Team 2 Sunrise Shooters
04-05-2012, 03:25 AM
#142
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Hubbard Lake, Michigan
Posts: 914
I had that same problem last yr! The one big farm i hunt had a real nice # of birds on it but not a single mature bird! I think if enough of the cocky little snots get together they can run the big boys off. Maybe one of your flyin cuisinarts would mellow em out a little!
Good luck this weekend all!
04-05-2012, 05:28 AM
#144
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Hubbard Lake, Michigan
Posts: 914
Starting to get frusterated with the scouting!! I've seen birds or sign on just about all my properties now, but just once! No consistancy whatso ever! Than this morn all i seen was 2 lone hens in diff spots. 8 am and hens wandering around all by themselves??? Was gonna try to get a trail cam out tonite but i see the farmer has started to plow up the feild and since i want to stake the cam along the edge of the feild guess i'll have to wait awhile till he's done. He also has another feild i hunt that he's already worked up. Not sure how thats gonna affect things, normally they don't get into the feilds till well after seasons over.
04-05-2012, 06:04 AM
#145
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 637
j76..... a group of jakes can whoop on a tom and run him off. the problem with jakes are they fight as a group instead of one on one. its the same with 2 yr olds they will sometimes gang up on a dominant bird to take his hens. i have seen both happen many times.
04-06-2012, 05:08 AM
#149
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Hubbard Lake, Michigan
Posts: 914
Go get em Gun!! Zubba, man! yer gettin close!
Spotted a good one last nite on the back edge of one of my feilds, all by himself! Just feedin along. I seen a single hen, twice in the morn and once in the eve, in almost the exact same spot every time. Acted just like she had a nest! Man i hope they ain't that far along yet!!
Got word last nite that my dad will be coming up to hunt the first couple days of season. It's not that i don't enjoy taking my dad but was really hoping he'd wait til the weekend so i could hit em hard the first couple days. You can't give it too much of an effort with the old man with ya. But the thing thats really bummin me out is normally my mom either comes up for the first week or i take my youngest down to her and i've got a good 10 days to hunt. She still isn't doing all that great so thats not happenin this yr. So looks like i got the first 2 days with dad then i'll be limited to just the weekends, and i only got 2 of them in my season. With as few birds as i'm seein and my limited time its gonna be tough.
Spotted a good one last nite on the back edge of one of my feilds, all by himself! Just feedin along. I seen a single hen, twice in the morn and once in the eve, in almost the exact same spot every time. Acted just like she had a nest! Man i hope they ain't that far along yet!!
Got word last nite that my dad will be coming up to hunt the first couple days of season. It's not that i don't enjoy taking my dad but was really hoping he'd wait til the weekend so i could hit em hard the first couple days. You can't give it too much of an effort with the old man with ya. But the thing thats really bummin me out is normally my mom either comes up for the first week or i take my youngest down to her and i've got a good 10 days to hunt. She still isn't doing all that great so thats not happenin this yr. So looks like i got the first 2 days with dad then i'll be limited to just the weekends, and i only got 2 of them in my season. With as few birds as i'm seein and my limited time its gonna be tough.
04-06-2012, 05:27 AM
#150
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Iowa
Posts: 1,858
Ya never know 76...just takes one good morning.
For anyone wondering what the early warm weather will do, here is a little quote from an Iowa biologist...
“They’re definitely active. I saw four different birds strutting in different areas, four days in a row,” reports DNR turkey research biologist Todd Gosselink. “Most of those birds are with hens, but they don’t initiate breeding until the photoperiod—the amount of daylight—gets longer.”
Gosselink says actual mating might be pushed up a few days perhaps, but that hens instincts guide them away from mating too early, with the prospect of a late winter cold snap or extended snow claiming March nests.
“The big change this year, though, will be visibility,” says Gosselink. “Usually, first season is fairly open; not many trees budding yet. This year, if you are anywhere near bushes you are not going to see birds off as far as you have in the past.”
For anyone wondering what the early warm weather will do, here is a little quote from an Iowa biologist...
“They’re definitely active. I saw four different birds strutting in different areas, four days in a row,” reports DNR turkey research biologist Todd Gosselink. “Most of those birds are with hens, but they don’t initiate breeding until the photoperiod—the amount of daylight—gets longer.”
Gosselink says actual mating might be pushed up a few days perhaps, but that hens instincts guide them away from mating too early, with the prospect of a late winter cold snap or extended snow claiming March nests.
“The big change this year, though, will be visibility,” says Gosselink. “Usually, first season is fairly open; not many trees budding yet. This year, if you are anywhere near bushes you are not going to see birds off as far as you have in the past.”
