Hunting Washington Forum

Other Hunting => Turkey Hunting => Topic started by: HoofsandWings on April 01, 2015, 09:39:41 PM

Title: With all of this warm weather
Post by: HoofsandWings on April 01, 2015, 09:39:41 PM: Are they gobbling yet? I can't get out until late April.
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: bowhunterforever on April 01, 2015, 10:25:16 PM: Gobbling and strutting like crazy
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on April 02, 2015, 09:53:57 AM: Quote from: bowhunterforever on April 01, 2015, 10:25:16 PM
Gobbling and strutting like crazy

:yeah: My very unbiological thinking thinks the breeding will be very early this year? With lots of toms running running all over later in the season?
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: Dhoey07 on April 02, 2015, 10:21:01 AM: 10 day forecast looks pretty normal to me :dunno:

I think that the gobbling and strutting is pretty normal from my observations. If it's a nice calm day, the toms are strutting and gobbling, just like normal.
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: bobcat on April 02, 2015, 10:28:08 AM: I heard an Eastern gobbling non-stop for a half hour while I was checking trail cameras last weekend. :yike:
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: MADMAX on April 02, 2015, 10:48:41 AM: Yes they are gobbling
watched a big one up near Liberty last weekend
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: HoofsandWings on April 02, 2015, 10:50:13 AM: Hopefully, the globbling will continue through April.
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: Yelper Guy on April 02, 2015, 10:58:40 AM: I' m sure the gobbling will continue thru April. Some days more than others.
Just because you don't hear gobbling doesn't mean the birds are not there (hopefully), or uninterested. If you are in a known "birdy" area, try some soft calling and shut-up.
A big tom can be real sneaky, come in from any direction (the direction you least expect) and bust you before you knew what happened.
Patience Grasshopper!
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: Jonathan_S on April 02, 2015, 11:04:00 AM: Quote from: HUNTINCOUPLE on April 02, 2015, 09:53:57 AM
Quote from: bowhunterforever on April 01, 2015, 10:25:16 PM
Gobbling and strutting like crazy

:yeah: My very unbiological thinking thinks the breeding will be very early this year? With lots of toms running running all over later in the season?

Turkey hens don't submit to breeding until they are ready and are ovulating. This is based on light patterns, not weather. Weather is overall a very small factor.

The toms and jakes are hyped but that doesn't mean that the hens are ready. In my observation this is causing the toms to flock up the hens and kick out the jakes and lesser toms out which is resulting in large bachelor groups.

Good for those who know where turkeys go and bad for the dork with a chalk box
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: MtnMuley on April 02, 2015, 12:33:01 PM: While we are weeks ahead here as far as spring arriving, the birds seem to be in their normal stage for this time of year. :twocents:
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: buckcanyonlodge on April 02, 2015, 01:15:57 PM: Quote from: HoofsandWings on April 01, 2015, 09:39:41 PM
Are they gobbling yet? I can't get out until late April.

Turkeys gobble and strut year round. I had 150 birds here all winter and sometimes even in Jan. the gobbling was almost non-stop. Of course the hens are never ready to breed until late March all the way into July.
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: PA BEN on April 03, 2015, 07:05:39 AM: What I'm seeing now is the hens are going to feed right out of the roost with toms in tow. Breeding seems to start between 8 and 9 am. With the toms all henned up, morning calling is going to be a shore, unless you are at the roost or between where they are headed. Looks like between 11am and 3pm the toms are by themselves. I'm seeing them getting back into groups from 2pm on. I haven't seen any afternoon breeding yet, but later in the season the hens will breed right out of the roost and go to their nest and afternoon breeding will kick in. It's not going to be a cakewalk for the big boys until some of these hens get bread off. O, BTW, lots of gobbling morning and evening with the hens being very vocal too. Seems like the hens want to keep the toms close until they want to breed. I'm also seeing some hens flying over 800yds to fields and start feeding with others flying down and walking/running to the fields with toms in tow. .
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: HoofsandWings on April 04, 2015, 11:40:38 AM: Hopefully, they will stay in their winter range for now. Once they start heading to their summer haunts, I will have to find another area. The summer area is either posted or inaccessible.
Title: Re: With all of this warm weather
Post by: PA BEN on April 05, 2015, 12:01:03 PM: Definitely a change in the birds,starting yesterday and more obvious today. They hit the fields fed for about an hour and hit the timber, Toms in tow. Heard a big tom fight yesterday and the flocks fed late last night out in the fields until almost dark before heading to roost. Looks like the breeding is almost full swing.