I think these toms turned gay!

[mathews126]

Man hunting these thunder chickens has turned into to a job this year! im having the same trouble everyone else is lockjaw, hend up, wont even look if i call. i thought i was set for this year with a new 800 acre farm but boy was i wrong every turkey ive seen has been in the bottoms in one of the five 40 acre feilds and theres always about 15 hens and 2 jakes thats it, and just a few gobbles way off but i dont know whats going on. if anyone has any idea theres tons of people im sure would die to know at this point.

 

[riverboss]

The weather is alittle behind this year every year theres a big argument that season should be earlier the birds are henned up because its been to cool which is a good thing because with all of this wet weather its going to be hard to get a good hatch.

 

[turk2di]

A..Dealing with an older class of birds
b..late spring + turbulent weather
c..older bird with plenty of hen's around..why gobble?
d..10 birds in the hand..or you in the bush...um.let's see now............

 

[DRS]

Where I live it is very remote with few people. My Brother & I have heard several shots (.22 LR or Magnum) before Turkey Season. Which we think were Poachers, but not certain. It's strange when you hear just one shot; and one guy was calling Turkeys a week before the legal season. Isn't this illegal?? We're just seeing ONE Hen and No Toms at this time, and have only seen four Turkeys since the season opened. I am not a Bird Hunter, but do noticed the population of Turkeys in our area has been low the past two years.

 

[keith meador]

I have one question. If a tom is henned up, why does that make him gay? Seems he already has all the ladies on hand....

 

[mcdenney]

A..Dealing with an older class of birds
b..late spring + turbulent weather
c..older bird with plenty of hen's around..why gobble?
d..10 birds in the hand..or you in the bush...um.let's see now............

While I agree completely with all these points the biggest issue has been the weather. If it is not raining then the wind has been blowing 20+mph. I hunted everyday (except one) and really I only had a couple what I would call good weather condition type days. Somedays it was raining and blowing like crazy. Therefore, it makes it tough and they are not going to say much based upon my experience when the weather is like that. Opening day ( along with Tuesday/Wednesday/yesterday and today) was horrible. I didn't hunt Sunday but it was descent, Monday was excellent and Thursday was great. Other than that the weather has been the pits.

 

[blackangus]

Never understood the "henned up I can't hunt them crowd".

As others above said, stop gobbling.

Call the hens into you- most jokers out there overcall.

Ditch the decoys

 

[mathews126]

hopefully its just the weather and itll clear out and the birds will fire up but the forecast just isnt looking to great for the next few days. it doesnt bother me not to shoot a bird cos i just like calling and working them i have the most fun with that and this year seems more like ur deer hunting. last year was the one of the best hunts ive had we doubled shot one bird off pretty girl after he knocked pretty boy over and then shot the other coming in to fight the other and they gobbled and were strutn like crazy

 

[dray223]

THis is just my opinion and everyone on here may disagree, but i feel that turkey in general will eventually breed themselves into non gobbling turkey. I know every turkey is diff as well as every farm we hunt, but i have hunted several farms in several counties for years now, and it just seems that every year the gobbling is less and less. The birds are there but there are with hens as mentioned above and have no need to gobble and if a turkey doesnt want to gobble, he's not going to gobble i don't care how good of a caller you are or what kind of locator you throw at him, it just aint gonna happen. Just my thoughts.

 

[turkeykiller82]

got one on opener then missed on monday, but since then cant get them to commit to any calling. Had 1 coming in yest afternoon but then 2 jakes came across the field and had two jakes cut him off and chase him out of the field.

 

[hunt-4-life21]

I have one question. If a tom is henned up, why does that make him gay? Seems he already has all the ladies on hand....

Yea a pimp would be a much better word.

 

[turkeyhunter1943]

THis is just my opinion and everyone on here may disagree, but i feel that turkey in general will eventually breed themselves into non gobbling turkey. I know every turkey is diff as well as every farm we hunt, but i have hunted several farms in several counties for years now, and it just seems that every year the gobbling is less and less. The birds are there but there are with hens as mentioned above and have no need to gobble and if a turkey doesnt want to gobble, he's not going to gobble i don't care how good of a caller you are or what kind of locator you throw at him, it just aint gonna happen. Just my thoughts.

It's because there are way way way too many hens. Why would they gobble when they have 8-10 hens standing around them?

Ky is going to overmanage these birds till something bad happens.

I know here goes the go kill a hen in the fall posts.

People. If we were allowed a hen in the spring it would NOT hurtthe population. Good gosh thereare more turkeys out there than mosquitos.

Say whatyou will. I know I am gonna get thrashed for saying this but I honestly feel this way. The woods are raped bythe turkeys. It is a wonder any other critters have a chance to feed on anything. The turkeys are killing our squirrel population for one thing. Doesn't help the deer or anything else.

I am all for keeping the numbers up but there has to be a point where other critters get some relief. There is no NWTF to lobby for the squirrels and other lowly animals. They are suffering for it too.]

just my opinion.

 

[Gobbler Getter]

What you are not taking into consideration is the pressure put on turkeys is why they Gobble less. I hunt a farm where the locals who surround it call to turkeys as soon as they start gobbling all the way up to open day. If you call to those birds with a slate call they shut up and leave. It has been that way for the last 12 years. Call shy birds on opening day.

 

[Gobbler Getter]

I agree, can't kill only the males of any species.

 

[KYhunter79]

Never understood the "henned up I can't hunt them crowd".

As others above said, stop gobbling.

Call the hens into you- most jokers out there overcall.

Ditch the decoys

Bingo. I've already done that once this season and my uncle ended up killing a pretty decent bird. If they are henned up, try to bring the hens in. I just cluck a little and a soft purr here and there. We had to watch several hens walk past before he came along and almost stepped on us.