Quiet gobblers
 

I have a turkey hunting question. I've only been twice and last season by pure accident I shot a decent jake. I've had trouble getting to hear some gobbles early in the morning. I get out there and owl hoot but might get one or two birds to speak up and I know my area holds a lot more gobblers than that because I see hundreds of birds while deer hunting. I've also not had alot of luck putting turkeys to roost. Do you have any tips that could help me with either of these problems.

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

Some mornings they are just quiet, others they gobble too much as every hunter in 2 mile radius can hear them. I don't think anyone knows why. Ideally they gobble enough to let get setup and maybe answer a tree yelp. If you go out many times you'll hear them eventually. For treeing you can go out in the evening and listen for flyups, they have a distinctive sound. Or in the middle of the day you can walk around and look for trees that would make good roosts and check underneath for poop and feathers. A good tree will be sprawling and have branches 3 to 8 or so inches in diameter. I have about 100 acres and I bring a clipboard and aerial. I mark all the good roosting sites. You can go back there and listen for flyups. I find that just looking for fresh scratches gets me close to the birds. I hope ths helps...

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

I have the same scenario about not much gobbling when I know they are there. On the land I hunt there is a very high hen to gobbler ratio and from watching I'm thinking there isnt much of a reason for the gobbler to need to gobble. He's already surrounded by hens and he knows they are there. No need to advertise. As for shock gobbling I'm finding certain birds that will gobble every time you hoot but the vast majority just arent shocked by much of anything! I could be way off as I'm still a rookie at this myself but this is the way it seems to me where I hunt. Maybe you arent really having a problem maybe thats just the way it is!

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

I don't know if maybe it's just in southern IN where I hunt. My dad has turkey hunted all over and said that in Missouri birds gobble a ton and it just makes it that much easier to locate and then hunt. However I'm now in college and don't really have the resources to be going all over to get a gobbler so I just have to make the best with what I have. What kind of locater calls do you guys use and how has that worked for you?Thanks for the input.

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

The further west you go the better they gobble, IMO.

The areas I hunt in the southeast, it is not usual to get them to gobble on the roost in the evening. So if you know they are around, try to be there in the morning at gobbling time enough to get a feel where they roost. They like pines with sturdy horizontal limbs around here.

I have the most luck locating them with a box call. Out west, they seem to respond better to locator calls than they do in the southeast, in my experience. If you locate with a box call, you've got to be ready to set up immediately though in case one responds very close. Once day I did this fully not expecting a response, and too far from a place to set up, and before I could sit down at the nearest tree and pull up my face mask, the gobbler ran to within 20 yds and we were busted.

If I were you with limited places to hunt, I'd familiarize myself with the area as much as possible, and learn where their habits through lots of scouting. That's key.

Hal

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

The fatal flaw of a dominant gobbler is his routine. If you do some preseason scouting and locate the birds, and those birds remain in the area into the beginning of the season, you can practically pattern them and take them without ever making a serious attempt at calling. He'll usually roost in the same area, make his way to the same strutting zone at some point, and circle back to his roost before dark.

The key is to not be detected. Get where you know he's going, put down some decoys. Make a few clucks and purrs and wait. I've killed more quiet gobblers than I have killed loudmouths. Chances are, if he's in the area, he'll get inquisitive and meander over to check out your calls.

It's not as exciting as a "run and gun" technique, but it is very effective when the birds aren't exactly lighting it up.

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

the more hens the less gobble!

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

You hit the nail on the head there fella. Ya see, turkey's are like deer they have ranges too. The birds you are seeing during gun season are on there fall and winter range, the other birds are on spring and summer ranges. Only thing i can suggest is to get out there. First bird i ever killed was a 30lb tom, almost beat the ohio state record. He came in silent after 4hours of light calling, i shot him at 11:45 15minutes before quiting time here in ohio. You will never be able to master this wiley bird:D

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

That Ohio / Indiana is bad for non Gobbling birds. Out of everywhere I've been these two states were a nightmare to roost birds. I did find that the Crow call worked the very odd time and a Train whistle...BT

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

Well...First do you have alot of turkey hunting pressure in your area because the turkeys might be owl hoot shy and I would try maybe a peacock call or a Cayote call to try and make them gooble I sware by puting them to bed for the next mornings hunt most of the time if the turkeys are not gobbling and there is not much hunting preasure its because they're with hens and you need to be Reeeeeaaaal good to pull a tom away from real hens

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

Gobblers can be quiet for alot of reasons.Possibly the two most common would be hens and hunting pressure.If the reason is hunting pressure,trust me,you don't want those birds talkin.;)
If the reason is hens there's a few things you can try.
1-later in the morning the hen will go to nest.Then the gobbler will be lookin for some lovin.In alot of cases he'll return to the area he flew down at.
2-you can try calling the hen or hens in with him following.To do this you'll have to fire the hen up by aggressive cutting,yelping,or clucking.It's hard to do but it can happen.

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

i hunt close to the mines and at 5:00 every morning a really loud whistle blows when the workers change shifts. that is the only time turkeys will gobble not owl hoots or crows just the whistle.

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

I've personally witnessed gobbling activity decrease over the past 20 years. It used to be that a man could easily hear a doz birds of a morning, not so anymore. The "why" could be debated, but the birds are talking less than they were...and it's not limited to any one geo area. I talked to hunters from Alabama(who also hunted Ga. & SC) and said the birds are quieting down everywhere they've hunted. It makes for less enjoyable hunting, but possibly more fullfiling when successful.I personally believ it's due to A: more hens & B; more hunters (using every call known to man.......)

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

Don't get discouraged by quiet birds. How did you kill the jake? You said accident but I'd like to hear. Hens will definitely quiet down a gobbler but with a lot of hens you should hear a Boss Hen when she flies down and tells everyone. If you do great. Get your Raspy mouth call out and give a good solid cackle down. She should respond. If you can get her to argue with you you'll be in for a long wait but could possibly call the flock in.I use a slate and mouth call during the arguement. It may be 9 am before they get to you. You need to be moving about a little while they are at a distance..to make your own self sound like a real Boss Hen. But when they get within a hundred yards you need to get still.

The only explanation i can think of about why you don't hear em fly up at night is that you are in the wrong spot. Start marking on a map where the one or two gobbles occur you hear in the morning. Check these spots in the evening to see if you can hear em fly up. This will give you a closer proximity to listen and will give you valuable info on their patterns. Let me know how it turns out. I am about 2 hours south of Evansville down in KY. Be happy to listen with you during scouting season.
Good Luck. Roost em

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

I've never hunted any easterns that like to gobble much on the roost in the evening. The osceolas I've hunted were easier than the easterns to roost. But I've only hunted easterns in southeastern states. Merriams love to gobble on the roost.

Hal

RE: Quiet gobblers
 

I've never tried to make em gobble at night on the roost. But have gone to the area in the evening where I heard em gobble in the morning hoping to hear em fly up. Been pretty productive for me. Never been after the Osceolas but would love to try. Seen Merriams while bird hunting out west but never been there in the spring. So many hunts, so little time. Let's see if I followed the ducks from Canada to The Gulf of Mexico then I could start back north chasing gobblers in the Spring. How do i explain this to the wife?