There's that old saying "You hunt the Gobble". When they won't talk at all, it becomes more like deer hunting then turkey hunting. That's just not the way I like to roll. That said, it sure beats sitting on the couch. Will be really interesting to see what the numbers are at the end of the year related to the spring harvest statewide. If the numbers are indeed crashing I can see a reduction in hunting days allowed or perhaps not allowing the shooting of hens in the fall.

Stats don't lie. Its been a wet couple of springs the last few years, but I'm not sure that's the real issue. Guess we will find out in the fullness of time.

Earl, going to have to disagree with you a tad. Now, u and Gobblenow have way way more experience than I do. So, I will just say that when I was a kid going with my dad and grandfather in the 80's I was hearing lots of birds. I remember one morning in May me and my dad were listening and as usual for back then counted probably 10-12 different gobblers sounding off and we were choosing which one we wanted to go after. Now, thats how I remember the good days. But, like I said your and Gobblenow's experience far outways mine. I think we can agree that the birds are definitely not as vocal as they used to be. But, I need to be more thankful and less pessimistic.

Roy, you are absolutely correct. Back in the 80's through early 2000 I was having the same problem, which bird to go after, and not a bad problem to have. I apologize I should have pointed out that back in the late 50's through the late 70's it was slim pickens. My grandfather and I would walk for days before finding sign. When PA opened the spring season in 68 hearing 3 or 4 birds in a week was a super week. and then the explosion or so it seemed the turkeys started to populate fast in the 70's through 90's through the mix strain birds the State wildlife agencies were a huge part of the trapping and transfer programs they had. Thats what I was referring to the good old days are now in relation to the 50's through mid 70's. But I hope that in the future folks will not be saying the good old days were in the 20 teens.
And now at my age just getting out and seeing and hearing any birds no matter how many or few is a great day.

Again sorry for not articulating better but we do agree to agree.


Earl

Was walking the dog this morning and heard 2 or 3. I was pretty happy about that considering that Maryland had no birds in my county not too long ago. NWTF and local DNR types have been seeding birds here and there. I think they are on a growth cycle still, that is good. On Aberdeen Proving Grounds, my primary turkey hunting ground, bird numbers are down. There are places I use to hear multiple birds and now hope to hear one. I have been talking to my hunting bud about this and I think multiple issues are hurting numbers. We have discussed them all, predators, nest busters, etc... On post habitat has actually increased so I think we need to drop the harvest from 2 birds per, to 1 bird per. I also want to bring back trapping. Since fur prices are down, I think trapping has kind of died. I might do some trapping for coon and such. I think fox also hurt the numbers so maybe I can get a few of them. My hunting bud will be the new Garrison commander starting in June, this could help get these things into being. We have talked about allowing predator hunting with electronic calls and such, trapping and other things. Hopefully we can bring the numbers back up. Aberdeen is a controlled environment so it should be possible.

Earl, you do this at Quantico, any suggestions?
V

Most birds still with 1 or 2 hens what I've seen and heard. Seen 2 with 11 hens Saturday. Went to Tenn Saturday evening and seen 1 with 6 hens right before roosting time. He didn't gobble the next day. When we do hear 1 on the roost it's usually just a time or 2. Call to em and the hen will fire up but they're not gobbling to the real thing either. It'll beak lose soon. I've seen seen lone hens since the beginning of the season and never put much weight into that cause not all nest at the same time. Always some stragglers with gobblers this time of year. With all that said, the population has took a hit the past few years at least in my areas. Less gobblers = harder to find one alone

Greyghost that was def the prime time in my hunting career. Hardly anyone turkey hunted and turkeys everywhere. I only hunted public and it was easy to find a spot you could hear 10+. Heard 32 one morning before the season from 5 different listening locations. Heard 23 from one spot in a different location. I hunted with my uncle's and me being the youngest I'd let them pick whatever birds they wanted and I'd go after the others. Those places have been almost dead for a decade. I still go to check them out before the season every year and hear maybe 1 or 2 if any. Not worth the walk or drive.

Vic, yes trapping was popular but dropped off the last few years. We have a new biologist and she is hard charging on habitat. If she is allowed to move forward on her projects along wit forestry’s plans this base should have some really good hunting again. But we have a new base commander that is not a hunter. So hopefully things will work out.
Vic, sounds like you and others are in a great position and opportunity to really do some great things there. A hunting buddy that is the base commander, does not get much better then that.


