Am I the only one? Drumming

I have been turkey hunting for over 30 years now. I consider myself a decent hunter, i usually kill 2-3 birds a year and i have called in many for other people. So, i would guess i have been a part of killing somewhere between 80 and 100 turkeys. I have never heard one drum. I don't think my hearing allows me to hear that level of noise. Just wondering if anyone else can't hear them.

Walker’s Game Ear

I've killed a bunch of gobblers, haven't heard 1 drumming in at least 20 years. I think my old ears can't hear the frequency of drumming

Bein able to hear them is a boon..but i don’t understand it either..i know plenty of folks who cant…i think its like bein able to wiggle your ears..some can..some cant

Id almost say i feel them drum as much hear them

I'm convinced I can't hear it. I haven't been around a ton of gobblers, but I've had them strutting within 50-75yds a handful of times and I've never heard it. I've also had people post or send me videos claiming to be good examples of clear, easy-to-hear drumming, and *nothing*. Supposedly you can hear it clearly in this video below...but I can't.

I think it's just an issue of not being able to hear certain frequencies. I hate it too, because by all accounts it's a really cool thing to experience.

Invest in the Tetra AmPods. This was my first year with them and they are a game changer. I had trouble hearing drumming for years and if I did hear it, he was right on top of me but with the Tetra’s, I can hear drumming a long ways out. You can also pinpoint exactly where a gobble came from. They are not like the Walkers or others I’ve used as I could hear the gobble but couldn’t tell exactly where it came from. But now, I know exactly where it came from. Not being able to hear drumming is a huge disadvantage when turkey hunting. He may not be gobbling but more than likely he IS spitting and drumming on his way to you. It is money well spent!!!

I can hear the spit but no drum. lol

I hear drumming often in the woods , Gomer, but can’t hear it on your video from my phone. I hear the spit, but not the drum. Try some headphones maybe

I just listened to the video I posted on a $300 set of headphones...and other people I work with confirmed they can hear it

It's your ears are not pickup up the frequency level. I used to could never hear it, even when I was watching him do it. As I got older, either my ears got worse or better but I can hear it most of the time now. I remember the day it happened. I was on a WMA, about 11:30, taking a break in some shade. I hit a slate and boom he gobbled maybe 75 yds out. All of a sudden the woods was filled with vrooommm. Go figure.

The first time I heard it was hunting near a dirt road. Gobbler had stopped gobbling and I was looking for him to come straight at me. Was mentally cussing the guy running the bass wide open on his sound system behind me. I look back and the bird was in full strut right behind me. He lived but that boom has been the death of many more. I think I had heard the sound but never connected it to a turkey.

I can hear but can't in that video.

I had a couple of coworkers listen to the video....on regular speakers they couldn't hear it. Through my fancy headphones, their response was "Oh wow".

Heard it plenty - just no this year

Sometimes hard to coarse it or tell exactly where he at for me by hearing it

I hope you are correct , I bought a set at the end of season . I got to wear them a couple times , but wasn't in a situation to hear one drum. I called Tetra and explained I can hear one gobble far as anyone just can't hear drumming. They were supposed to turn that frequency up . They did enhance low end for sure , walking in leaves and low sounds are better. Them things ain't cheap, they better work.

If I couldn’t hear drumming my success would be cut in half. This year especially a few gobbles on the limb and nothing but drumming the rest of the day.

A lot of the time youll notice this annoying "pressure" or "bass" like sitting to close to a speaker. Then youll notice it when you realize what it is. I can hear them spit and drum luckily as many times that was the only way I know one was there.

My first Merriam was like that. I had him gobbling and he stopped. I was at the top of a drainage trying to hear him and there was this darn annoying bass like "noise" coming from my right and I was what is that and dang will it stop? I wont hear the bird with that noise. I looked to my right and he was strutting up a drainage drumming. Luckily Im left handed and just turned and smoked him.

Loudest drumming bird Id ever heard. It was so loud it was annoying. Once you do hear it you will recognize it a lot easier.

It’s a very low frequency and you just may not able to hear in that range.

I can hear it ONLY if they’re close enough to shoot. I can hear them spit a long long way though. If I hear the drum I know I can pull the trigger.

That's what the feller at Tetra told me, it's not the lowest but very near it.

The turkey I killed Sunday was the biggest gobbler I’ve ever seen. I could hear him drum clearly from 136 yds (rangefinder).

