Mine are still with hens all day long they will start gettin lonely soon I hope. Not a whole lot of gobbling on limb especially on the ground till this week.

I’m glad to hear yall have hens

In the past few weeks the most hens I’ve seen with a gobbler(s) is two except one gobbler he had 4 hens.

Been seeing single hens out and about by themselves for several weeks now. Some act like they’re setting already. I know of two nest that are about or get busted up I bet.

I’m gonna hunt public land for the first time in years.
I’ve heard 3 birds that were about a mile from our farm in the 3 days that I’ve hunted.
I can hunt them but several guys are chasing those field birds hard since they live by there. I’m hoping they run one back my way at the farm but nothing on camera yet. Did see a few single hens the other day though.

As far as gobbling here in Colbert. It used to always be very strong during the season (April). It ramped up until the second week when pressure shut them up. The third and fourth weeks were always very strong. I still hear them into May.

The public land birds here have always been iffy depending on area. On WMA they might wear it out one day and nothing for several afterwards
It’s hard to stay on them and why I don’t usually hunt these birds. They also travel so you may see them here and they’re a mile away the next day. Once the hens start nesting the gobblers travel. The TVA lands were always a favorite but they don’t gobble nothing like they used too. Every time the rock quarry would drop a load ulyiud hear them. No need for a locator call.


Here’s a question I have and have had a while.

Does lack of competition amongst males drive gobbling efforts. If there’s so little competition why gobble. When we had tons of longbeards we had a lot of hard gobbling. As the population dropped so did the number of gobbles and intensity.

There have been years where the birds didn’t gobble in the limb but waited until around 8 to fire up. I always assumed those had hens roosting with them and no need to gobble. Also killed yotes while turkey hunting when they snuck in

Marengo used to be best from Now til the end of April when I hunted there
I think it depends on property type as well. Birds use different properties more early then move to other properties later sometimes

Mine are still with hens, all the way up into the afternoons. They are gobbling, but are more on the quiet side when they hit the ground. I have not been able to strike one mid morning or in the afternoon. Seems like overall number of gobblers heard are down.

The "Great Mystery." Best gobbling is when he decides he wants to. I have been near some woods working construction in February when it is 28 degrees and they would be burning it up. Working on some property one year well into late May and heard one hammering every breath. As said earlier, it is a roller coaster. So many variables. The last 15 days in March are usually more enjoyable to hunt like it always was for a long time. I prefer that because of the weather. Good thing about April is the hens at some point usually leave the gobblers alone to go nest.