Was 2017 Season A Weird Year?

[Cab]

Last year was my first year turkey hunting in WA and I was curious if anyone else seemed to think the turkeys were acting a bit weird or quiet. During scouting I would see birds strutting and with hens about a month before season opened so I had high hopes. Opening weekend there was some Toms talking but after that weekend I only heard a tom 1 other time all season(I hunted every weekend of the season). Just curious if anyone noticed anything different last year.

[jennabug]

I'm interested in hearing this too. Our spring hunt was very tough. The toms were unresponsive to most calling and did not want to move.

[JKEEN33]

Opener weather was pretty cold which slows them down somewhat. I was snowed on the first three days of the season.

[ctwiggs1]

I'm interested in hearing this too. Our spring hunt was very tough. The toms were unresponsive to most calling and did not want to move.

I hunted about a week after you I believe (I think that's what Rick said).  I found they were responsive... just incredibly quiet.  Reminded me of hunting Easterns in Missouri years ago. 

Subtle, inconsistent feeding talk seemed to be key for us.

[slavenoid]

Last year was my first year turkey hunting. I had no problem hearing gobblers early they had me running in circles. The last half of the season was quiet. It was like they got vacuumed up into space or something. Sounds like that is pretty typical from what I have heard.

[Cab]

Last year was my first year turkey hunting. I had no problem hearing gobblers early they had me running in circles. The last half of the season was quiet. It was like they got vacuumed up into space or something. Sounds like that is pretty typical from what I have heard.

Ok good to know. Opening weekend was fantastic but after that it was like you said they vanished. Turkeys can be some of the funniest animals to hunt and at the same time frustrating. When they don't want to play ball it can be a really tough hunt. I'm thinking it might help if I have a few back up plans this year.

[kevinlisa06]

My dad hunted the first couple weeks over in the NE corner and didn’t have problems at all with the birds talking. He met me in the Central part of the state in early May. We had difficulties locating birds but that’s pretty common where we hunt. Then all of a sudden the birds were gobbling non stop then it really got fun.


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[follow maggie]

Quiet for me because my area burned in a fire about 3 years ago and I haven’t been able to find where they moved to. Probably onto private land, I guess.

[PA BEN]

It's called henned up.

[Russ McDonald]

It's called henned up.

Exactly.   Of course it us dependant on the spring weather but early April is when the toms start looking for the girls that is when they are fired up.  Wend the hens are bred and got rio nest is when they are what we call henned up.   Not much talking.   Muy experience is if you catch them is tyke roost they will be active but once they hit the ground silence.  Sometimes you can get toms to talk but they won't move of their hens.   Finally about late April and into May the hens will be nested, the toms will bachelor up and look for those single ladies that haven't been bred yet.   So when you see a flock of birds late in the year most likely they are jakes and toms.  They won't be as active as early in the season but they do talk.  This year should be another great year.   Sons tons of jakes and plenty of poult.  The hatch was good again this last spring.   Good luck.  Season is getting closer.

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[birdmanwa]

I think the NE has been changing a lot. The birds henned up longer and sometimes the whole season. Birds don't talk as much as they used too. I think a big part of that was there was a lack of toms as compared to hen numbers. Of course some birds responded and talked but it's common to see toms with hens all season long now. Back in the prime around mid-May there were groups of tons wanting to play.

[Butchmeathook]

Mid-season in the NE corner of the state, we had toms gobbling to every call we threw at them, we were on one tom that triple gobbled numerous times but he would not come close enough to get a shot on him, but when he triple gobbled like he did that was enough to get the blood going.  But our hunt was not bad as far as toms talking to us!!

[jasnt]

I was tagged out opening morning so im not sure how the rest of the season was. Typically in my areas first 2 weeks are good. Rest of the season they are much more weary

[BPturkeys]

One theory is that when turkey numbers are up they tend to be quieter. Basically because they don't need to hunt so hard for hens. Also, they will be a little quieter do to more people in the woods, making all kinds of turkey sounds on opening day, than say the week before when you were out quietly scouting around. You spook a bird, he'll stay quiet for a while.
I've hunted Eastern WA for over twenty years and I swear the birds get a little quieter every year. We use to drive around, stop, and get lots of answers from a call, now, not so much.