Ok , I told ya all I don' t know everything ![] This is something that I have been thinking of for sometime. The thought came to my mind after seeing so many hens with Toms that just seem to walk with them and feed but have nothing to do with them. I noticed it again today just 200yds up the road, a Big Gobbler 11in rope just walking with 4 hens, and having nothing to do with the hens. I' ve kept my eye out for this question/answer and don' t seem to see any kind of topic on it.

So what do you think ? can ya tell me do they mate the first year and set on a Clutch? or should we send this one to T.R. to see if he knows ?...BT

I think the Mailman has the answer for this under the thread Good or bad year.I will copy and paste it for you here:


Respected biologist and turkey hunter, Lovett Williams, seems to think that turkeys can self regulate their populations. He feels that turkeys can determine carrying capacity for theland they are on and choose to nest or not based on the circumstances.
This has been studied in areas where the turkey has been relocated in order to build sustainable hunting populations. In many of these areas there have been large population gains in the first few years followed by reduced hatches once the populations have reached higher levels.
Another sign of this may be when hunters spot gobblers with hens late in the hunting season and claim that the gobblers are still all henned up and hard to call away, even late in the season. Perhaps someof those hens that the gobbler is courting are actually in an off year and may not breed at all...

I would highly suggest any of Williams books if you are really interested in knowing more about turkeys and becoming a better turkey hunter. The art and science of the wild turkey is one of my favorites, it blends some great scientific and behavior information with some sounds hunting advice

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Wacker I read that , and it never clued in, (good cut and paste)I should have picked up on it, I do have Lovetts books and didn' t remember reading that.

Brokenbucket
I believe you have a good thought aswell,, The nest bumping was in my head. The thing that seems odd is this Tom I seen has been with these same hens all season. I was up close and personal with them on a hunt that they did not want to participate in very well in the season. The hens where only 15 yards from me. but that darn gobbler would not show himself [:@]. I hate it when they won' t play right ! ...BT

Good ? Adrian!!Only can answer from what I have seen and I do believe that there are years that not only jennies but hens in general do not breed and nest!On countless occasions I have seen not neccassarily one hen but usually 2 to 3 hens that hang together an entire season and often times never even have a gobbler amongst them!Usually they seem to avoid contact with other birds unless they are using the same feeding,roosting,or watering sites!The factors for this behaviour are somewhat baffling to me after spending countless hours in the turkey woods!I do agree with Wack' s quote from Lovett Williams but I also belive other factors attribute to successful breeding and nesting situations!Such as,weather,food sources,habitat,and even predators(including hunters) ,have alot to do with a hens receptiveness or not!I also belive within all of this pecking order amongst the hens themselves has alot to do with whether they get bred or not!Obviously older more dominant hens will step up to the plate first and on down the line it goes!If one of these factors listed above causes them to get behind when that 30 or 40 day window is slipping by during the spring breeding season they may miss it all together and there' s no question that as a gobbler peaks out and that desire starts to slip it also has to be with the hens. It may not be entirely all about the hens but the gobblers also!I' ve seen those same type of gobblers that act uninterested too and then there' s those sattelite birds that strut there ass off and thats about all they do!In areas with large populations of birds a boss gobbler has an incredible amount of work to do in the spring and when you add in all these factors plus the fact he has to defend his territory, its no wonder not all hens get lucky!

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