I think I might be drumming deaf. I've turkey hunted for over 30 years and killed several, and have never heard one drum. I can hear them spit, but not drum. I've even watched videos where they are supposed to be drumming and hear nothing. I guess it's possible I cant hear that tone?? I do have high frequency hearing loss.
Drumming deaf
- Thread starter TnKen
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Wahoo98
Active Member
I definitely can't hear it on the videos. I read somewhere that if you don't have good speakers hooked up to your computer you won't be able to hear drumming on videos.
poorhunter
Well-Known Member
Wow! I hate that for you. I've killed a few only because I heard their drumming.
30-06 type of guy
Well-Known Member
I had to hook up some headphones to hear it for the first time. Occasionally I can hear it without headphones now that I know what it is. Sunday of opening weekend was my first time hearing it in person. I didn't hear it until he was about 30 yards.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
It's an extremely low frequency sound. Lots of folks can't hear it, either from hearing loss, or just congenital. Lots of others don't know what to listen for.
My hearing has gone downhill over the years. At this point, I can hear the 'spit' at around 60, sometimes 70y, but can't hear drumming any longer unless it's within 30 or so.
Also, some birds will strut without spitting and drumming.
My hearing has gone downhill over the years. At this point, I can hear the 'spit' at around 60, sometimes 70y, but can't hear drumming any longer unless it's within 30 or so.
Also, some birds will strut without spitting and drumming.
I struggle hearing drumming as well. Must be the frequency or something.
Wahoo98
Active Member
Headphones worked.
If you haven't had the chance to randomly be walking through the woods and hear one drumming, just out of sight, its something to experience. At first your like "was that one drumming?", then you scramble around trying to figure it out and if luck is on your side you will see the tips of tail fan before he sees you.
Myself and a buddy got to experience it Sunday, I have had it happen a couple times over my time but this was his first, I think.
Myself and a buddy got to experience it Sunday, I have had it happen a couple times over my time but this was his first, I think.
Displaced_Vol
Well-Known Member
Only time i know for sure I heard it is when I visibly watched one go into strut at about 30 yards in an open field. Heard the spit pretty good & almost "felt" the drum as much as I heard it. Almost like static background noise to me. I don't know, I've never heard it on video either. I am hopeful I just need to get better at identifying it but I am afraid I may be one that just can't hear it.
X-Tennessean
Well-Known Member
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I am one that cannot hear it either and it is very disappointing!
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
It's very low frequency, sounds like the bass of an expensive car speaker system. It can be easy to get them confused if your near a road.
Sometimes I can feel the drumming, it's hard to describe.
Sometimes they drum, sometimes not. Sometimes they spit, sometimes not. And they don't always do it together.
Watch turkeys, and when one is strutting hard with hens pay attention. He will sometimes take a few quick steps then suddenly stop, that's usually when you hear the spit, although not always. Also watch for his feathers vibrating. That's the drumming part.
Sometimes I can feel the drumming, it's hard to describe.
Sometimes they drum, sometimes not. Sometimes they spit, sometimes not. And they don't always do it together.
Watch turkeys, and when one is strutting hard with hens pay attention. He will sometimes take a few quick steps then suddenly stop, that's usually when you hear the spit, although not always. Also watch for his feathers vibrating. That's the drumming part.
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
Also if you know what to listen for you can hear their wings dragging the ground.
Some people just aren't blessed with good hearing, and I hate that for them. But a lot of people just don't know what or how to listen for them. It comes with lots of experience and you have to focus. Turn your entire body into an ear.
Sometimes they don't gobble in the tree. Sometimes you just hear them drumming and/or spitting.
I get so aggravated when someone is with me and we are listening and they are playing on the phone, scratching where it itches, moving and rustling around. When I'm with someone I usually distance myself self several yards from them so I can hear.
Some people just aren't blessed with good hearing, and I hate that for them. But a lot of people just don't know what or how to listen for them. It comes with lots of experience and you have to focus. Turn your entire body into an ear.
Sometimes they don't gobble in the tree. Sometimes you just hear them drumming and/or spitting.
I get so aggravated when someone is with me and we are listening and they are playing on the phone, scratching where it itches, moving and rustling around. When I'm with someone I usually distance myself self several yards from them so I can hear.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Agree.
I've also described the sound, and the "vibration", somewhat like distance ordinance exploding, which is so far away, barely audible, as you "feel" it as much as you hear it.
Remember the scene in the original Jurassic Park movie as the water glass was vibrating?
That is somewhat the sensation of a drumming Tom.
Setterman
Well-Known Member
theres a flip side to not being able to hear it. Hearing it all the dang time. I pick up drumming really well, I'm lucky but also unlucky as I constantly conjure up phantom drumming it seems Haha
I've only heard it a couple of times. Once was watching some penned up turkeys and the tom was strutting and drumming only feet away. The other time was watching some birds in a field about 20 yards away. I have tinnitus and my ears ring all the time so maybe that affects me hearing it.
Bohuntr
Well-Known Member
This is interesting because I've always had the same exact problem. I've hunted turkeys for over 30 years and was never able to hear them spitting and drumming either in the field or in videos when the hosts were telling you to listen to them spitting and drumming. Had my hearing checked and was told that my hearing was fine but that those sounds were just out of my hearing range.
Then on opening weekend of this year, I called a gobbler in that came in spitting and drumming and I could hear it all! I killed him at 23 yards. The next weekend I called another one in and the same thing happened. He was out of my gun range, over 40 yards away, but I could still hear him spitting and drumming, even that far away. I can only assume that something in my hearing has changed, but I'm thrilled to be able to now hear those fascinating sounds. I only wish whatever changed had happened earlier in my hunting career.
