How did the birds act for you?
05-31-2014, 02:00 AM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hatton, Alabama
Posts: 520
How did the birds act for you?
I have heard mixed reports this year. Every year I try to take note of what others are saying, sift thru all the conspiracy theories, and try to reach an educated opinion on where things are.
For the last couple years harvest numbers have decreased in Alabama. State biologists fear that we are seeing serious declines. In 2013 I hunted a lot of birds. Should have limited out (5) but missed 3. That's another topic for another day. The big thing that stood out in 2013 was that there were a ton of jakes. The weather in 2012 was hot and dry early which I believe led to an early hatch. A number of the jakes that we saw in 2013 were what I call "super jakes". A buddy calls the jobblers. Anyway many of the jakes taken in 2013 had almost full fans, longer beards than average jakes, and gobbled like big birds.
Fast forward to 2014. The early part of the season was off here in the state. I did take one on my first day at Oakmulgee WMA but he gobbled a total of 2 times. I know he had to have heard me calling the 30 minutes before he finally gobbled. What birds I did hear that first week gobbled sparingly. The remainder of the season was just really so-so. Birds acted henned up, even when they really weren't.
One thing I noticed this season was that there were more big birds taken than usual. My first bird weighed over 20 pounds on a scale. That was the first bird that I have taken over 20 and it's not something we really see a lot in Alabama. I kept hearing of legit 20+ pound birds with 1.25" to 1.5" spurs. Over the years 1" to 1.125" were some of the biggest that I heard about and it was usually just a limited few. This year there were numerous birds with big hooks and healthy weights.
Some of the feedback from southern Tennessee was that the birds started late. Several people said they just didn't gobble as well or that they felt like they were henned up.
Overall it seemed like a bit of a down year. Numbers of gobbling birds appeared to be down. The number of really big birds has me puzzled. Were they the "super jakes" of 2013 or were they birds that just didn't gobble much the previous year? I didn't see the number of hens on the roads that I'm accustomed to. I also saw/heard fewer jakes.
The 2014 spring will not be a good hatch in my opinion. Late spring coupled with wet weather. Guess we'll see next year.
For the last couple years harvest numbers have decreased in Alabama. State biologists fear that we are seeing serious declines. In 2013 I hunted a lot of birds. Should have limited out (5) but missed 3. That's another topic for another day. The big thing that stood out in 2013 was that there were a ton of jakes. The weather in 2012 was hot and dry early which I believe led to an early hatch. A number of the jakes that we saw in 2013 were what I call "super jakes". A buddy calls the jobblers. Anyway many of the jakes taken in 2013 had almost full fans, longer beards than average jakes, and gobbled like big birds.
Fast forward to 2014. The early part of the season was off here in the state. I did take one on my first day at Oakmulgee WMA but he gobbled a total of 2 times. I know he had to have heard me calling the 30 minutes before he finally gobbled. What birds I did hear that first week gobbled sparingly. The remainder of the season was just really so-so. Birds acted henned up, even when they really weren't.
One thing I noticed this season was that there were more big birds taken than usual. My first bird weighed over 20 pounds on a scale. That was the first bird that I have taken over 20 and it's not something we really see a lot in Alabama. I kept hearing of legit 20+ pound birds with 1.25" to 1.5" spurs. Over the years 1" to 1.125" were some of the biggest that I heard about and it was usually just a limited few. This year there were numerous birds with big hooks and healthy weights.
Some of the feedback from southern Tennessee was that the birds started late. Several people said they just didn't gobble as well or that they felt like they were henned up.
Overall it seemed like a bit of a down year. Numbers of gobbling birds appeared to be down. The number of really big birds has me puzzled. Were they the "super jakes" of 2013 or were they birds that just didn't gobble much the previous year? I didn't see the number of hens on the roads that I'm accustomed to. I also saw/heard fewer jakes.
The 2014 spring will not be a good hatch in my opinion. Late spring coupled with wet weather. Guess we'll see next year.
05-31-2014, 02:08 AM
#2
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hatton, Alabama
Posts: 520
After reading back over it I should point out something I said wrong. I should have said that 1" to 1.125" were more average of big bird size spurs. I've seen plenty of 1" spurs which is pretty run of the mill.
I guess I should have said that the usual number of 1.125"+ spurs were replaced by 1.25" to 1.5" spur lengths. The total number of long spurred birds jumped quite dramatically in my mind.
