No gobbling does not mean no toms. I often hunt silent birds especially late season pressured ones. It's good to get some experience generally knowing their most heavily used travel areas. Look for fresh tracks and dust bowls. A great place to set up your blind is if you find a spot with several dust bowls within range of where you can set up a blind. Just set up there and hunt it all day. One of the best times is after 10 AM because the toms will be following the hens up until then, when the hens always return to their individual nests. Then the toms are cruising and much more likely to come into decoys. If the spot you find is public and heavily pressured, your best off not using decoys. Where I hunt, the toms will avoid both blinds and dekes. What state are you hunting. How much pressure is around there?
I have harvested many toms when there was no gobbling or turkey sounds at all. Just hunt travel lanes with fresh sign, same as deer hunting.
Last edited by Zim; 05-04-2018 at 03:53 PM.