ORIGINAL: SwampCollie
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.
That's the gospel right there.
For 2 mornings in a row, I've been set up on the boss - he gobblesmaybe 3-5x on the limb and hits the ground. Roosts with 2 satellite jakes and a harem of 6-10 hens. He's a banger, but his hens make him borderline unkillable right now.
As noted, calling works more as a flock repellant - and from my experience, when a tom is heavily henned-up, he's even less likely to shock.
This dog will have his day.I'm pegging him for a solid 4-year old,minimum 60 pointer, and should score well if I can close the deal on him before he sheds too much weight.
Like your place Andy, this area is rotten with turkeys. (Good word, rotten.Used a lot in"The Catcher in the Rye").
As for the lack of gobbling - on Saturday, I saw 12 male birds over about 1000 acres, heard 6 gobbles all day. Six. The simple fact is: when a big tom is rolling 3-4-5+ hens deep, you'll be lucky to even get him to locate.
And some of the big ones linger with the matriarch, who serves as his gatekeeper... A second set of eyes and ears... You'll know when you get into one... She'll be a loudmouth old*****, and he'll be tacked to her hip like a holster.