I guess I should have said that the usual number of 1.125"+ spurs were replaced by 1.25" to 1.5" spur lengths. The total number of long spurred birds jumped quite dramatically in my mind.
06-02-2014, 02:22 AM
#3
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Maine
Posts: 12,687
Here most of the birds tagged had 3/4 inch spurs.. I am thinking because of the late season after the hard winter we have had. I am only guessing this as an guy that has to work with me from time to time shot a big bird the Saturday before our season closed with 1 1/4 inch spurs.. There was 4 toms together in that group and he shot the first one that came in range for him. The birds appeared to have been breeding later this year.. But, all in all very little gobbling being done..
06-02-2014, 08:49 AM
#5
Fork Horn
Join Date: May 2011
Location: SouthWest Ohio Somewhere
Posts: 255
Been low numbers here in Ohio.
In 2011, I got to choose from one of six (all mature) birds hitting the ground from the roost within shooting distance and all strutting.
2012, I was hunting Rios in West Texas.
2013, there were very few birds to be found, and not in their usual locations.
I ended up taking a jake that came strutting in behind a longbeard (role reversal???).
This year I saw very few mature toms and several jakes. Some areas still had nothing.
Very little gobbling. Season running late and birds were completely henned up until the last week. The week before got hot and all action stopped. Also, coyote numbers climbing this year and last.
In 2011, I got to choose from one of six (all mature) birds hitting the ground from the roost within shooting distance and all strutting.
2012, I was hunting Rios in West Texas.
2013, there were very few birds to be found, and not in their usual locations.
I ended up taking a jake that came strutting in behind a longbeard (role reversal???).
This year I saw very few mature toms and several jakes. Some areas still had nothing.
Very little gobbling. Season running late and birds were completely henned up until the last week. The week before got hot and all action stopped. Also, coyote numbers climbing this year and last.
06-02-2014, 02:33 PM
#6
Spike
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Western Maryland
Posts: 87
Working for the state forest, I got to see a lot of turkeys this year prior to and during our Maryland season. A couple things I noticed that seemed different this year:
1. 99% of birds I saw fell into two categories. Mini jakes (beards no more then 1-2 inches, many just had nubs and there were several birds that I knew 100% were jakes and appeared to have no beard at all) or big birds (beards 8 inches+). Of the 200-300 birds I saw prior to and during the season, I can't remember even a single bird that was between those two sizes. I thought that was really odd. Could be a local genetics thing I guess.
2. The birds were quiet. They would sometimes give a couple "courtesy gobbles" right before flydown, but that was it. While both of the birds I shot were exceptions to this, most of the birds I saw this year, or heard local hunting stories about, were very quiet.
3. I think the late winters really threw everything out of whack. I can remember a single week of work mid-april right when our season was coming in. Monday = Saw a flock of 30+ birds, suggesting they were still flocking up. Tuesday = Spooked a hen off a nest of six eggs. Wednesday = Three inches of snow. Thursday = Four different sightings of single hens, and two flocks of roughly 10 birds each. I honestly couldn't really tell between March-May what the birds were doing. I have no idea when birds started gobbling. I have know idea when flocks were starting to break up. I have no idea when hens started laying. It was just a really odd year, and I blame the cold for it.
1. 99% of birds I saw fell into two categories. Mini jakes (beards no more then 1-2 inches, many just had nubs and there were several birds that I knew 100% were jakes and appeared to have no beard at all) or big birds (beards 8 inches+). Of the 200-300 birds I saw prior to and during the season, I can't remember even a single bird that was between those two sizes. I thought that was really odd. Could be a local genetics thing I guess.
2. The birds were quiet. They would sometimes give a couple "courtesy gobbles" right before flydown, but that was it. While both of the birds I shot were exceptions to this, most of the birds I saw this year, or heard local hunting stories about, were very quiet.
3. I think the late winters really threw everything out of whack. I can remember a single week of work mid-april right when our season was coming in. Monday = Saw a flock of 30+ birds, suggesting they were still flocking up. Tuesday = Spooked a hen off a nest of six eggs. Wednesday = Three inches of snow. Thursday = Four different sightings of single hens, and two flocks of roughly 10 birds each. I honestly couldn't really tell between March-May what the birds were doing. I have no idea when birds started gobbling. I have know idea when flocks were starting to break up. I have no idea when hens started laying. It was just a really odd year, and I blame the cold for it.
