dont believe the HYPE !!!

[jplittlebuck]

have you ever heard guys draw conclusions that birds are just not gobbling??
usually you will hear a fella or two say that there lack of action is from lack of gobbling, of course it's got to be true, the local expert in your area says so, LOL
well guess what fellas, 9 times out of 10, lack of gobbling means lack of Birds, true some natural accurance can affect gobbling in one region or another from time to time, mainly weather related, but when people use this excuse for a hole season, man that burns me up,
point is this,,, if birds aren't gobbling were your hunting, go find were they are, because believe me,
they are gobbling somewere,
many guys have little opptions to were they hunt, limited to small property's or liceses, and i understand that,
but by god, broden your horizans, and get after those birds, there are two things wrong with pounding dead woods, first off your just educating posibale birds that may be there and silent, and second, chances of killing a bird may be zero,
OK, we all know the story of they guy that spring gobbler hunts like he's on stand for deer, sitting in a strutting zone, or feed area, waiting to bushwack that big longbeard on his way to the roost, thats fine, not a darn thing wrong with that, except, Boring LOL
personally i exhaust all my sitting ability in the fall deer hunting, JMO LOL
so in the course of a spring morning on a nongobbling day, before 10AM, i may have hit 10 to 15 locations,
some from the truck on the road, trying to jerk that gobble out of that distant gobbler, some times you actually have to get back into diferant woods, either way it takes some leg work, but most times it means carrying a bird out of the woods, at your 7th location, as opposed to comming back to your truck at noon after not hearing a gobble all morning,
so give it a shot fellas, and have a great spring season!!!!

[eshoremd]

thanks jep, nice post. i dont think some of you experienced guys know how much us rookies appreciate post like this. this kind of info is what we are looking for.

[COJOMAY]

jplittlebuck:
I have to disagree with you. First of all, lack of gobbling may not mean lack of birds. If you have hunted turkeys for any length of time you would know there are many things that can cause a lack of gobbling.
1. Two year old birds do almost all of the gobbling, If there was a poor hatch two years ago there won't be near as much gobbling activity in ANY area.
2. Who knows why birds gobble one day and not the next. I was at a spot two days ago scouting and heard one distant gobble. Yet I spotted several longbeards in the fields. This morning there must have been 8 different birds gobbling in the same location within 1/2 mile of me.
3. Weather will effect gobbling activity.
So to make a blanket statement that lack of gobbling indicates no birds in an area is dead wrong!

[jplittlebuck]

it's just a generalization my friend, i cant protest to know every situation for every part of the country, and there may very well be factors involve in why birds aren't gobbling in one area, so what do you do ?? sit there and over analyze whats going on, or do you get after birds, ??
my method carries out longbeards, close to 70 TO 90
easterns, in about 6 or 7 diferant states, and i do feel confident in telling guys in a general sence, to GET AFTER THEM LOL sorry bud !!! somtimes there's little time to try and figure out what age group is not gobbling, when birds are gobbling somewere !!!!

[COJOMAY]

If you do your scouting well, you know there's birds whether they gobble or not. That's it!

[ncboman]

don't know what effect it has but around here guys run dogs year round. There are a few turkeys right around my house but I have never heard one gobble.

Twenty miles from here the woods is bigger and the turkeys gobble freely.

You can listen all you want from my house here and the turkeys will be quiet but they can be seen around the neighborhood from time to time so I know at least some are here.

[DaveHawk]

I have seen 2 large flocks of birds on my lease but never have I heard a gobble. That make me wonder if they are aware of preditors {people} and what not , may be the reason for lack of gobbling. Even when they see me they are not talking much a few yelps and their gone.

[hatracked]

I hunt with the attitude JP has , if the birds arent gobbling its because they arent there in any capacity worth hunting that morning . Im prety confident in my ability to crack a gobble out of a bird on a limb. However its kinda a false pride thing , I must admit. Some days turkeys dont gobble in some locations . Rare is the day however that they gobble nowhere once the spring thing hits. But Ive seen that as well Tennessee four years ago I sat under roosted toms for days that refused to gobble.

Really its all tit for tat . Point is fellas that you want to be hunting the gobbling turkeys if calling toms to the gun is your preferred way to kill turkey. Ambushes are great but carry little in comparison to a classic turkey hunters challenge of roost fly down to shot go for coffee hunt Thats what I try to accomplish every morning during the spring. When I find myself stuck in a spot with non gobbling toms I quickly head elsewhere. Regardless of whether they are there, they arent there in the attitude I want them to be to hunt the way I hunt. So they might as well not be there cause Im gone.

What I do do seriously along the lines of Maynards thinking is scout. Even on the off days birds have where they dont want play the game I keep an eye on em and wait for the conditions to ripen , cause inevitably it will. I have made my living for many spring having the duty of putting people on toms every day. Without scouting and keeping serious track of every bird gobbling or not , it wouldnt be possible to have the succes I do at it. Nor would it be possible for me to have the happy faces and gobbling action each morning if I wasted my time hunting non gobbling turkeys. Its all about the gobbling and fooling old dummy into a love strut for me . Certainly Ive dusted some tom in ambushes and Im sure to do it again. However its the gobble and strut thing that gets most folks goat.

Bottom line is I agree with both of you .

[jplittlebuck]

Thanks John, thats exactly what i'm talking about, as long as theres tracks in the mud, or fresh droppings, or better yet, resent visuals sightings, save them for another day, and move on to plan " B " we all know how tight lipped Tom's get from a varity of reason's, and as the season wears on, it's not only extra heavy pressure in some places, gobblers just get plain tired!!! and those type of birds, have always been the ultimate challenge, for me anyway, the kind that i like to flop right after flydown, somtimes No calls required LOL
another thing to i learned many years ago, is how vocal tight lipped gobblers get, a few days after a Big Boss Tom gets shot out of an area, hard to beleive your in the same woods you were in a week earlyer......

[hatracked]

You got that right John, knock old boss toms head of and the rest go crazy trying to restablush the pecking order. Toms that wouldnt think of gobbling or strutting go nutz.

I was guiding a 75 year old lady this morning and called big bird to 30 paces. She was so wound up she couldnt shoot. LOL He just flat kicked her tail with his gobbling. I had an easy 30 yard shot on him , but as usual , Im not shooting. We had a great time however. Back this afternoon to try to knock down the king. If we could kill him those woods would light up !

[SCtrkyhntr]

I hope thats Big Bird you're on and I hope you kill him. Hat I'll be out listening to birds this week so we don't have to run around all morning like we did Sat. the next time we head out.