duckdowngreg

I’m hearing lots of Toms in the morning so I know they are in the neighborhood but I’m only seeing hens walking around feeding etc. all by themselves. I would think with loan hens around big Toms would be out looking & coming to calling.
You guys have any thoughts on why the hens are by themselves & no Toms with them.

mohunter82

they could have already nested. if the hens have already layed eggs then they will want nothing to do with the toms.
How close are you to the roost? if you can find out where they are coming down to strut then sit up and wait for them to come and do very little calling.

huntingfool94

see this is what i think is happening with my spot... i have one hen all by herself and she is call shy.. and i dont hear or see any toms in the area.. is it still worth hunting???

mfd1027

Like MoH said they're probably starting to either get separated by egg laying activity or the hens have actually started setting on their nests incubating their eggs. If they're alone early in the am I'd say they're in the latter stage. This is a "great" time to be hunting. I kind of relate it to the early post rut time frame when bucks start searching in earnest for that last receptive doe. If you know the birds in your area have been hunted hard then go easy with the calling. If they haven't been called to too much then you can be more aggressive with them. I like to take their temp. and start out soft but I will open it up if I don't get the response I'm looking for. If cranking it up doesn't fire them up I do go back to the soft stuff pretty quick.lol Also, patience is really a virtue in the late season. Give em time to work their way to you. I love the late season.

Dan