Too Many Hens!!!

[Gary Roberson]

Just returned from a turkey hunt south of Junction on one of the best turkey ranches in Texas. Yesterday morning in 32 degree weather with a light frost on the ground, I heard more hens yelping than I have ever heard in my life. I asked the gentleman with me how many hens did he think were calling on the roost and he said, over 200. I estimated 40-50 gobblers talking at the same time so there was a constant roar for about 30 minutes.
Adios,
Gary

[SwampRanger]

Bet that sounded cool!

[Roy D Mercer]

Too Many Hens

Just returned from a turkey hunt south of Junction on one of the best turkey ranches in Texas. Yesterday morning in 32 degree weather with a light frost on the ground, I heard more hens yelping than I have ever heard in my life. I asked the gentleman with me how many hens did he think were calling on the roost and he said, over 200. I estimated 40-50 gobblers talking at the same time so there was a constant roar for about 30 minutes.
Adios,
Gary

Not enough bobcats......

[BuckRage]

oh man its been awesome year. I was out the first two weekends of season and they were hammering for sure and lots of em.

[Lee230]

Gary, I use to hunt between London and Streeter on a place that was a huge winter roost. We would commonly see over 300 birds at a time and to watch/experience that many birds come off the roost every morning was simply amazing!!

[techzan]

Just returned from a turkey hunt south of Junction on one of the best turkey ranches in Texas. Yesterday morning in 32 degree weather with a light frost on the ground, I heard more hens yelping than I have ever heard in my life. I asked the gentleman with me how many hens did he think were calling on the roost and he said, over 200. I estimated 40-50 gobblers talking at the same time so there was a constant roar for about 30 minutes.
Adios,
Gary

Were you in Telegraph? if so, which ranch? I've been seeing lots of hens there recently.

[eastxhunter]

Sick

[txwhitetail]

Sounds like a nightmare.

[jerp]

That makes it awfully hard to compete for the gobbler’s attention!

[Gary Roberson]

Just south of Telegraph. There are a few historic roosts across the Hill Country, the biggest in the state was on Bear Creek in northern Kimble County. The retired Game Warden there told me that they estimated 3,000 birds on the roost before the flood in 1980 wiped out the big trees.
I am afraid that the overpopulation of wild hogs is going to adversely effect the populations of ground nesting birds, especially the turkey. Driving the ranch roads, we would see 50-100 hogs a day on this ranch. It seems that the hogs like to root in the same areas that the birds like to nest.
Adios,
Gary

[Briar Friar]

Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing Gary.

[gander]

Just south of Telegraph. There are a few historic roosts across the Hill Country, the biggest in the state was on Bear Creek in northern Kimble County. The retired Game Warden there told me that they estimated 3,000 birds on the roost before the flood in 1980 wiped out the big trees.
I am afraid that the overpopulation of wild hogs is going to adversely effect the populations of ground nesting birds, especially the turkey. Driving the ranch roads, we would see 50-100 hogs a day on this ranch. It seems that the hogs like to root in the same areas that the birds like to nest.
Adios,
Gary

I think I might just know what ranch you were on. PC? If so, I can vouch that ranch is absolutely covered in turkey's. I saw a roost there on the river one New Year's Eve morning that had to have had 400 turkeys in it. Was an ocean of turkey's when they came out of those trees. Hands down the most beautiful ranch I've had the pleasure of stepping foot on.

[BrandonA]

We had a ranch between Menard and Hext on Elm Creek. One morning I lost count of turkeys when I hit 400. ....I just quit counting. Most annoying bird ever

[Big Red 82]

Awesome good luck

[AntlerCollector]

I bet that was cool to hear