Mild Winter effecting the flocks??

[turkeyfeather]

At first I thought the mild winter will be great for flock numbers, and seems to be from the flocks I've spotted, numbers seem to be good  However the flocks of hens have included some strutting Toms in the mix. Curious if this mild winter and frequent warmer days are getting the boys in the mood early. Dont recall seeing them like this in years past. Could this effect the season?   

[HoofsandWings]

The strutting at this time of year usually is establish or re-establish which tom is the bull of the woods.
Losses from last spring season, new toms to the area, toms that are now a year older require a review of the pecking order.
The birds have learned from generations of breeding that if they breed too early their prodigy may be lost to weather.

[yelp]

Most breeding is based on amount of daylight during the day increasing (photoperiodism).  Most hens won't except toms until conditions are right. 

Kinda like spring break ..you can be on a beach strutting around all kinds of beauties getting turned on but you still need all the stars to line up..LOL.. 

THE GOOD NEWS....Early Springs usually mean, in my experience, less flocked up toms..break up occurs earlier.  IF you hunt the klickitat or the blues this will be a great opener.    That is if Lanina doesn't turn in to a nasty girl come March..which I have seen happen.   Cross our fingers.   

[Wacenturion]

"Most breeding is based on amount of daylight during the day increasing (photoperiodism).  Most hens won't except toms until conditions are right."

Exactly......  

[turkeyfeather]

That's great news. We are still fairly new to turkey hunting and still learning what makes these addicting things tick.

[HoofsandWings]

"Most breeding is based on amount of daylight during the day increasing (photoperiodism).  Most hens won't except toms until conditions are right."

Exactly......

And Mother Nature takes care of those who breed too early. Or is it Darwin?

[HoofsandWings]

Make sure you listen to Yelp.
Yelp trains the NWTF pro staff.  Captures hens and puts breeding cameras on them so he knows the precise moment they start breeding.
He has placed sensors in the woods and on his walls at home are graphs of every turkey sound in relation to the time of sunrise and day of the year.
So if gobblers make a sound at one hour 34 minutes and 5 seconds after sunrise on the 16th of April, you will also hear yelp calling at the precise time.
In addition, the reason Yelp knows all of the patterns of turkeys, he has captured them as poults and injected tiny gps locator units. Look at his Ipad sometime. He has the locations of hundreds of turkeys down to a few yards.
 

[PA BEN]

I've seen toms strutting and gobbling there heads off this time of year. I've seen breeding by March 9th.

[yelp]

Make sure you listen to Yelp.
Yelp trains the NWTF pro staff.  Captures hens and puts breeding cameras on them so he knows the precise moment they start breeding.
He has placed sensors in the woods and on his walls at home are graphs of every turkey sound in relation to the time of sunrise and day of the year.
So if gobblers make a sound at one hour 34 minutes and 5 seconds after sunrise on the 16th of April, you will also hear yelp calling at the precise time.
In addition, the reason Yelp knows all of the patterns of turkeys, he has captured them as poults and injected tiny gps locator units. Look at his Ipad sometime. He has the locations of hundreds of turkeys down to a few yards.
 

 

Not sure about all of that Hoof and Wings???

 but most turkeys seasons are set so that the bulk of the breeding has taken place before opening day.  So March and early April are usually when this takes place.  Realize that all hens aren't sexually mature as others so some breeding will take place later than normal like during the hunting season.  Which can be one of the reasons you see young poults in July.  I have seen 15 eggs on a Merriam Hen Nest near the Canadian border on May 1st one season.  This means this particular hen was probaby bred Late March early April.  Since hens lay one egg per day this is can be easy to figure the beginning of her laying cycle.  However I believe there are several factors trigger nesting, one is amount of cover.  I don't think they will lay if they aren't well hid for example. I look at the snowberry or buckbrush as some of you call it when it starts to leaf out that is about the time I think the bulk of the hens will nest.   

[Phantom Gobbler]

That's great news. We are still fairly new to turkey hunting and still learning what makes these addicting things tick.

TF, Did you say tick or ticks?     I always thought that the Spring Turkey Season Dates were chosen by the responsible state wildlife agencies to coincide with peak numbers of wood ticks?      Keeps more folks from taking up turkey hunting .... or if they do ...... they are in for a rude awakening! 

[HoofsandWings]

Those snowberries are real important especially in the fall.
Along the southern border of the state, you don't see many snowberries, so there must be another bush to key on.

[Tom Tamer]

I for one hope the spring comes a little sooner than the past four years or so. Seems I battled hens constantly all the way up til Memorial day. I dream of springs gone by when the little wenches we're all nesting come early and mid May

[turkeydancer]

  Amen brother !!!   

[buckfvr]

Seeing lots of hens feeding, and toms are all bunched up together.  We need a dryer march/early april  than weve had the last few years....