Turkey Time...

[yoderjac]

I've been watching these turkey for several weeks. There is clearly two dominant gobblers that have been hanging around with the harem of hens. There is also one subdominant gobbler that is generally in the same area, but often some distance away. He seems to be careful of the other gobblers. He does get with them from time to time, but is tentative.

I got a distant video this morning demonstrating this behavior and a surprise. Let's start with some background information:

The video camera is an ultraHD security camera mounting on my barn. The blind is a little over 100 yards from the barn. The last pine in the buffer strip of pines to the right of the blind is about 50 yards from the blind and the closest tree in the hardwoods to the left of the blind is about 40 yards away. The picture is a bit deceiving because tat last pine in the strip is across a small dip. Most of my observations of the birds is in the field beyond the blind. That far wood line on the other side is approximately 300 yards from the barn. That field run parallel to the buffer strip of pines and has a hump in the middle so that back corner is only easily observable from my barn area. Sorry about the video quality. I've zoomed in a lot, but you'll get the idea of the general behavior.

Video Start time 0726 – End Time 0744

You fist see the two dominant gobblers come out with a couple hen. About 1/2 way through the video, the subdominant comes out on the blind side of the dip. He observes the other birds from that distance and struts from time to time, but not a lot. After a bit the gobblers go back into the hardwoods and it appears the subdominant bird joins them. The surprise is near the end of the video when the 4th gobbler appears in the field strutting. I know from direct observation the first 3 birds are mature. I'm not sure about the 4th gobbler.

 

[yoderjac]

There was some more action this morning. Generally, over the last few weeks, the hens have been in large tight groups with dominant gobblers attending them and subdominant gobblers hanging around cautiously. Now I'm starting to see hens becoming a bit more independent of each other. They seem to be in smaller groups. Gobblers are still strutting for them. Here is about 15 minutes from this morning:

 

[yoderjac]

One of the biggest issues with the videos above is the distance from the camera. The video in the previous post starts out where you see the entire field of view of that particular security video camera. After download it to my computer, I used Adobe Premiere to pan and zoom to the general area the turkeys are using. I then pan and zoom as needed so all the birds can be seen in the video.
;

The turkeys were back this morning in this general area from a few minutes after 7:00 am until about 8:45 am. It was a mix of gobblers and hens fairly dispersed, not in a tight flock. Gobblers went back and forth showing off and hens largely ignored them and continued to feed. Most of the time the gobblers were in that far field out of gun range. There were ;a few times when they are on the fringe of my guns range. Several hens came right up to the blind during this period. From time to time, the gobblers went out of the camera view to the right.

I had another camera that is pointed to the right if this one that has some overlap. I can reuse the 8MP indoor where zooming is not an issue. I ordered a new one and it came in today. Before removing the 8MP video camera, cut a short video clip of a couple minutes from this morning when the birds were in view of the 8MP camera. I zoomed in:

After replacing this video camera with a 12 MP security video camera, I captures a bit more video. In both cases, I used Adobe Premiere t zoom in. In the case of the 12 MP camera, there are no turkeys. I just zoomed in so the area covered by both camera was about the same. It is not exact but certainly enough to see the difference in resolution

 

[yoderjac]

When I reviewed this morning's footage there were no birds in the field. I typically review the video from just before 7Am until about 9AM. This shows that the birds are not following the same pattern daily. They have not left the area, they just uses the habitat differently from time to time.

I went outside this morning to water the chestnuts I'm trying to propagate and do some other stuff. I looked down at the area the birds frequent. Sure enough there was a gobbler tending a hen. I'm guessing that by this late in the morning, most breeding hens have gone to nest and this gobbler is tending a young hen that isn't nesting yet.

These birds did not immediately react to me working around the barn. I don't know if was intentional related to my presence about 150 yards away from them, or just a coincidence, but shortly after the video ends, they slowly feed toward the corner of the field in the upper left and disappear into the woods.

