqmkatr said:
Right behind the barn, strutting with 3 hens when I got home today. The boss bird I have had trouble with on the main property this year too. He is getting into his old pattern. Think I'm going to break out the bow and set up on him Wednesday morning.
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Time to get in the barn it sounds like :)
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It's funny because this joker had a huge group of hens following him 2 weeks prior to season and the first 2 weeks of the season. All of his hens went to nest and he has been alone for the last 2 weeks. He has no desire to wander off beyond his stomping grounds. He will not come to a call and he stays in an area that makes it almost impossible to sneak in on him. He has also kept every other bird off the front 100 acres of my property this year. He has almost pissed me off. I was out of town most of this past week, but noticed he had another group of hens with him on the 2 evenings when I was home. I am letting him think things have settled before I lay him to rest. But then again, I may be saying the same about him next year. :D
 
I hate birds like that, they're a tremendous pain to deal with and some of them virtually unkillable by any traditional methods. Sounds like he has now found some young hens to hang with, but if he loses them before the end of the season he may just be vulnerable.

Regardless, it sounds like he just needs to die for the betterment of the property and your hunting. Break out the rifle :lol:
 
Saturday was on fire for me. Had a long beard that for some reason allows two jakes to hang with him all the time, lets just say after two hours of gobbling and three moves to get closer the long beard is a bit lonelier thank to my buddys first turkey. An hour later I hear one gobbling on top of the ridge, the single hottest gobbler Ive ever heard. 8-10 gobbles per minute from the same spot for over 30 minutes, got set up on him as he stopped gobbling, I called his gal right past me...he was strutting right behind her and I back flipped the ol boy.
 
I do not hunt likely near or any public land that catman hunts, but take this for what it is worth.
There may not be any turkeys to gobble or to see strutting in fields like normal.

That is what happened with us. One year there just wasn't many turkeys come spring/summer. Still like that, only getting worse.

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Hopefully they will be back for you this fall, knock you out a few hens and a Tom or two.


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woodsman87":3ozxz1xe said:
I do not hunt likely near or any public land that catman hunts, but take this for what it is worth.
There may not be any turkeys to gobble or to see strutting in fields like normal.

That is what happened with us. One year there just wasn't many turkeys come spring/summer. Still like that, only getting worse.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Tapatalk
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I was seeing good numbers of gobblers and hens right before season, and seen plenty of strutters the first couple weeks while driving down the road. The pressure drove the birds away and I'm sure plenty got killed, but I don't think our flock here has been killed off like some have seen. I hope it never does, but with the pressure I've seen lately, I don't see the numbers likely to go up either...


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AT Hiker":xtxdo3nc said:
Hopefully they will be back for you this fall, knock you out a few hens and a Tom or two.


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they will be back this fall for sure, but I may look to a new WMA or private land for my thanksgiving turkey.


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