Originally Posted by
snapper1982
i doubt is it because of coyotes. we have a bunch of them here in ohio and our birds gobble alot. turkeys will shock gobble at a coyote howl so i seriously doubt that is the "problem". i have seen them shock gobble at less than 100 yds from a howl. have seen coyotes enter a field with birds in it and the birds just move off and keep a safe distance and then return to normal after the yote has passed. if yotes caused birds to not gobble i doubt anyone in any state would hear very many
I too agree...I've seen all of this happen before. As far as the gobbling lull, a buddy of mine has a theory that seems to make sense, he believes that trees & brush leafing out during the middle of the season (usually early-mid May here in PA and NY) confuses the birds and makes them ultra-paranoid until they adjust to the new foliage in their surroundings, causing them to clam up. The last 2 weeks here are often the best.
Had a strange occurence yesterday, drizzly morning, we set up in a field where the birds usually go to feed right after fly-down. Everything seemed perfect, bird gobbled a couple times about 100 yards away from the roost to let us know he was there. Right at dawn we heard the hens heading our way, figured it was going to be a slam dunk. Heard a shot about 400 yards off, the tom shock gobbled twice (from the ground), and we never saw or heard him the rest of the day. The hens milled around in the field for over an hour ( I believe they were waiting for him to show), but it never happened. Seems odd to me that a shot 1/4 mile away would cause a bird to turn the other way & run, it didn't faze the hens, but there you go.
