Adrian

I respectively disagree with you about being able to hear drumming 100 yards "easy" on a still day.

I've met some people, experienced hunters too,who can't hear it at all. Apparently theyare missing that low frequency in their hearing range. I also think the terrain mattersconsiderably.I actually find it easier to hear in it the woodson a calmday rather than in the open and I don't know why. Sunday I shot a gobbler at 7:10 AM and it was windless and perfectly still. He gobbled and strutted in from over 100 yards through the middle of a wide open clearing. I have excellent hearing, but didn't hear him drumming until he got to about 35-40 yards. Who knows if he only started drumming at that point, but based on his appearance at 100 yards I would think it unlikely. Maybe I couln't hear it at 100 yards because all I was hearing was my myocardium thumpingso loudly in my own chest cavity :-).

I agree completely with your comment about pressured birds drumming instead of gobbling to attract hens. Another thingthat I've seen pressured birdsdo is gobble with a softer volume. I don't know if it is a coincidence or really a learned behavior, but my father took a terrific 4-5 year-old bird last year at Land Between the Lakes in Tennessee (highly pressured area) that he said gobbled so low he barely heard it. Of course, he's can't hear worth a damn, but I wasn't very far from him and didn't hear the turkey gobble at all. After gobbling only twice the bird clucked three or four different times as he made is way in rather than gobble.

I'vealso have never read an explainationofhow turkeys actually produce the drumming sounds. I presume the low rumbling sound comes from he chest/throat,but that pfffffftttttt sound,now that is really weird.I've heardeverything under the sun about this,fromrattling their tail feathersto spitting. Does anybody really know how they do this?Has Lovett Williams explained this?

Whatever the origin of the sound orthe distance from which it can be heard, it is the coolest think in turkey hunting. As a more experienced hunter I am less anxious now when hearing it, but drumming once caused me to come absolutely unglued.