Boll Weevil said:
I wonder what makes them vary so much...mysteries of the turkey world I guess.
In my opinion, last spring will go down as one of the earliest springs we ever experience in regards to warmer/hotter temps, leaf out, turkeys courting/breeding, poult sightings etc. In years past, I have read scientific research that suggests the ground temperature plays
some role in the timing of turkeys mating. If there is any truth to this hypothesis, last year will set the precedence for "early" as we had no winter and the warmest spring on record, as well as the earliest turkey breeding and poult sightings that I have witnessed firsthand in the 13 years I have been chasing them. My turkey hunting mentor, 65+ years old, and 350+ longbeards to his name (
in many states) told me last year that the breeding was just about over before the season started here in SW TN, and that it was the earliest he had seen this behavior in his 40+ years of chasing them. This year appears to be more on track to what I recall a normal transition from winter to spring to be like, which is fine by me. I can hunt as late into the season as the dates permit, but I could not hunt last year when the turkeys were peaking in my areas, which was the week before juvenile and the week after. My .02
I thought they had finally split up but later that day we saw 7 longbeards together with no hens.
