Mojotex

My opinion on the Ala. spring season dates .... no need to change. "bald9eagle" - this might interest you. Last 4-5 years the 3-4 of us that hunt turkeys killed 15 or so good gobblers off the 3000 +/- acres that we hunt. This year .... 5.

Last year we killed 4 what I'd call very nice gobblers. All were right at 25#, spurs about 1 1/4", 11-13 inch beards with two that had multiple beards. One wasa superb bird with spurs near 2" , curved with two paint brush thick beards 13 & 10 inches. Tons and tons of gobbling all spring season long.

This year, gobbling has been sparse. Most mornings I hunted .... total silence. Of the 5 gobblers killed this year, only one came in strutting ... gobbling and drumming along the way. One killed was a Jake who was with 2 other Jakes that had come to early morning calling. The others came to calling mouse quiet. Plus two guys were working a gobbler when a second gobbler slipped up behind them. Those two were rep[orted to be big birds.

And for sure down our way last spring was very wet. This one has been even wetter. Like I have stated before, what puzzled me greatly was the lack of seeing birds in the fall/winter and then not seeing any hens this spring despite many hours in the woods and both feet full of blisters from covering a heck of a lot of ground.

This is the first year I have been skunked in a long, long time. But it was still a fun season. I am just thankful I can still go after them.

Parrot Head

I hunt just outside of Montgomery. Close to Greenville. I guess that would be south central Bama.

JoeA

There's some "new" disease that is impacting turkey populations in the eastern US. Maybe it's in your area.

Turkey numbers have been on the decline for several years now, especially in many traditional 'hotspots' like MO.

bald9eagle

I don't know. I saw lots of sign. I do know of lots of folks that say they aren't seeing as many birds in areas that normally hold them. One guy said he only heard 2 gobbles in Bankhead. Another guy in south Tennessee near the state line said he didn't see very many birds on his camera. I set swampbuster up on some nice little honey holes in Oakmulgee and he heard one bird the week he was out here.

I do know that the birds gobbled differently this year. Most birds acted like older birds. Very little roost gobbling.

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but the last two years have seen difficult weather during the usual peak time of the season. It rained or tried to rain almost everyday the first 2 1/2 weeks of April. I kinda wonder if the weather has folks thinking that numbers are down due to lack of gobbling?

I do believe that the 2015 hatch isn't going to be that great unless we start hitting the 80's here in AL. May 2nd and the high is only about 70. We are getting early April weather right now.

I don't know what to think right now. I feel like I heard as many birds as normal but most just acted disinterested. My brother and I took to a spot where we heard close to 10 different birds one day and 2 the next. I probably had more birds not answer calls this year than I've ever seen.

Jake sightings seem to be a tad low. They were higher this year than last though. I saw plenty of hens, probably average for what I see. I can say that our little Honey Hole in north AL didn't produce like normal. We only heard one bird in there. Usually we hear 4-5 and see several hens on greenfields. Not this year. I hope it is weather related and not a bigger problem.

bald9eagle

Reading that it appears that the word "I" is a favorite of mine..lol