Out scouting this morning. Found 8 birds in the usual pocket field, 4 hens, 3 Jake's, and one LB. The 3 Jake's won't allow the tom near the hens. Guess the Jake's are tougher than the LB. I drove down the road and spot 3 other birds. I knew there was another LB I saw earlier but hadn't seen for a few weeks. Anyway, I get closer to the 3 birds and it turns out to be another jake with 2 hens. The3 birds are only 300 yards from the other flock. Guess what surprised me was the 2 hens with a lone jake. I'd think that LB would of knocked the lone jake off those 2 hens. Guess that LB isn't the dominant bird for sure. Wonder where the other LB went.

Guess I should just be happy that there are birds to see and hunt.

Vic

I HAVE WATCHED jakes run off LB from hens all of march while scouting and also on first two days pod the season here. These are jakes that probably are close to the weight and size of many of the L B A pack of the heavyweight jakes together and they can control the territory . If the Chamberlain study are correct that a first year jake does to have the biological sperm maturity to fertilize successfully then this may not be a good year to get hens fertilized.

I was thinking the same. I also read that a Jake's gametes aren't mature enough to successfully fertilize a hens eggs. Maybe I should hunt the Jake's to change the balance of power.
V

IME, including this year jakes will successfully run off or stymie a single longbeard. Although longbeards will often call hens away from the jakes. However 2 or more longbeards are a match for any number of jakes. Ive witnessed 2 LB stymie or rout 10 or more. 1 usually the strutter and 1 acts as enforcer or occasionally both.

Went up early this morning and watched again. Always an interesting dynamic. I'm on a high spot watching a little pocket field at the bottom of a larger field. Around 0615 I hear a gobble from an unexpected direction. Soon I see a head periscoping above the grass in the field to my left. I get glass up and see 1LB and 3 Jake's. Where ever the tom went the Jake's followed. Around 0630 I see a lone hen entering the small pocket field where I'd seen them pop out many times before. She makes a B line to the 4 males in the field to my left. Wherever she is the Jake's are chasing the tom from her. The 3 Jake's chase him all over the place and I change position when they move out of sight. I drive past them and decide it time to go home. I look down in the pocket field again and see another strutter in the pocket field where I expected the birds in the first place. I assume that a larger LB showed up and pushed the other 4 Tom's out, but when I glass him, it's another jake. Weird. He has 2 hens with him too. Maybe he is the top dog around there, who knows. There are also 5 or so hens that didn't show up. Wonder where they went?

Observating the dynamic of a changing flock is really kind of cool. Maybe when I retire I can do it more.
V

Jakes are big and bad this year. Watched as 2 big jakes rolled a LB and 4 Jakes chased off 2 LB.

Earl