Whats your take on this past

Adrian J Hare · 06-27-2006, 08:17 PM

After thinking over the season this past, I came to the thinking that a lot of the Kills I was involved with seemed to be more social talk kills rather then the hard Gobbling strutting and coming strong to the call.

The season seemed to be different this year and I have to think that most of the mating was all ready over and this lead to the gobbler following non receptive hens on the most part. What I seemed to notice was that the gobblers still had the interest but the hens really didn't.

Calling from a hunter seemed to take far more patience in the setup and calling more softly and waiting out birds that would come for the companionship rather then the mating.

I found that hens seemed to come to the call, all season but not aggressive but rather just to socialize with others. This seemed to bring the gobblers still willing to mate right along with them.

How did you find your season this past? did you find the birds worked like they normally would or was there difference in your skills to get birds to take notice...BT

Bobgobble2 · 06-28-2006, 08:01 AM

BT,I've always felt that each day through the course of the season is different from the last.Monotony can present empty frusterating days and cause a hunter to shorten his/her season.Through most of the season dealing with weather,hunter pressure,and the different stages of the birds themselves simply demands a change of tactics through the course of the season in being successful.The key is being able to read the bird and understand the situation and adsjusting your hunting/calling to it!Our breeding season probably because of the weather was slow in getting going this year.The adult gobblers had hens from the get go and mostly all season for that matter.The gobblers were withthe ladies but thehens were just not receptive till late in the year so consequently I dealt with alot of henned-up gobblers.Most of my clients took jakes of which we had plenty simply because they were the most vocal and receptive to a call.The longbeards we took mainly were harvested due to some good scouting in knowing where they going and setting up there before they got there.Another intresting thing that was going on this year was that we had a bumper crop of jakes this year and on a few hunts was witnessing 4 or 5 jakes gang up on alongbeard!Ive seen it before but not as much as this year.Made for some entertaining mornings but at the same timefrusterating too!All in all it was a great season and once again a great learning experience!!Cant wait till fall!!!!!!!

huntnma · 06-28-2006, 01:44 PM

you know this year has been the oddest yet....looking back on this season, i can say that most of the hens were definately bred...i only had a couple of hens actually come in to my callin', it was the gobblers that shocked me, almost every morning i hunted but a couple , i had gobblerscoming in...i learned to go with my gut more when it comes to calling and moving/adapting and it worked out pretty well if i say so

...usually i get all the hens and no gobblers, lol....just seemed like i couldn't had a bad day this year...i know that the scouting i did had alot to do with my success and i know i'll never have another season like this past season...there's just no way it can happen to me twice in a lifetime, lol....

Arrowmaster · 06-29-2006, 08:04 PM

This was an awesome year turkey hunting for me. I did have struting and gobbling except for my first bird. I took 3 this year. My other 2 were filled with struting. My second bird was very very vocal. My third bird I had to yell at him to bring him out of strut so I could shoot him... This was my best season ever and to shoot a double beard that weighed 25lbs was awesome. That was my biggest turkey to date. Oh how I love turkey hunting. I just cant get enough... Arrowmaster

ultimag · 06-29-2006, 08:54 PM

once again i had to deal with henned up gobblers all seson. starting with the opener i witnessed 2 seperate gobbler fights involving up to 5 gobblers.1 roost site produced 32 hens and 2 longbeards. all this happened in my first ten day hunt in Mt. and Wy.most of our kills were being at where the flock wanted too be.I did call in lone birds 2x but all the rest had hens with them.

Adrian J Hare · 06-30-2006, 03:54 PM

Seems everyone had the same type of season. Huntnma You do just fine after this year, as most don't realize it , I'm sure everyone learned a thing or two , but it may take next season to remember the things that you forgot in the excitmen.

Bob , I've seen the same type of years as you decribed. I found here in Ontario there seemed to be a better count of Jakes and Jenny's. We don't seem to have them in Bulk as you did this season , but I did have a lot more of them into me this year. I found that 2 year olds were lacking this season and that shows what I noticed last year as the jakes were down in my area. Next season should be good here.

I'm still seeing gobblers strutting to hens now, so if the rains don't over take the poults we should have some good birds in the years to come.

Arrowmaster , Thats a great bird you got 25LB with two beards ,,,WOW I know a fello from Indiana that took a 28Lber one time. I have to say you guys got some good birds in that State...BT

OntElk · 07-07-2006, 01:50 PM

Little further south in Ontario I think found I was definelty dealing with bred hens. Had some peak gobbling very early during pre-season scouting and paid all my attention to the hens on those pre-season trips this year.When things got started I thinkthe birds must have been all over the place from cruising for the few receptive hens. I was shocked at how few hens I saw this year during the season but I'm guessing there were already bred and that's why I wasn't seeing them a whole lot. Not complaining because when I did find a gobbler I didn't lose them many times to a live hen.

tkycaller · 07-07-2006, 08:54 PM

Down here in PA. I personally thought the season was very good. We actually heard gobbles after they hit the ground. That has not been happening a lot the last couple years around here. We had numerous birds respond to our calls and had a lot of hen talk as well. I hope this trend continues...we killed four birds and had three misses,in 11 days of hunting.

NEBHNTR · 07-08-2006, 03:03 AM

i thought our pop here in NE is almost to the point of out of control, which is good for me

i couldn't beleive all of the groups of turkeys i seen. there are turkeys absolutly everywhere. we had a steady success from beginning to end. the highlight was when my wife blasted her first.

turk2di · 07-08-2006, 07:41 PM

Here in Ky, my opinion is that when the season began, hens were 2/3rds done nesting. Seen more single Toms B4 the season than any of my 17 seasons. On good public ground, i rarely run into hens as i have done in the past. By the time Ky's three week season was over, Toms conduct was pretty much that the game is over. Birds killed the last week or so were mostly ambushed as any calling fell on deaf ears! Ky's jake harvest was an abomination, only 14%. But the 2006 hatch appears 2b a dandy, so after a quiet 07, 08 should attone for it!