I just extracted a few minutes of the footage. This footage comes from the new 12mp video camera, so it is taken from a slightly different angle than some of the earlier videos:

 

[yoderjac]

Here is the video from this morning:

Nothing remarkable, but it has been very interesting this year watching behavior change over time. This is the first time I've had long-range view of a flocks behavior over time. I would guess that peak breading occurred about a week or so ago. I'm now seeing individual hens much more. I did not make a video, but yesterday, I watched a single hen feed her way for about 1/4 mile across my fields, past the blind and into the woods. No other birds were with her.

Today's video shows 2 gobblers strutting for one hen.

Once again, the videos are grainy taken from a long distance and digitally zoomed. The important thing is not the individual detailed behavior of individual birds, but the collective behavior and how they relate to each other over time. The series of videos in this thread demonstrate the changing behavior as we approach peak breading, go through it, and come out the other side.

 

[yoderjac]

Another day, another video. Looks like at least 2 hens and 2 gobblers and at least one unidentified turkey. The hens come up to the blind, but the gobblers hang on the fringe of shooting distance.

 

[yoderjac]

Another day's video. Looks like the larger group of hens is back together. The gobblers were well within shooting range of the blind in that dip.

 

[yoderjac]

From later this afternoon. I don't think blind avoidance will be a problem (but it never is with turkey).

 

[yoderjac]

If they do tomorrow what they did today, a harvest awaits me!

 

[yoderjac]

Well, opening day is here, and I got a surprise. It is amazing what you don't see during a hunt. So, here is the story:

I was in the blind about 0535. I heard my first gobble at 0550 and then nothing until 0600. I heard at least 3 long-beards that gobbled in the tree for 15 minutes. Maybe a gobble or two on the ground. I knew they were with hens. I was expecting a day like yesterday but it didn’t happen that way…or so I thought at the time. After the birds were on the ground I made a few clucks and purrs and then shut-up. I had not seen or heard anything by 0800, so I decided to make some blind calls. I did a couple clucks and a single yelp. Nothing answered, so I shut up again and figured I take a cat nap. I opened my eyes and a single gobbler was strutting at about 60 yards. He was headed right to me, so I just let him come. He was out of strut, but the shot would have put lots of pellets in the body. When he got to 25-30 yards he finally turned broadside. I clucked once and he picked up his head. Bang-Flop.

I was thinking, “Wonderful, I just shot the sub-dominant bird without spooking the dominant birds”. I thought he had been alone, but I saw a hen in front of me to my left side fast walking away. I lost track of her as I was watching him flop. I unloaded my gun and thought the coast was clear. When I got out of the blind, I spooked the hen who was coming to investigate the flopping bird.

Here was the hunt from the perspective of the barn camera:

I saw all of this action. What I didn’t see happens earlier:

At about 0800, the birds are in the field I’m watching. They are over the knoll from me and I have no idea they are there. They appear to be on their daily pattern of circling over to the blind. You can tell there are two strutting gobblers in the group. I’m guessing my cluck and yelp may have actually slowed down their approach. Perhaps the hens were wary of some new voice. As it turns out, it worked in my favor. The sub-dominant bird that I had been watching hanging around the periphery of the group circled around the other way. He was not with that hen. She was likely the first in the group circling the other way. The sub-dominant bird was likely far enough from the dominant gobblers they he was willing to strut some. I wish I had not spooked that hen, but I’d rather spook her than have the gobblers come around behind her and either spook them or get trapped in the blind for a long period. Here is that period:

20 lb Live Weight. 2-year old spurs, didn't measure the beard yet, but I'd guess 9"-10".

