Several different topics recently have addressed the east wind effects on turkeys behavior and hunter success in periods of moderate strength sustained east winds. Virginia has just had about five straight days of it. Check out the number of dead bird stories posted from this past monday to today. I counted three dead bird reports this week in Va. Perhaps l missed one but it was a poor hunting week by sll accounts. Sustained east winds. Compare those kill numbers to the double digit reports of kills in all prior weeks of the season. Draw any conclusions about the east wind ?

I take it y'all didn't fare well today either.
I hunted until 12:00 today, hearing only sparse gobbling from 2 birds, neither answered a call!
My buddies say it's the weirdest week of hunting they have seen.
No more hunting in a sustained East wind for me.

PS- I sent an email to the game dept to see if I could get check in numbers for each day of the season to see how this week compares with others. I know there are fewer hunters afield but I want to see if this 4-5 day period has unusually low #'s.

Good news, tomorrows wind out of the northeast

Only heard 1 bird on the roost... Gobbled good while in the tree, grabbed his hens and moved off in the other direction after flydown.

Blackberry Winter...

Here on base this week although the hunters numbers were low and few training areas opened, the kill this week was 8 but gobbling reports were fair-good, just birds not responding. I went out myself with a camera on Thursday and worked a long beard by himself (others this year have been 2 to 6 together) from 300 yards. Worked to 30 yards gobbling and strutting all the way in. Today good gobbling by 2 birds to our right and one to the left. They gobbled maybe 40-50 times till they got together about 100 yards out and then shut down.

But this week was the lowest # thus far this year. I believe the total for the year is 48 birds. But #'s start dropping off in the 3rd week here also in years past. Will be interesting to see next weeks #'s and gobbling and gobbler reactions to calling.

Based on the weather conditions the first 2 days I would say it was a fair week.


Earl

So does the east wind thing apply to just a plain east wind, or a north east and south east as well?

The east wind doesn't effect the Alleghany mountains it never makes it here the Shenandoah strain of mountains stops it and the Alleghany's stay calm.

I've been hunting or listening 3-5 mornings a week and Friday was the first time I went out & heard zero turkey sounds. If I ever was skeptical about the east wind, it passed.

its been blowing for seven days straight here. i tried yesterday but the sun and wind came up together. no gobbles. no hens talking. no sightings in any field for 50 miles on the eastern shore. it doesn't seem to blow hard out of the west here in the spring, so i don't have data if a 10-20 wind with west in it would have similar results. i just know that if it's east (any east) blowing 10kts+ the birds seem to disappear.

Blowing northeast here this morning and gobblers shook the leaves off the trees. The only way to silence one in particular happened this morning when the shotgun went off. I don't really pay attention to the direction of the wind while turkey hunting, but I know they sure were talking and eager to let me know where they were this morning.

Dang, granddaughter and I had no gobbling this morning, but one hen did answer and come in.

Although she just finished making a call on her box and 2 minutes later she said, Papaw whats that coming. I looked in her direction and here comes a coyote sneaking in. I told here yote and shot it. At 30 yards it either picked out movement or scented us and off it went.


Earl

We got set up before light this morning hoping for a better day than yesterday. As I'm watching the sky lighten in the east what hits me dead in the face...East Wind!!!
It eventually changed to a Northeast wind, heard more gobbling today but still got no answers.
Lotsa rain forecast for this coming week, last week should be a "killer"

Same here in PA; the hunting has been slow as molasses all week and guess what, we've had some sort of easterly wind all week as well.

I took my son this morning; it was an absolutely gorgeous morning here in Central PA. We heard 2 birds gobble on the roost, not much, but any gobbling this week is a gift. So we got above the birds and set up in what I thought was the right spot. We did some limited calling and he actually did gobble at us a few times but continued to sit in the tree. From daylight until about 7:15 the bird gobbled probably 10-12 times all from the roost. At 7:30am I called in a real hen that walked across the ridge within 75 yards of where the gobbler had been roosted...she was very vocal so we were chatting back and forth but still we heard no gobble and saw no gobbler. Finally at 8am a guy walked down off the hillside behind us (now I'm jumping topics to the hunter interference post I read earlier - we were on state forest land). I heard him call on a glass or aluminum call first, then saw him about 125 yards coming straight towards us so I owl hooted to let him know we were there. He stopped, looked, and then kept coming. Finally at 75 yards I hooted again, he stopped, I stood up and waved my hands as if to say "what are you doing?" and he looked right at me and started calling. I looked at Ryan and said "you've got to be kidding me!" So we gathered our calls and started walking out. I hadn't heard the bird gobble in over 45 minutes so I really did not think he was still sitting there in the roost but too my surprise he was and flew off as we walked down out. I talked to another friend of mine hunting about 60 miles away and he had a gobbler still in the roost at 7:15 gobbling infrequently when another hunter walked in and flushed it.

So, is it just me or is it odd that two longbeards were still on the roost 1.5+ hrs after daylight on what could possibly be the prettiest morning we've had yet this year?

Anyway, not that I ever doubted the East wind theory from GN but I have seen it first hand this week here in PA. I see a northerly wind coming mid week...can't wait!

-Eric

Not strange at all Eric to see birds roosted well after fly down time. I have seen birds stay in the roost tree if they heard or seen something they perceived as danger in the morning. Most times though they will fly off the roost a ways if they think something is amiss. I have bumped birds out of tress walking around at 8 or 9 but can not say they were there since roost. Some times if they are on the ground and are spooked they will fly up in a tree.

Yes I am taking more detailed notes on this East wind thing.


Earl

Greyghost, I missed the first week of the season due to a family vacation, but came back and have hunted Quantico every morning but two since then. Being a new turkey hunter it has been very frustrating as I try to make sense of each new experience, recognize trends, and put things in context. In a nutshell, the week of 22-27 April I had a number of opportunities, birds gobbling in all the same places I scouted, gobbling hard on the ground, and coming to my calls. Several hung up just out of range, but in the end I had close encounters with 5-6 birds and opportunities to work them. I felt I was at least learning something and improving my skills, and with just a small break, likely to take a bird sooner or later. Then the week of 28 April - 4 May, gobbling reduced greatly, gobbling on the ground almost ceased, and the birds I was able to locate showed no interest in my calls. Yesterday was typical, with zero gobbles, zero sightings, at a spot where I had about eight gobblers within earshot at sunrise a week earlier. I couldn't even hear any gobbles in the far distance. If you have a crystal ball tuned in to MCB Quantico, my question would be are things going to pick up again, or have the turkeys turned a corner and breeding behavior reached a close for this spring?