Bobgobble2

hear in the turkey woods?Silent woods can be a discouragement and a frusterating experience to the turkey hunter!As daylight approaches every turkey hunters desire is to hear ole monarch blow us away by gobbling his fool head-off,but what to do if it doesn' t happen?Many hunters loose patience at this juncture and the pattern stays pretty consistent!!1. they start blowing a locator to often ,to much,2.they begin to move all around there turkey woods in search of ole longbeard calling off every ridge3.and finally they leave,maybe to a new area or even home!And not to be discounted sometimes one of these may work!!But heavy hunted birds/pressured,satellite gobblers,and even an old monarch with his harem of hens can be some of the most challenging of gobblers to hunt for a # of reasons but one primarily and thats there ability to go silent!! OR DO THEY REALLY???This gets back to my original ? how well do you really hear in the turkey woods?I' ve been fortunate to hunt with many folk over the years experienced and not and it continues to amaze me that if a fella doesn' t hear a bird light up on the roost at dawn,doesnt respond to a locator or his calls,he' s ready to move because in his mind there' s no workable birds there!I can tell ya from my own personal experiences that just isn' t neccassarily true!!I' ll admit looking for greener pastures sometimes can produce quicker positive results,but sometimes especially on public grounds what they left behind turns out to be my reward!The real key to this obviously is patience coupled with a clear understanding of what to LISTEN FOR in the turkey woods!Having your ears tuned to pick up turkey sounds other than the gobble can turn so called silent woods into a very legite opportunity to harvest a gobbler!I cant tell you how many times I' ve asked the fella by my side (who hears very well)did you hear that and they shake there head no when I' ve just heard a bird pitch out of the roost or are scratching in the hardwoods just below us!!Even so-called silent turkeys make sounds such as wingbeats,scratching,strutting,and even though that gobbler may not gobble those soft feeding calls as those hens work through the timber may have a gobbler trailing them!In my mind if an individual doesn' t have his ears tuned in to his own stretch of turkey woods he' s short changing himself and walking away from potential opportunities,by not hearing very well!!If sign in the area tells you turkeys are there then most likely they are!!Tune your ears in and be patient!
Some years back I was hunting a bigole limbhanger that had a huge harem of hens.He would gobble some on the roost but upon flydown once he was on the ground the woods would go silent!The 3rd morning hunting him I made an attempt to move in tight on his roost!I managed to get within 75 yards and let daylight approach!As I sat there I could hear him spit-drum continually!He pitched out to my right and for the next hour and a half I followed that bird around by following his drumming,not one gobble!I finally managed to cut him off,and as I made a few soft yelps to him I already had my gun pointed in his direction when he showed himsel because with each soft series he' d spitndrum!
Sometimes quiet woods aren' t really quiet if we no what to listen for!Here' s a couple of things to listen for at different times of the day!1.On the roost---soft yelps,clucks,strutting,wingbeats besides flydown turkeys will stretch out by flapping there wings and gobblers will often times rub up against limbs as they strut!2.on the ground----scratching,flock talk,strutting not only the spitndrum but ole longbeard dragging his wings on the ground,and wingbeats flying across a creek,fence,and those beats associated with fighting both gobbler and hen alike!!Hope this helps all!!!BOB

Adrian J Hare

You must of felt like typing Bob I thought you would never quit [>:]lol Good info bud...BT

maytom

Bob, I agree!!

Another thing is this: How many guys do you know drive around, stop, give out a few calls and if they don' t hear anything, continue on repeating the very same mode of operation? If an area you already know holds birds, why keep moving???
There can be a hill, ravine in the distance, or the wind can be blowing just right that prevents you from hearing a gobble!! If you keep driving around all morning looking for one to sound off, you just killed that mornings hunt!!!!!
I' d much rather go into a section of woods that I' ve seen/heard birds in before and see what happens, at least your hunting!!!!!!!! Just my 2-cents on it!!

trapper T

For me it' s hard sometimes because of hearing loss and so I have a constant ringing in my left ear. There are times I could swear that I heard a faint gobble 1/2 mile away but whose to say w/ my impedement. Been interested in the Walker' s Game Ear, but they' re pretty spendy. On another note about the road hunters, this year I could hear the guy driving up the road in a Power Stroke and he stop ,shut the engine off, and then blow evrything he had in the vest. Start up. head to the next ridge and start over. Are there really people out there that stupid?[] Or is there a bird out there that stupid?

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MOTurkeyTamer

Silent woods do pose a problem, especially for the inexperienced hunter. But as any experienced hunter will tell you, just because it' s quiet don' t mean they ain' t there! This is when patience comes into play. The persistent and patient hunter will still get his/her bird even when the gobbling isn' t there. Excellent post, Bob!

snowdog2

This spring, before the season, I spent a week in the woods, sunup to sundown, scouting. I was in an area that had a huge number of birds, so I suppose I didn' t need to spend so much time in the woods, preseason, but I did. (400 total acres, probably 180 of them woods, the rest open fields, at least 250 birds.) I was able to follow feeding flocks by listening to their scratching the forest floor. One time I sat against a tree as 35 birds fed their way past me, around me on both sides, within five feet of me, at times. I was able to listen to the hens--their clucks, putts, purrs and yelps (to me, the hens often sounded like a barking dog). I could listen to the rare early, early spring gobble, tom yelps, and even saw a 6-way fight by a bunch of 2 year old toms--what a sight!! I heard many birds fly up and fly down, I heard roosted birds cracking branches and falling droppings. I came face to face (eyeball to eyeball-maybe 3 feet away, as I sat on the ground with no camo) with a tom one time, and I absolutely know what an alarm putt sounds like, as he putted and took to the air. In all, I learned more about the sounds of turkeys in that week than I usually do in a season of hunting.

But, when it came time to hunt, I only wanted to hear gobbles!!!

click

if you can' t hear' em you sure can' t kill' em

i know there are exceptions and everybody gets lucky but for the most part they bust you before you can bust them

just what i have learned from experience

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OlMossyHorns

Great advice, except I am an impatient person and this is easier said than done. Hopefully I can put some of that advice to use this fall and next spring and bag a bird or two. Thanks alot man.