06-16-2014, 10:06 AM
#8
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: SW, missouri
Posts: 822
it was a real strange spring in Missouri, winter lasted far longer than usual and that resulted in a later mating season. the few birds I did come across were henned up real bad, 2 jakes and 1 gobbler was all I seen all season, which is very strange compared to the typacil numbers I see each spring.
06-20-2014, 06:38 AM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 2,186
I hunt with a group of guys and gals on about 3150 acres of good habitat in SE Alabama near Eufaula. The "club" has had a hunting lease on this property going on 3 decades now. I have been with this group now for almost 15 seasons. This year's turkey season was good ..... but not as good as last. We killed 11 this season, missed 1 and were busted on 2 others. Last season we were at about 2X that. The one thing that stood out this year was the heavy weight of four of the Toms that we killed. While most were the typical 17#-19# range, 4 were huge by our experience.
It probably sounds like BS to most of the readers of this post ... but we weighed 'em, not that the scales were official by any means, but has to be dang close. We had 3 gobblers that weighed right at 25# and 1 that weighed right at 23#. Of the three big boys, 2 were double bearded and one was a 7"-9"-11" triple beard. The 23# bird had hooked spurs almost 1 3/4" long , with a wide, thick 14" beard. I think the heavy body weights are due to an adjacent land owner feeding deer pellets year round using covered, open troughs. Eitehr something like that or we have a pile of fat boys !! We do nothing special as far as feeding other than putting in typical food plots.
We did notice that the early part of the season was very quiet. Forst 2 weeks it was difficult for me to find early morning gobblers. About April 1-15 the early morning was typical, then tapered off late in the season.
Personally I did not see many Jakes. Only 2. Which is some what troubling for down the road. Last spring I saw probably 10-12 Jakes. And as of late the hens I have come across have had only a hand full of poults (4-5) in tow, though I did bump one group of 4 hens off a clover field that had what looked like 30+ little ones scattering into the woods as they fled.
The property owner is thinning about 600 acres of 15 year old pines and clearing/replanting about 50 acres that were damaged in an arson fire. Plus thre are plans for about 1000 acres of control burn. The burning and thinning should create additional better habitat. I just hope the new crop birds do OK in this super wet spring/summer we have had.
One concern of mine is that we used chicken litter for our food plot fertilizer last fall as a cost cutting measure. Based upon info we have come across as of late, which I wish we had researched before, that will not be done anytime in the near future due to the risk of introducing chicken born parasites that adversely effect the turkeys. I just hope we have not screwed up already !!
It probably sounds like BS to most of the readers of this post ... but we weighed 'em, not that the scales were official by any means, but has to be dang close. We had 3 gobblers that weighed right at 25# and 1 that weighed right at 23#. Of the three big boys, 2 were double bearded and one was a 7"-9"-11" triple beard. The 23# bird had hooked spurs almost 1 3/4" long , with a wide, thick 14" beard. I think the heavy body weights are due to an adjacent land owner feeding deer pellets year round using covered, open troughs. Eitehr something like that or we have a pile of fat boys !! We do nothing special as far as feeding other than putting in typical food plots.
We did notice that the early part of the season was very quiet. Forst 2 weeks it was difficult for me to find early morning gobblers. About April 1-15 the early morning was typical, then tapered off late in the season.
Personally I did not see many Jakes. Only 2. Which is some what troubling for down the road. Last spring I saw probably 10-12 Jakes. And as of late the hens I have come across have had only a hand full of poults (4-5) in tow, though I did bump one group of 4 hens off a clover field that had what looked like 30+ little ones scattering into the woods as they fled.
The property owner is thinning about 600 acres of 15 year old pines and clearing/replanting about 50 acres that were damaged in an arson fire. Plus thre are plans for about 1000 acres of control burn. The burning and thinning should create additional better habitat. I just hope the new crop birds do OK in this super wet spring/summer we have had.
One concern of mine is that we used chicken litter for our food plot fertilizer last fall as a cost cutting measure. Based upon info we have come across as of late, which I wish we had researched before, that will not be done anytime in the near future due to the risk of introducing chicken born parasites that adversely effect the turkeys. I just hope we have not screwed up already !!
Last edited by Mojotex; 07-06-2014 at 05:01 AM.