Some places I can’t hardly hear it unless he’s inside 30’yards. Some places I can hear one 150 yards away. For some reason it’s all about terra for me. I will never forget one time in Kansas I could hear a turkey drumming as loud as you can imagine and he was standing on a hill every bit of 250 yards away. It is definitely a strange sound and a strange frequency

Yep on the video - very clear on cheap computer speakers. Some folks pick up that frequency some don't. I can hear some gobblers drumming at 100 yds, some have to be in range, I think some do it better than others. Great sound no doubt!

I used to be able to hear one drumming as far as 80-100yds in open woods or a field. Noticed this year that I couldn’t hear it until a bird was under 40. Sucks getting old

Some are definitely louder than others, I remember one in Texas, buddy and I were scrambling to lay eyes on him cause it sounded like he was 20 steps and when we saw him he was at least 100 yards, almost walked up on 2 this season while going to a gobbling bird that was a good ways off and I stopped just before I topped a ridge to see if he would gobble again and heard drumming, peeked over the ridge and there’s 2 strutting with 4 hens about 70 yards and the turkey I was going to gobbled about 200 yards away

I killed one that the only thing I heard was drumming that tipped me off he was coming this year. I can hear it really well but like Turkey Joe said, I can only hear the spit on videos unless I put my bose headphones on to listen.

I've never heard it in the woods either and I've been plenty close to them to where I should've heard it. I can play that video in my truck and I can hear it on my truck speakers.

The first hunt I went on this year I inadvertently set up right under a gobbler in the dark. He was literally 20 yards from me on the limb. It was still good and dark and I was dozing off and I heard him spit. This went on for 45 minutes or so as he woke up and began strutting and gobbling on the limb. I heard him spit every time but no drumming. I don't know why I can hear it in the truck but not in the woods but that's my experience. Maybe I need to buy some of those Tetra earbuds

Before greenup I’m pretty sure I can hear it from 200 yards away in the woods in the mountains. In open fields they have to be around 100 for me to hear it. Out West I can hear gobbles a mile away if the terra allows it.

This. Its like bass from a stereo

I can hear drumming well as a general rule. Sometimes they can be 125yds and others I cannot hear it until they are 40yds and I assume that has to do with weather conditions as much as anything. I cannot hear a turkey spit unless I can physically see the bird in say a pasture at close range. If I can watch the bird with my naked eye and see what he is doing I can condition myself to hear that spit but without a visual I cannot hear the spit. Nothing gets my heart pumping faster than hearing a bird drumming. It seems when they get to the point of hearing them drum the odds of my success seem to escalate exponentially.

You're not the only one. I know several folks that turkey hunt that cannot hear it. I hear it often and several birds have been killed because of it. I hope I can hear them for many years to come. One of the most exciting sounds in the spring woods. You can almost feel it.

I thought this thread was going to be about Aaron Lewis.

I've heard some on the roost from that far. A still, cold morning, and a turkey roosted on a high hill, and I can still hear it a long way. My high frequency hearing is terrible, but my low frequency is still pretty normal. I have noticed that I am not hearing gobbling as well as I used to, but I haven't noticed any change in drumming.

That's gotta be the greatest sound in nature.

^^^^
Heard about a 1 second stretch of it this year - that’s it - it is awesome

I can clearly hear it on that video.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hunting with someone and I’ve been looked at like I had two heads because I tapped them on the shoulder and whispered “He’s here, get ready”. My wife tells me i have a connection with them and just “sense” wren there are around. I tell her that’s not the case, I can just hear them and she rolls her eyes.

Last year my son and I were sitting on a two year old cutover deer hunting. I told him there was a deer within 100 yards of us and it took him 20 min to find it with binos. He asked me how I knew it was there. I could hear it chewing whatever it was eating.

I’ve been blessed with good hearing. I wish my eyesight was as good.

I'd rather hear the drumming than gobbling. No other sound compares.

I hunted along time before I heard it. Then I finally heard it and now I hear it almost every time I’m within range of a strutting turkey. I think it’s a sound that you have to learn to hear. Hear it once and you’ll know what to listen for.

As far as in videos I can only hear it when I watch on a tv with a sub woofer

I can hear them gobble out west on the roost on a calm low humidity morning well in excess of a mile. Those rios and merriams have much higher pitched frequencies that travels a long dang way.

Sounds like a jig blaring music a few miles away, or the release of a jake break turning in 1/2 mile gate away, I click the safety off when it sounds like a balloon full of bees

Best description I’ve heard.⬆️

The most exciting sound a hunter can hear.

Yup. Amazing. Had one come in behind me one morning. Leaves were wet. Heard him drumming but couldn't move. Then he gobblers about 8' from me. Almost blew my hat off. As he eased passed me ..... all I did was move my eyes and he took off running the way he came in. Got too far out by the time I could turn around.