This year's spring gobbler season (which ends tomorrow) brings to mind a couple of tired but true sayings , "the early bird catches the worm," or "he who hesitates is lost" - for both could easily be applicable to the what occurred during the month-long season.
In recent years, I've forgone the first few days of the spring turkey season because of the usually high hunter density that normally occurs then. Because toms are normally vocal, their gobbling is easily heard by hunters as far away as a quarter mile. The result often is more than one hunter moving closer to get in position to attempt enticing the gobbler within shotgun range. This is especially true on public land as hunting access to private lands has steadily shrunk.
This year I decided to tempt fate by hunting opening day. I was fortunate enough to know of a small patch of private land where the owner allowed access. But to be on the safe side, I decided not to be there at dawn, hoping that many of those hunters who did get out early would be gone, either to work or for an after-hunt breakfast. I reached the forest edge spot where I could see both the woods behind me as well as the large field in front. I could see a gobbler and a hen in the field, about 125 yards away. I'd no sooner gotten set up when I heard a motor of some kind. Here came a hunter driving a golf cart along the edge of the field. The two turkeys immediately vamoosed. I stayed around about an hour before heading home. Teach me to hunt opening day, right?
Despite reservations caused by the opener, I ventured out the morning of the second day. About 7 a.m. I heard a bird gobble that wasn't far away, so I answered him. I was again hunting near an open field and had a pretty good view. Within minutes after I'd called I spotted a big longbeard heading across the field toward me and the hen decoy I'd placed. He had his head down and was coming on a steady trot. Oh boy, here we go.
As the gobbler closed to about 70 yards I saw movement in the field off to my right. Here came five jakes, making a beeline toward the big gobbler. I cackled loudly, but the juveniles never changed their course. They had one thing in mind - to harass and drive that bigger gobbler away. And that's exactly what happened. If you've ever seen what I refer to as a "jake street gang" going after adult gobblers, then you probably haven't hunted spring turkeys as long as I have. The magic number of jakes in a flock that will usually do this seems to be at least four. Less than that, and they seem to lack the confidence to tackle the bigger bird.
After watching the jakes spur and chase the big tom clear out of the field in the opposite direction, I stayed quiet for a few minutes, hoping that the longbeard might circle around and come in from the woods side of the field, thereby looking for the "hen" he'd heard and also avoiding the jakes. After a few minutes I gave a few soft clucks. Immediately I heard a trio of gobbles ... from the jakes. Here they came – all five of them – on a run, straight toward me and my poor hen decoy. The largest of the flock immediately knocked the decoy to the ground and then two of the others started attacking him, in the process trampling my decoy. I was tempted to pop the largest one out of spite, but didn't since I haven't shot anything but large gobblers in years.
Okay, I was now two for two while hunting the first two days of the season. I can take a hint, especially when such incidents as I'd had fairly scream out "enough already!" So I decided to revert back to my usual tactic of hunting hard the latter part of the season, when there's usually far fewer hunters and roaming hens (and jake gangs) to contend with. I've shot a lot of longbeards late in the season that were far more vocal and enjoyable to work/call in what is the classic spring gobbler scenario.
But after the first week or so of the season I began to hear veteran turkey hunters remarking how quiet the gobblers had become, maybe sounding off from their roost and again when they flew down, and then shutting up the rest of the morning. They also reported seeing more hens roaming throughout the morning, usually in small flocks of several birds. Now, normally what occurs during May is progressively more hens finish their clutches of eggs and begin sitting/incubating the nest, which means adult gobblers are progressively forced to work harder to find cooperative hens to breed with. That equates to more vocal and responsive gobblers.
The joker in any May turkey season is weather patterns. If the early spring is warmer and drier than usual, hens will start breeding and nesting early. If it's cooler and wetter, that will delay the nesting and result in more hens being available to gobblers. Remember those two summer-like weeks we had in late April? Bingo! An earlier-than-usual turkey mating season. That activity carried over into the first week of May, and the hunting season. As such, there were many toms taken then.
Now just about every spring turkey season experiences a lull after the initial mating frenzy, but then there is normally a resurgence in mating activity toward the end of the month to compensate for hens that have lost their initial egg clutch to freezing or predators and also to insure at least a fair annual poult survival rate should many of the early hatches be lost. But this year was unusual because of so many hens still roaming and available to gobblers. Why? Only the turkeys know.
And that unpredictability is what makes spring gobbler hunting fun, and often leaves even veteran turkey hunters scratching their heads.