The noon whistle
 

I am starting to hate this noon quitting time,in NY.

Hit a spot this morning not a single gobble in the tree, so I decide to do some jumping around I have a bunch of spots close to each other.

Second spot nothing.

Third I get a shock gobble and then two more get to the top of the ridge and set up, nothing nodda zilch. So I figure what the heck I'll do some walking calling and crow calls and see what happens. I didn't hear a thing, walked about 4-5 miles of ridges. Make my way back to a strutting zone and tell my self be patient and do some light calling the Toms will seperate. Well I was right about 11:15 I hear birds in three differnt area's.I know this is a good spot so I make some calls get a Tom to gobble to my call and he's coming,look at my watch 11:35 the Toms still way off so I move to cut down the distance. Set back up he's moving in I'm getting psyched look down 11:55. Oh boy here we go well he hangs up and I hear the NOOOOOOON fire whistle and I have to pack it in.

He was still gobbling as I made my way to the truck,and while a I was sitting on the tailgate having a drink of water.

RE: The noon whistle
 

Although its never cost me a bird, I don't like PA's noon quitting time either. At least you had action. I heard a few REALLY far off gobbles and got NO responses to all the places I tried.

RE: The noon whistle
 

That sucks man. Here in Iowa we can hunt all day. I haven't ever killed one past noon but some in my group have. In the past, evening hunting has been great for me. Good luck in the morning though.

RE: The noon whistle
 

RYbohunter,That was Tuesday's hunt for me.

Hope fully they are getting these Hens bread so things will pick up. The last two seasons I found nests before the opener. This year I was seeing hens woth Toms at 1:00, 3:00 and 5:30.

Tuesday afternoon was the first time I saw Toms alone in the early evening about 4:00

RE: The noon whistle
 

I do love this sport, it's so addicting.

RE: The noon whistle
 

Well,
I am certainly no expert, and the total of my experience is based on a state that allows sunrise to sunset hunting.

From what my friends that hunt several states say is this;
The birds in the states that stop hunting at noon are far less wary and call shy than the birds in the states that allow all day hunting.

Here, in Mississippi, we have lots of birds. But, they are heavily hunted in most areas and by the third week of the season have been chased, called and harrassed all day, every day and really become shy. I have watched gobblers actually get up and fly away at the first cut, yelp or purr.

We have a horse stable in middle of the area where we hunt. The turkeys flock to the stables and designated fields because they have learned it is a relatively safe area. It is a great place to observe turkey behaviour and try out your calls. During the first couple of weeks of the season, typical turkey behavior. After the season has been on for a while, if you walk into the fields w/ a horse, they ignore you, but pull out a slate and give a little yelp and they clear out, fast. These guys get pursued from dusk till dawn (people hunt around the fields) and have equated calling w/ getting shot at.

So, I don't really know what the answer is, but just wanted you to know that there is a down side to hunting all day.
R
Hank

RE: The noon whistle
 

I just needed ten more stinking minutes.

I guess we could turn this into ethics question too couldn't we?

RE: The noon whistle
 

That sucks Charlie. I hate the noon whistle also!

I hunt Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri just about every year. MO is the only state of the three that doesn't allow all day hunting. I honestly don't think it is any easier to kill a bird in MO than it is in AR or MS. The area that I hunt in MO has a lot more birds than the areas that I hunt in AR and MS but I don't find any significant difference on how difficult it is to call a turkey up there. I didn't kill a bird in MS this year but it certainly wasn't the turkey's fault. I missed a longbeard[:'(](first miss in years). I had two longbeards at 30 yards and I was waiting for them to clear some trees so my partner and I could both shoot and some guy started a chainsaw less than 100 yards away and they took off[:'(](neither one of us got a shot). We had two more long beards at 30 yards and my buddy and I were hunting together again and he thought I had a shot at the second bird so he poleaxed the first one but I didn't have a shot at the second one[:'(]. That 3 day hunt beats my three best days in Arkansas and Missouri put together in terms of hearing birds and working birds and I have killed 2 birds in AR and 1 in MO. So I don't necessarily agree with that though I will say that MS birds are typically the toughest birds to hunt of the three states. At least the areas that I hunt are because they are 95% woods with very little pasture ground.

RE: The noon whistle
 

Here is Missouri its til 1 and going out at night to put the birds to bed, I usually see about 5-6 toms frequenting a field that they don't in the morning. I wish they would only restrict hunting from about 1 to about 5 then leave the last 3 hours of daylight for more hunting.