Can't buy a gobble

[catman529]

I know some of you are having windy miserable conditions. But here it's been Ok some days. Wen Saturday afternoon for 3 hours. Went this morning till 12:30 for 3 hours. Private and public land, multiple setups each time. Couldn't get a single gobble either day. Sunny, cool to warm, occasional breeze. Anyone else had this luck lately?


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[medwc]

I just got back from LBL. I set up on a big ridge where I can normally hear 8 to 10 different bird in all directions. In a 3 hours time period I never heard a gobble, yelp, cluck or fly down in an area that is normally covered in birds. Clear as a bell I could hear a guy trying to start his outboard on Lake Barley(500 yards away or more) so sound was carrying well. It wasn't windy either, beautiful morning in the woods. Last Saturday was the same for me on Fort Campbell also(in my general area anyways).

 

[tree_ghost]

Cat I have had the same issues as you. I've hunted hard for 5 days. 2 of those days I didn't hear a gobble. Of the three days I did hear a gobble two of those days were birds that would only gobble on the limb...I had one day where a bird was talking decent but I couldn't pull him off his hens. It's been tough...


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[Simpleman.2]

Same as the above.. Ever since last Tuesday they have basically shut up for me. I've been hunting three times since and have not heard the first gobble. Hope it picks up soon.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I think it was Saturday morning that I noticed the woods starting to quiet down a little. I knew it was imminent with all the breeding groups still in bunches like they were; they fly down and go right to making baby turkeys. As soon as some of these hes start peeling off there should be an uptick in gobbling.

 

[Dover_Mike]

They are flocked up big time around here. Definitely not searching/chasing. I ambushed one Sunday and he was full of yellow fat around his breast, did have 3 beards though.

 

[WORM82]

The gobblers I been hunting are staying with hens all day long and some gobblers are staying at a farmers feed trough all day long with no interest in hens at all. I did hear a couple gobbling from the roost right after dark last night.

 

[poorhunter]

I was going to start a thread today saying the same thing. I haven't heard a gobble at my home place since before juvi weekend, and I was hearing 6-8 each morning then. Talked with some guys on a lease two properties away, and they killed 4 last weekend, but not one of them gobbled on the ground. I have been twice to another property nearby, and there's been good roost gobbling at least, but none after fly down. Last year, I had birds firing up at all hours at my place. I'm hoping the hens have just taken longer than usual to start nesting. It does seem like the trees have been very slow to leaf out too...although this is only my third spring in Tennessee.

 

[randy1974]

Me and a friend hunted down there last week Mon-Thurs in Fairview We are from Ohio we killed 3 birds should have killed 4 but a Monday mourning miss but anyway we never heard a gobble on the roost all week Tues mourning we doubled up and those birds that we roosted Monday night never said a word also. (ALL 3 BIRDS THAT WE KILLED AND THE ONE WE MISSED WERE AROUND 8-8:30)

 

[randy1974]

BIRDS HERE IN OHIO ARE THE SAME WAY AND HAVE BEN FOR 3 WEEKS ( NO HEAR NO SEE ITS LIKE THEY ALL FEW AWAY )

 

[catman529]

Same as the above.. Ever since last Tuesday they have basically shut up for me. I've been hunting three times since and have not heard the first gobble. Hope it picks up soon.

same here, I think it was last tuesday they went quiet on me. The day before I had one gobbling and coming in hot, just with a big fence and property line between us. Since then, much less gobbling in the woods, hardly any at all.


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[fairchaser]

Went this morning and not a peep. The last time I heard gobbling was Saturday and it was on the limb only.

 

[Setterman]

It's laughably quiet in these parts. A little scattered roost talk but getting one to answer on the ground is not happening. The wind is what I'm blaming along with winter like conditions every day. It's a savagely brutal start to the season, and the toughest I've experienced

 

[Onelow69c10]

Same here I havent heard a gobble since the bird I killed last wed he did gobble all the way to the gun though.

 

[gobblinfool]

I think I better keep quiet here......though I can say tonight.....you could hear a fart at 100yds.....I didn't hear/see any birds for the first time in a long time....but I can't wait till tomorrow.

 

[megalomaniac]

Definetly less action this past trip up to TN than opening weekend, but I chalked it up to the front loading of the harvest. About 1/3 of the entire season's kill happens in the first week. That's a LOT fewer gobblers to chase after week one. Cut the male population by a quarter in a week, keep the same number of hens, and it translates to most adult birds having hens to tend to. They should still be gobbling just fine on the roost, but once they get with their girls, don't expect any chatter from the toms until the hens start drifting off from the group to lay.

The second week of the season was definetly the best back in the 90s and early 00's. Since the kill has been so frontloaded the past decade, I prefer to hunt the first week because there are so many more birds available to hunt.

 

[randy1974]

I cant speak for Tennessee but here in Ohio we had a very easy and warm winter i seen gobblers feb-12 in full strut trying to breed hens i set and watched 8 long beards in full strut for 20 min and never came out of strut i think here they are already bred out and our season starts Monday 4-18 going to be ruff .

 

[muddyboots]

I get chastised for saying this but in our part of the world on my lease we missed the best hunting. I've hunted the same piece of ground for 25 years. Our best hunting and gobbling happens before the dogwoods bloom. I looked back in my journal and they bloomed last yr on April 14 on our lease and this year they bloomed the Friday before the reg season opened. Since the season I have killed or had a hand in killing 5 longbeards. None of them made a peep. They fly down and strut with hens til they go back and roost so no need to gobble. Our pines got thinned this year and we can see a 300 to 400 yards. The ones we have killed we find a good vantage point and literally start glassing like we were hunting out west or something. If i can spot a gobbler that is alone he will come but this is the weird part. Since I can see them I can tell how they react. I've used every call in my vest and the only one that makes them come looking is a box call. They won't even quit walking when I use a mouth call or any kind of pot call. Grab the box and they turn and come looking. One other lease member has had good look straight from the roost but he is managing to get real tight before light and they are coming to him. I did hear one gobble 3 times this afternoon so I think in the next few days it will get some better. I stalked right in the middle of 11 hens this afternoon an could not see a gobbler. Very weird season. I have seen several lone hens that I believe are already nesting. I ran 2 cameras from the first of March over clover plots. I had pics of lots of turkeys all day long until 3 days before juvenile hunt. From then til now majority of turkey pics are in the afternoons. So my theory is peak breeding started here 3 days before juvi hunt and then the hens will go feed in the afternoons and sometimes have gobblers with them and sometimes not. All the gobblers we have killed have not eaten anything. And I mean not a bite of anything in their craw so they are breeding all day. So I think breeding been going on for awhile and that makes hunting tough. Hopefully by the week end gobbling will pick up. That's my .02 cents worth. Not worth much lol.

 

[tree_ghost]

I also believe that the warmer weather that is moving in today through the weekend is going to help but there are still a lot of hens out and flocked up for it to really get hot and heavy...I hope we can make it happen


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[cuttinAR]

We hunted the opener for a few days by Pleasantville. It was rough with very little gobbling. Only a couple here and there in the afternoon before flyup and when we would go back the next morning not a peep from the gobbler we knew was there. Tough conditions especially when I'm not much for sitting still and deer hunting them and we put miles on our boots trying to raise one but could not. The turkeys are there based on the fresh sign just not talking. I'm 99% sure they were in peak breeding with the dreaded lockjaw so seeing that I'm a few hours away I'm waiting until late April and early May to give em another shot with hopefully hens starting to lay and set. Hope they pick up soon for everyone, good luck.