From one year to the next a small percentage of hunters have questioned the opening date for hunting gobblers. Some believe the PA season should be opened a week or two ahead of the current opening date. The claim is that by mid-way through the season the birds are finished breeding and the gobbling is done. But that’s hardly the case.
On any given day hunters can be hard pressed to hear a single bird gobble. Yet on the same day just two hollows away the birds are tearing things up. Simply put, the birds don’t always react the way we think they should.
Now don’t get me wrong, 20 pound plus birds sporting inch or better spurs will come to the call across the four-week season. But let’s face it, by the time the season opens, boss gobblers will be courting hens. It is a situation that can continue until or even after the season closes.
For the most part, younger birds are more readily taken simply because, and for the most part they are not courting hens. And when searching for hens, that’s when these birds are more vulnerable to the hunter’s call.
A good example of this is occurring this year. With a good distribution and availability of younger birds, in many case hunters are having good luck taking nice birds early in the season.
Another factor that plays in to the equation is gobbling peaks. For example, here in PA the first gobbling begins in late February, peaks in March, and then diminishes after a tom begins to gather his hens. This is when gobbling drops off. But shortly thereafter the toms begin gobbling again. There are peaks and valleys of gobbling activity well into June and in some cases even into July.
In all, there are four to five gobbling peaks that occur throughout the season.
Advice given to me years ago was, “Do your homework.” Pre-season scouting is a must. Locating as many as birds as possible prior to opening day can pay off when the birds “go silent”.
When birds get a case of lock jaw, return to areas where birds were located prior to the season. There’s a good chance they will be there or close buy. Aggressive calling using sharp and aggressive calling just might have a nice tom walking right down your gun barrel. But as the season drags on, hunting can be tough.
In most cases hunters are in the woods well before dawn listening for a gobbler to sound from the roost before flying to the ground for the day.
It’s a good tactic that enables the hunter to move in, set up, and call before the bird becomes distracted.
On the other hand, hunting for hours without even a hint of a gobble in response to your calling can have a devastating effect on your self-confidence. Because before the season the birds were in the area, now they won’t answer the call. Then you begin to think, “What am I doing wrong?” Now you’re letting the birds get the best of you when this happens.
Several years ago and over the course of the first week, my time was spent in less than 50 acres of woods. The first Monday the bird was heard but it would not even answer my call. Every morning my boot tracks crossed this small section of woods. From one day to the next the bird would gobble, but sparingly, to my calls. The bird remained in the area, and I needed to remain patient.
Hunts were conducted at first light. When that didn’t work, several mid-morning hunts were tried just in case this boy was gobbling late. Even so, still no luck. It wasn’t until about halfway through the season that his temperament changed.
Near the end of the season I returned to the area. At daybreak my call was kept silent. Just after sunrise what sounded like a young gobbler sounded off from a ridgeline some distance away.
Now it was time for me to join in. I offered a few sharp clucks followed by some aggressive calling. The bird in the distance gobbled. But that was enough to fire up the big boy in the hollow just below me. Forty-five minutes and a lot of short bursts of high excitement and gentle calling, and the bird eventually had my tag on his leg.
A key to the success of this hunt was that the bird was in the area and I knew that even when he didn’t gobble. Not hearing the bird from one day to the next would have discouraged most.
Close to the end of the season when some hunters “think” the birds are done gobbling, often they are only fooling themselves.
It’s important to hunt where the birds are. And remember, there are times when you’ll have to wait the birds out until they’re ready, regardless if it’s the first day or right on up until the last day of the season.
The first part of gobbler season has been good, but all indicators the best is yet to come.
Mary Jo Casalena, the PGC’s wild turkey biologist said, “Pennsylvania turkey hunters are permitted to hunt from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset, beginning Monday, May 13. The expanded hunting hours continue through the last day of the season, Thursday, May 31. “By the second half of the season, hunter participation decreases significantly, and nesting hens are less prone to abandon nests.”
Hunting from sunrise to sunset may be appealing to some, but keep in mind harvest trends. Data collected since the all-day gobbler hunting was permitted found that 78 percent of the harvests have occurred before noon. A few harvests occurred between noon and 5 p.m. and then around 8 p.m.
Look at when the highest percentage of kills occurred and see when the most productive time of the day is to harvest a spring gobbler. Then take it from there. From the looks of things come mid-day I’ll be taking a nap.
Charlie Burchfield is an active member and past president of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, an active member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, Outdoor Writers Assoc. of America and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers. Gateway Outdoors e-mail is GWOutdoors@comcast.net