Need Help Here

[FroMan]

Sunday morning I went out hunting and didn't hear a single gobble in two different spots. I've been hearing birds here consistantly for two weeks. Have they moved out of the area or are they just henned up and being quiet?

I've also been out the past two afternoons and sat in "roosting" spots. I have seen hens roosted in the spots in the past week, and gobblers roosted there last week. The past two days I haven't seen anything in the spots. Did I spook them out of there? Have they moved to somewhere else?

How the heck do I find where the turkeys are at, without bumping them, if they aren't visible in fields, in their regular roosting spots, and not talking at all?

You old guys...help a youngin out here.

[snowdog2]

Question #1--Some days they just don't gobble--depends on lots of variables--where the birds are at in their reproductive/breeding stage, weather, sun, clouds, temperature. If they are with hens, they will usually gobble before they fly down, and at least once each time after they breed, kind of a "that was wonderful, who's next" gobble/shout.

Question #2--You could have. Then again, are you looking at a spring roost or a winter roost?? If winter, they could have moved, not from being spooked, but to a spring roost instead of a winter roost.

Question #3--If they're not gobbling, look where they're likely to be, maybe set up and wait. If I don't know the area strut zones well, I go to field edges till 10-11:00, then to cool shady bottoms, if it is hot, and hang out at roost sites (but 100-150 yards off, and on the ground, not moving) till dark.

[Hunter06FlKy]

an addition to ?3 in my opinion would be to try and find the hens. in many cases when they aren't gobbling i've found gobblers with the hens. they aren't necessarilly henned up but they may be just "hanging out." this happens a good bit when the hens have been bred. or at least that's how it seems down here.

[Strut&Rut]

How often have you been out to the same spot? How often and aggressive are you calling? How many different calls have you been using?

IMO, it's almost impossible to make birds relocate. Birds roost in a certain area for a number of reasons, and you would have to continually infringe upon their safety everyday to make them move.

More than likely, they are at the peak of the breeding, whereby the gobblers have acquired large harems and are now breeding and strutting. Gobbling is always at a minimum. The hens are in complete control, and I'm not sure how your vegetation/insect populations are expanding, but the hens are fattening up before the incubation. Food sources are key to this stage of hunting---or some good dusting spots.

Dusting spots, as the temperatures start to rise rapidly as Spring progresses, are some of the best places to hunt. The birds need to dust, both for a cooling effect and to keep off the increasing number of insects. Dusting spots/bowls are often time very limited also, so you can really key in on both location and usage.

My best suggestion would be to hunt from 9am-3pm and use locator calls to try and get a shock gobble. If the area is big enough, you can circle around to a good location to try some seductive calling. Usually the decoys are more trouble than there worth during this stage, because the hens run the other direction.

Good luck.