Nonesense! I just regained permission to hunt a farm, 1300 acres, where I learned how to turkey hunt. Its hard to put numbers up without sounding like a braggard, so forgive me, but suffice to say I've shot a lot of turkeys off this place over the years, and have been hunting it for very near 20 years now.

I've only gotten to hunt it twice so far this year, and I haven't heard the first gobble. I've seen over 30 hens in those two trips, and have also seen two gobblers, and a few tracks. the situation I have is too many chiefs (hens) and not enough indians (gobblers). They don' gobble, because in large part they don't need too. They spend all of their time with hens. The place is rotten with turkeys, and always has been.

If you are seeing turkey sign (tracks, scat, feathers, scratchings etc), then the birds are there. Why they aren't gobbling... could be a number of things. Most likely, they are henned up. You'll hear them often on the branch in the morning, then as soon as they hit the ground, if you make a sound the hens will lead them off. Its a tough time of the season to hunt. Depending on where you are, (I'm in VA for example) this coming week the first round of hens should be hitting the nests, so gobbling should pick back up for the last two weeks of the season.

Patience is the key. Its tough to hunt a place that you don't know well when the birds are quiet, because the real key to killing them is being able to pattern them. Its more like a deer hunt really, you just have to put yourself in their way and be patient and ready when they show up.