 

[Catchin’ deer’s]

Took my friend this morning and we got a 14lb Jake, the spur was non-existent and the beard was about 2-3 inches but a turkey is a turkey

 

[Catchin’ deer’s]

Well, opening day is here, and I got a surprise. It is amazing what you don't see during a hunt. So, here is the story:

I was in the blind about 0535. I heard my first gobble at 0550 and then nothing until 0600. I heard at least 3 long-beards that gobbled in the tree for 15 minutes. Maybe a gobble or two on the ground. I knew they were with hens. I was expecting a day like yesterday but it didn’t happen that way…or so I thought at the time. After the birds were on the ground I made a few clucks and purrs and then shut-up. I had not seen or heard anything by 0800, so I decided to make some blind calls. I did a couple clucks and a single yelp. Nothing answered, so I shut up again and figured I take a cat nap. I opened my eyes and a single gobbler was strutting at about 60 yards. He was headed right to me, so I just let him come. He was out of strut, but the shot would have put lots of pellets in the body. When he got to 25-30 yards he finally turned broadside. I clucked once and he picked up his head. Bang-Flop.

I was thinking, “Wonderful, I just shot the sub-dominant bird without spooking the dominant birds”. I thought he had been alone, but I saw a hen in front of me to my left side fast walking away. I lost track of her as I was watching him flop. I unloaded my gun and thought the coast was clear. When I got out of the blind, I spooked the hen who was coming to investigate the flopping bird.

Here was the hunt from the perspective of the barn camera:

I saw all of this action. What I didn’t see happens earlier:

At about 0800, the birds are in the field I’m watching. They are over the knoll from me and I have no idea they are there. They appear to be on their daily pattern of circling over to the blind. You can tell there are two strutting gobblers in the group. I’m guessing my cluck and yelp may have actually slowed down their approach. Perhaps the hens were wary of some new voice. As it turns out, it worked in my favor. The sub-dominant bird that I had been watching hanging around the periphery of the group circled around the other way. He was not with that hen. She was likely the first in the group circling the other way. The sub-dominant bird was likely far enough from the dominant gobblers they he was willing to strut some. I wish I had not spooked that hen, but I’d rather spook her than have the gobblers come around behind her and either spook them or get trapped in the blind for a long period. Here is that period:

20 lb Live Weight. 2-year old spurs, didn't measure the beard yet, but I'd guess 9"-10".

Good job with that Tom, you lucked out with that

 

[yoderjac]

Took my friend this morning and we got a 14lb Jake, the spur was non-existent and the beard was about 2-3 inches but a turkey is a turkey

Congrats!

For those interested, I updated the harvest video with camera angle cut in from a different barn security cam so you can see the actual harvest. It is still highly zoomed so the footage is grainy.

 

[yoderjac]

Good job with that Tom, you lucked out with that

Yes, I lucked out and sometimes lightening strikes you twice!

Same blind as yesterday. The dominant gobbler started at 5:45 am and gobbled strong until about 6:30 AM. I knew he had hens. When he hit the ground at about 6:15 am, I made one soft cluck. I heard and saw nothing, so at 7:15 I did a soft cluck and yelp and then shut up. I find hens often avoid loud and aggressive calling and take the gobbler with them. About 7:30, I saw a hen feeding my way. There were more hens and a gobbler behind her. It looked like he would going to pass just to the left of my blind drawing the gobbler right past my front shooting window. That did not happen. She stopped feeding and picked up the pace. When she hit the bottom of the dip in front of my stand, she made a 90 degree turn and headed north through the dip and started running. The other hens followed.

The gobbler cut through the tree cover to my right. I was on him when he popped out but nothing happened when I squeezed the trigger. I had forgotten to take of the safety. By now he was moving faster than I like. I had not distance flags on that side of the blind. I estimated 50 yards which is in reach of my 10 gauge. The pattern breaks down somewhere between 55 and 60 years. I led him slightly and pulled the trigger. Bang-Flop. I stepped off the distance and it was slightly over 60 yards. I was lucky!

He was a 22 lb 3 year old with 1" sharp spurs and a 10 1/2" beard.