Earl

Years and years ago I hunted a base in Texas. Commander hunted and things like stand improvement, habitat improvement, planting food plots etc were the norm. Some of those were done thru the MWR fund as I recall. Sadly, the new base commander arrived and was a non-hunter and funds were diverted to other uses. Funds are the lifeblood of habitat improvement. There is no free lunch as they say. Last reports I saw on that base is the game numbers had tumbled. Deer were no longer managed. Heck, when I hunted there they actually hauled water out to stock tanks and water troughs during the harsh summer heat so the animals would have a source of water. The man at top of the food chain always has a lots of discretion for sure. PS. Back in the day, they even had game nights were all the hunters on base would have bring in wild game and have a big cookout with a keg of beer, horseshoes, vollyball etc. All of that has ended as well based on what I was told.

I am still hearing birds gobbling every day along rivers where I am fishing. Saw one with three hens strutting in a field alone a river yesterday, and still seeing some single hens picking along the back roads .

It is a miracle that more hay cutting is not underway down here, and what hay that is standing anywhere is ready to be cut. lots of rain makes tall hay. It seems early to have hay that tall by a few weeks maybe. But it is there, and the longer the high cover lasts, the better for the hatch in the low country.

Hunted in Amelia today and had the best gobbling I have had all year, for about 15 minutes. I made a couple of moves after he shut up and located him in the edge of a field with one hen. After he went to the hen he never said another word but stayed in strut the whole time. Prior to the hen coming to him I was sure he was going to die. I stayed around until 10 but he never said anything else. Maybe it is not over with after all.

my local house birds are absolutely on fire this week.. of course I can't hunt them even if I did have tags left ... but this is the most I have heard them gobble all spring. I suspect the hens are sitting.

Did my annual pilgrimage to WV this past week. Went to my usual haunts and heard nothing. Talked to my family and friends and they haven't been seeing anything since early season. One day the volunteer fire dept siren went off around 0730. That made some yotes sound off in the valley where the birds usually like to roost. Three days of zero gobbling. I think coyote set up a den in the bottom and the hens wanted nothing to do with it. After talking to cousins I found out that some birds were on the other side of the road on my uncle's place. Got over there on the last day and heard a couple birds. I got one fired up and he gobbled all the way in. He came from behind and walked past my son at 5 feet. Luckily we were in a blind because it really rattled him. He went right to the jake and started whooping on him. My son shoots, bird jumps and stands there. Son shoots again and I see the pattern hit the old hay bail behind the bird. Dale tells me to shoot him and I do and he drops at 15 yards. I think me son was a little excited. Quite a morning and we heard another bird but he wouldn't commit. The bird only weighed around 17 pounds. Had an 8.5" beard and 1 1/8" spurs. We were lucky to get this one but we did.
V

Congrats Vic..

Just got back from visiting my sister outside of Nashville, where I took my mother down for a visit. Well, I guess there are still birds out there that want to play somewhere. I did not buy at 224 dollar tag because I only had one day that I could hunt and hunting on 32 acres with 22 horses scattered around can be problematic. That said, she sure had gobbling birds just about everywhere and they gobbled all morning long. Next year I'm thinking I'll buy a license and find a somewhat remote corner of her property and see what I can do. Sure was nice to hear gobbling birds who gobbled pretty much all day long. IMO it was 180 degree opposite of Va. That said, her birds have never been hunted in their lives and don't have much to fear from anything.

[quote="tut"]Just got back from visiting my sister outside of Nashville, where I took my mother down for a visit. Well, I guess there are still birds out there that want to play somewhere. I did not buy at 224 dollar tag because I only had one day that I could hunt and hunting on 32 acres with 22 horses scattered around can be problematic. That said, she sure had gobbling birds just about everywhere and they gobbled all morning long. Next year I'm thinking I'll buy a license and find a somewhat remote corner of her property and see what I can do. Sure was nice to hear gobbling birds who gobbled pretty much all day long. IMO it was 180 degree opposite of Va. That said, her birds have never been hunted in their lives and don't have much to fear from anything.[/quote]


Some one on here has been telling you to do that hunt on your sisters place for some years I think. Oh wait...it was me that told you to do it

I have not seen the final numbers for the 2019 spring season but she lives in one of about the highest kill counties in the state ...top five if not higher. Its new age of turkey hunting. Surely cant be too different than hunting in suburbs of NOVA? Shoot em off the porch etc.