Then on opening weekend of this year, I called a gobbler in that came in spitting and drumming and I could hear it all! I killed him at 23 yards. The next weekend I called another one in and the same thing happened. He was out of my gun range, over 40 yards away, but I could still hear him spitting and drumming, even that far away. I can only assume that something in my hearing has changed, but I'm thrilled to be able to now hear those fascinating sounds. I only wish whatever changed had happened earlier in my hunting career.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
I had turkey hunted @ 20 years before I ever heard drumming. Now for @ 20 years later, regularly hear drumming. I think for me it was just "tuning in" to those low-frequency sounds, recognizing them, rather than just paying no attention to "background noise".
Kinda like you can't see something you're not looking for, or don't recognize when you see. My experience finding shed deer antlers was a similar epiphany. Went years without finding many, then suddenly, just had the ability to recognize & regularly find.
I've got 2 buddies that can really hear it well. Like over 150 yards away well. It helps them a ton in the turkey woods. I can hear it but only much closer. Typically 40-60 yds depending on terrain and stuff. It's helped me kill a lot of birds over the years.
They will hear birds drumming on the roost that didn't gobble and then we will kill them when they fly down. It's crazy how far they can hear it. It's an awesome sound.
Lee
They will hear birds drumming on the roost that didn't gobble and then we will kill them when they fly down. It's crazy how far they can hear it. It's an awesome sound.
Lee
That's cheating :D ! No telling how many more birds I would have killed over the years.
I have had very good hearing, thankfully, but just could not hear the drum for whatever reason. Mine changed when I had a gobbler come down a logging road 5 steps behind me, as I was facing the field. He hadn't gobbled for a bit, and I just knew he would come down the field edge :rolleyes: !
He drummed right behind me, and I felt and heard it. I was ecstatic that I had finally heard it. Since them I have for sure heard it maybe 4-5 other times. But, I cannot tell direction, and they have to be close. But, like you, I'm just glad that I can now hear it occasionally, and I know what it sounds like.
Seriously, for those who can't hear it, get a set of good headphones and watch Catman's video I linked above on a PC or phone with the volume up. If you can't hear it there, then there probably isn't any hope. Be sure to take the headphones off before he shoots!
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
This is the first time I've ever heard drumming on a video. Thanks Catman! Now I know what to listen for and hopefully pick it up in the woods. The key to hearing it is to listen for the spit and then hear that 1-2 second long drum. It sounds like the staccato drum roll on a bass drum rising to a quick ending. Sort of like a wuuooop.
I've never heard it. My ears don't pick up that frequency I guess. I've been with other hunters and they hear it out of the blue and here he comes. It sucks.
Willysman
Well-Known Member
May be my problem. I've turkey hunted for 45 years, killed nigh on a hundred turkeys and have only heard one turkey drum.
Benelli 4 Life
Well-Known Member
I can't hear high frequency sounds for nothing but I swear I can hear a bird drumming 200yds and over a ridge when the wind ain't blowing.
I hear spitting alot. Drumming not so much. Usually too much wind. Several years back I was going in the evening I parked my truck and opened door. Immediately sounded like a hive of bees. I snuck into the mix and it was seven gobblers and several hens witn all the gobblers drumming. It was quite a spectacle. I miss those days.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
I had what appeared to be a 3-yr-old Tom slip in behind me yesterday @ 2pm.
A crow landed nearby and cawed loudly, to which the Tom then shock gobbled about 10 yards behind my position. Right after he gobbled, he spit once, then started to drum, but never any more than that once.
Many just don't drum, some do, some do a lot.
As to this one yesterday, I think he knew something just wasn't right, possibly why he "slipped" in so quietly without my hearing him in dry hardwood leaves.
I had called him up from a considerable distance, but only yelped following what began as his "free" mid-day gobbles. Last time he gobbled, he was too close (and behind me) for me to respond (or move) in any way. Time before that, he was probably 200-plus yards away in a hardwood bottom. Somehow, he circled in behind me, as though he had exactly pin-pointed where those yelps had come, even from several hundred yards away.
I believe when he 1st responded, he had to be over 450 yds away, due to such a heavy tangle of young pines & briars between us, which he could not travel thru.
But seems like, most that come in like this one, often do drum, which is how I know they're coming. This one was exceptionally stealthy, and if that crow hadn't cawed, I'd likely have never known Mr. Tom was standing only a few feet behind me.
A crow landed nearby and cawed loudly, to which the Tom then shock gobbled about 10 yards behind my position. Right after he gobbled, he spit once, then started to drum, but never any more than that once.
Many just don't drum, some do, some do a lot.
As to this one yesterday, I think he knew something just wasn't right, possibly why he "slipped" in so quietly without my hearing him in dry hardwood leaves.
I had called him up from a considerable distance, but only yelped following what began as his "free" mid-day gobbles. Last time he gobbled, he was too close (and behind me) for me to respond (or move) in any way. Time before that, he was probably 200-plus yards away in a hardwood bottom. Somehow, he circled in behind me, as though he had exactly pin-pointed where those yelps had come, even from several hundred yards away.
I believe when he 1st responded, he had to be over 450 yds away, due to such a heavy tangle of young pines & briars between us, which he could not travel thru.
But seems like, most that come in like this one, often do drum, which is how I know they're coming. This one was exceptionally stealthy, and if that crow hadn't cawed, I'd likely have never known Mr. Tom was standing only a few feet behind me.
