Sound of Silence!

[medrhunter]

Is anyone else experiencing a silent season?
I've been out 3 days and haven't heard a single gooble.
Not even a distance morning roost gooble.
Birds are there, I've had 6 toms within 75 yards and I couldn't get peep out of any of them.
Hens are the opposite. I can hear hens all over the place.
Wonder if they are getting wise.

 

[longbow]

Heavy hunting pressure or heavy predator pressure can make them shut up I believe.

I rarely hear hens making a sound these days. I think they know that everytime they make a peep something; bobcat, fox, coyote; is going to be stalking them.

Every year for many years I have had a huge flock of turkeys around my house in early spring. This year nothing at all. Only a lone hen around that I see quite often. Have not heard a gobble from my yard this year which is unheard of. The two properties that I hunt are nearly devoid of birds, although I saw 4 jakes and a couple of hens the first week of the season.

That's good that you are at least seeing the birds. Are you hunting down in south Jersey? I heard the population is still pretty good down there.

 

[Muzzleloader]

They will throw it in your face all deer season by being everywhere then, you'll see them everywhere while deer hunting.

 

[medrhunter]

Heavy hunting pressure or heavy predator pressure can make them shut up I believe.

I rarely hear hens making a sound these days. I think they know that everytime they make a peep something; bobcat, fox, coyote; is going to be stalking them.

Every year for many years I have had a huge flock of turkeys around my house in early spring. This year nothing at all. Only a lone hen around that I see quite often. Have not heard a gobble from my yard this year which is unheard of. The two properties that I hunt are nearly devoid of birds, although I saw 4 jakes and a couple of hens the first week of the season.

That's good that you are at least seeing the birds. Are you hunting down in south Jersey? I heard the population is still pretty good down there.

I'm hunting Knowlton Twp, Warren county

 

[longbow]

Ok, I remember now, we talked about where you hunt before. Sounds like all my birds are over by you.

 

[Meatseeker]

I experienced similar conditions in CT this year. I hunted a few spots where I knew I was within 100 yards of a few toms based on scouting. I wasn't able to get them to even make a courtesy gobble. I barely heard any gobbling on the roost down there either.

 

[lester2]

I got home from Florida last Friday and today I went out for a few hours. Our northern VT birds are definitely more vocal this year, so far. I got to my spot at 4:30am, had a bird gobbling on the roost at 4:45. He flew down shortly after 5am, along with a couple of hens. He pretty much gobbled constantly until I got busted by one of his hens as they slowly worked towards me. Even after they ran off he continued to gobble until they went out of earshot. He’s a good Tom and there’s not much pressure up here after the opening weekend. I’ll let him settle down for a few days and take another crack at him.

 

[338 Bear Hunter]

 

[Flatlander]

In s.e. Ct. we've had mixed results. Not a lot of gobbling after fly down. Last friday we had some gobbling up a storm and coming in. They got about 100 yards away and somethjng spooked them. That was the most gobbling we've had. That being said the 2 of us had shooting 5 out of 6 hunts and killed 3 toms and a jake.

 

[NH Hunter]

I had a bird in the yard for a week and a half. He would gobble all morning in the roost, then hang on my lawn almost all day never gobbling.

I had Friday off and hunted some local spots. I found birds on the mountain, but they were entertained by hens that lead them away from me. After trying a few circles I decided to try another spot. I could hear what I thought was 2 or 3 birds gobbling way off in the distance on some posted property (A flatty that moved from away and posted 100+ acres that the old farmer who lived there before allowed hunting). Anyway...... I went in on the adjacent lot , walked in a good distance and started calling. I could faintly hear them off in the distance. I closed it by about 100 yards and sat down to recall if there were any brooks or thick shit they would have to come through to find me. They gobbled on their own and let me know they had closed about 75% of the distance. I was on a wooded top that had a pretty steep incline where they were going to have to come up. I called and it sound like there was 2-3 good Toms and at least 3 jakes all together. The woods friggin lit up and they were just over this hill. I never moved, other than to snap the safety off, when all the sudden a few of the birds started putting and carrying on over the bank. I tried purring real soft and slow , with a few light yelps to calm them down, but they ended up going the opposite direction. I have no idea what happened. I did see a truck parked up the road when I left that wasn't there when I started my hunt. Could've been a hunter, coyote, bobcat or just something they didn't like about coming up the hill. I have no clue but exciting none the less. Bright side is I can hunt this weekend, and I didn't have to clean a turkey on Friday.

I've been trying to find a "shooter" to tag along. I love calling them, but could care less if I ever shoot another one. I don't care much for the way they taste, and it seems to be a crap shoot if they're going to be tough of half decent.

I guess it sounds like I got lucky finding a few birds that wanted to play. I think it's only going to get better the next few weeks though. All this rain had to kill off a few nests. The sun has been out, days are getting warmer and they have to start roaming around soon looking for new hens. They'll get more talkative when they finally aren't so soggy. LOL

 

[338 Bear Hunter]

 

[Flatlander]

I misstated that we had shooting on 5 of 6 hunts. It was 4 of 6 , opening day we shot 2. 2 days no shots.

 

[Flatlander]

On a side note we've been seeing a lot of deer. Saw 6 on friday.

 

[338 Bear Hunter]

 

[NH Hunter]

Maybe the big toms prefer posted land.

You wrote that you didn't have to clean a turkey on Friday. What exactly do you do? I've only ever removed the breasts. I tried the legs, but it was so little meat it hardly seemed worth the effort. Several turkey hunters suggested that they too only removed the breasts.

As for cooking, we use one of those pressurized insta-pots. It came out surprisingly good. Based on the great lengths some hunters go to for turkey prep, I assumed the simple method wasn't tasty, but it was.

I breast them as well. I’ve had them be really good , and complete opposite. It seems to be hit or miss as to how they taste. Not sure if it’s because of what they eat or what.

 

[338 Bear Hunter]

 

[Flatlander]

Birds are tuff this morning , thinking they're henned up. Moved 3 times can't get them to commit

 

[338 Bear Hunter]

 

[Flatlander]

It's nice to be retired.

 

[338 Bear Hunter]