One interesting thing is the light color in his fan:

 

[yoderjac]

Last night I saw 4 hens cross that field on their way to roost. I did not hunt today, but I did review the footage from 6:30 am until about 9am. Of course at this distance I can only differentiate a gobbler from a hen if it is in strut. About 6:45, which is early to see birds in this field, I saw 4 non-strutting birds. Then, about 8:15am, I saw another bird (non-strutting) in the dip just past the blind. That was it.

Yesterday, when I was cleaning the bird, I did hear a shot coming from the field down near the highway about 1/2 mile from the blind, and a couple seconds later, a follow-up shot. I guy stopped by before the season saying he got permission to hunt that field and asking about my place. So, I can account for one dominant bird that I shot yesterday, and the sub-dominant 2 year old that I shot opening day. There was at least one more dominant bird in the area from the pre-season camera data. I don't know if the guy killed that bird or wounded it or cleanly missed it, or if it was another bird altogether that he shot at, but I have not yet seen another strutter on camera.

I probably won't hunt here until I can confirm there is another gobbler in the area. Perhaps I will if we get a good gobbling weather morning as the cameras won't pick up roost gobbling.

 

[yoderjac]

Looks like I won't be hunting in the morning!

 

[yoderjac]

This is one more in the series of watching turkey behavior over time. Earlier in the thread, we learned there was a flock with 2 strutting dominate gobblers and one satellite sub-dominant gobbler hanging out on the periphery of the group. Last spring, I hunted this same area with the blind about 40 yards closer to the barn than it was this year and never got a shot. Last spring I heard at least 7 different gobblers on the roost. I'm sure some of them were jakes. This spring, I have not heard more than 3 gobblers on the roost, but I only hunted 2 days.

I killed the sub-dominant 2-year old opening morning and then one of the dominant 3-year old gobblers on the second day of the season. While I was cleaning the second bird, I heard a shot and a second shot a few seconds later on an adjoining property the flock had been using. I know 2 of the gobblers are dead and there is a good chance the third is as well.

Now I'm wondering if other gobblers are still in the area but were not gobbling on the root because of the dominant gobblers. Or, if not, will others move in over time? My cameras are too far from the roosting area to pick up gobbles, so I'll need to get out and setup the blind again so I can listen and find out more about gobbling on the roost. I hope to setup the blind today now that the winds have died down a bit.

It looks like the hens that I've been seeing 2 or 3 at a time have regrouped. I don't see any strutting birds in this video from this morning, so I presume all the turkeys in this video are hens. They were in the fields from a little after 7am until after 8:30 am.

 

[yoderjac]

Looks like I won't be hunting in the morning!

The Blind is back up. It is a couple yards further south but generally in the same spot. This time I used much larger tent stakes!

 

[yoderjac]

This group of hens is still together this evening. Still now gobblers with them. I plan to listen in the morning to see if there are gobblers in the area but with other hens.

 

[yoderjac]

I decided today would be a good listening morning. I'm more interested in continuing to learn about this flock dynamic than I am to fill my last tag. I grabbed the gun this morning, just in case, and notices I had left the red dot sight turned on at the battery was pretty low. I was running late, but I took time to change it. I then hurriedly headed out to the blind. When I got to the blind I realized, I forgot my ammo.

Normally I would have been upset, but since my main objective was just to listen for gobbling on the roost, I just hopped into the blind and set the gun aside. It was a decent morning for gobbling weather wise, but I heard absolutely nothing. I had my Defend Ear hearing protection/amplification turned up to the max, since I was more interested in determining if there was any gobbling in the area rather than trying to estimate how far away the roost site was.

It was still an enjoyable morning. About 15 minutes before sunrise, I had about a dozen deer walk past at about 60 yards. Roost gobbling is generally over by sunrise, so that is when I headed back since I had no ammo. I figured I'd get out of there so as not to disturb the hens normal pattern. On the way back, I bounced a pair of geese that had been in my spring oats about every morning. Next, I saw what was either a small coyote or a grey fox running by at top speed. Finally, this was the highlight of the morning: