Rem...I'm a fellow WV gobbler chaser and I've been noticing the same trend for years. The gobblers DO NOT GOBBLE on my farm anymore. Exactly like you said...In the early 80's there were gobbles everywhere. Now it's silent. The birds are still there. I still kill my share. The difference is that now I do it like coyote hunting...I call and then I wait. About 1 out of 3 every 10 sets will produce a gobbler coming in silently. I think there are 2 huge factors for this.

#1...The introduction of the 4-wheeler to hunting. Turkeys aren't idiots. If they hear a quad followed by calling 5 years in a row, they will eventually associate that quad with a hunter. In my area, I've heard several guys ride 1/4 mile then call....ride 1/4 mile then call. It just stands to reason that calling will eventually become less appealing to the birds.

#2...The complete idiocy of the opening dates. It is consistently 1-2 weeks AFTER Ohio's opening and in northern Ohio we are weeks behind WV in terms of gobbling. The heat of the WV mating season for turkeys is in March...yet the season starts the last week of April. I've seen hens with poults several times during the third week of the season. That tells me that the season is too late. I talked to a DNR officer in WV and he said that if the season were earlier that many hens would be called in and they were worried about the illegal killing of hens. What???????

I also think that this video game generation will be the end of hunting as we know it. It's sad, and my boys are interested...but they are only 3 and 6. Hopefully they someday share my passion.