Gobblers silent. Why?

[12thman]

Needs some help with turkey hunting. This is only my fourth year to hunt our lease and I have had good luck so far but went this week and the birds were not cooperating. I saw sevral hens by themselves and the only time I heard any birds was when they were roosting. As soon as they hit the ground they went completely silent, toms and hens. I have not experienced this before. At least when the were with hens in the past they would gobble but not come in. What does this mean? What stage do you think they are in? I am hunting near Mason

[Johnny Dangerr]

We "believe" 2 things can make them quiet down.
One is a high rate of mature gobblers. If one starts making noise 2 will run over and beat him up.
A lot of predators will also chase them when they are calling up girls and after a few close calls they will shut down.

Refer back to the second word in this post....

[Johnny Dangerr]

BTW do not give up. Keep calling. I normally will give a spot 45 minutes before bailing to the next bush. I have taken numerous big boys when they were not calling and just responding to the girls calls...

[Cajun Blake]

gobblers may already have been henned up or possibly the toms may have already serviced the hens

[whiteoak]

They are with hens and wont call back. I have noticed that the gobblers fly down from the roost get with there hens,then they break away from them usually around the early afternoon to find new hens. Try calling around 2pm till sunset. I called in two gobblers the other day, they came in completely silent. Also listen for them drumming i have heard them do this and not gobble at all. Dont overcall they can hear you from a long way off good luck

[Johnny Dangerr]

They are with hens and wont call back. I have noticed that the gobblers fly down from the roost get with there hens,then they break away from them usually around the early afternoon to find new hens. Try calling around 2pm till sunset. I called in two gobblers the other day, they came in completely silent. Also listen for them drumming i have heard them do this and not gobble at all. Dont overcall they can hear you from a long way off good luck

Wow thanks!! Just called the guys at the lease and filled them in. It is great to have 15,000 folks working together!!!!

[Mike Murphey]

It's been windy and cool at night...once the weather starts warming back up they should start sounding off again...

[smokey]

Predators!!!! They are bad news to the turkey population

Also you can call to much and you can call to less. What happens when a loud mouth chick is at a party? Others chicks tell her to shut up or talk about her all night! Same thing goes when hens are with a gobblers if your making noise calling they "the hens" will come to shut her up or check her out! The only way I have called in flocks or groups is to get the mother hen coming your way. If she comes the others will follow and then the gobbler has no choice but to follow. If you see hens with a gobbler, wear the call or calls out. I have done this with three different species of birds, it works!

If he is alone dont call as much, he will come looking for you.

[huntingfanatic]

Re: Gobblers silent. Why?

If they land with hens they usually not gobble much while they ate servicing hens. Once the hens move off you may have better luck but that's usually not till later on in the morning. If they are silent you have two choices. Waitem out or you kinda have to roll the dice. You need to be aggressive with your calling with lots of cutting. The hens will either lead the gobbler away or they will come to investigate the loudmouth. Good thing about this technique is you can often call in satellite gobblers that will come in silent.

[BoneDigger]

Because people keep wanting to shoot them.

I have found that when gobblers are being silent it's best to keep your calling to a minimum, a cluck or putt here or there is all you need. Perhaps a lost hen yelp thrown in every once in a while, but just a feeding putt or cluck every 15 minutes or so will usually bring them in.

Todd

[texan16]

there are many differernt possibilities as to why the toms don't answer or make any noise at all. May be too windy, may be henned up, may be too cloudy, hens may all be onthe nest already, you may be making some poor calls....

Tons of reasons and depending on where and when you are hunting it could bebecause of any or all reasons. No different than why sometimes whenyou rattle bucks come runnin and other times they won't even look at ya.

Just keep huntin and tryin different tactics til you find what they want.

[John_b]

Out here in Wilson county the gobblers have not been interested in the hens until this week. They sounded off all over the ranch BIG TIME but stayed away from the hens. You could only half way call em in. But as of Wednesday that has all changed. The game is on now.

[rdkerrville]

I hunted Mason opening day and they were gobbling that morning and called in a jake but they were not gobbling that afternoon or Sunday morning. Iwas perplexed also. Since the first two days several have been harvested on that ranch so I dont know what was going on with the birds the first few days.

[Wac M Trac M]

Windy days are hard. They just dont talk much. Usually they go silent when they are hened up as everyone stated. They will also go silent if you drive around alot or shoot nearby. You can get away with all 3 of those reasons when they are totally on fire though. I've called in birds with a squeeky tripod chair when they are really on.

[Bonesplitter]

Your not alone, I've been up in north Tx this week chasing them and couldnt get them to make a peep either. We worked nearly all day for several day's straight and couldnt find them.