# Why do turkeys gobble one day and not the next?



## Hooty Hoot

Many years ago, when turkey lore was mainly myth, my uncle told me that a turkey would not gobble if his feet were cold. Now, when they shut down, I just say their feet must have been cold.

Seriously though, I don`t think they will gobble on a falling barometer. What do you think? Any other reasons?


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## Son

*Gobble*

Never figured that out, but they can sure shut up. Old timers always told me they didn't like to gobble when wet.


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## Greg Tench

*Hooty*

I agree with the barometer theory. But as far as cold I dont know, I ve heard em light the woods up on some very cold spring mornings,but it was under bluebird skies.


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## ramsey




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## CAL

Hooty Hoot,
Very good and interesting post.Like you I have also wondered what would cause them to just get the lock jaw.I think this year I am going to keep a diary of what happens.I go every morning weather permits.Thing is they will gobble one place and not in another.Now that really throws a wrinkle in the theories.


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## Hooty Hoot

Cal:

      I`ve got a 250 acre tract in Heard co. ga. and a large tract one mile away in Ala. and they will blow and go on one tract but never say a word on the other. Befuddles the heck out of me.


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## kevincox

I have one tract that you will hear 5-6 different gobblers one morning. Then you go the next day under the same weather conditions and hear nothing. Just can't figure them out


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## Jim Thompson

because they are dumb birds of course


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## ramsey

Could it be that preditors are near?


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## gobble4me

I don't know about the cold feet theory, but it is kinda like people don't go hunting after a thunderstorm that occured during the middle of the night. For me, if rains during the middle of the night, I will be out there at first light.


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## bull0ne

Turkeys are sometimes more vocal on the first  bright,sunny morning with high barometric pressure after inclement weather has passed but rarely do you get two ''good gobbling '' mornings in a row........three in a row is almost unheard of.

The worst weather for gobbling is a cold & rainy morning with a low pressure system stalled out in the area......there are exceptions to any rule but in generalities thats been my observations.


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## Hooty Hoot

Good post Bullone, I`ve noticed the same. Again, I wonder why?


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## GaDeerSlayer

*Great Question*

But a quite bird can easily become a dead bird!   Bottom line is you just have to stick with it and hunt them like you would a bird that's "fired-up".  If you think about it, deer and fish are the same way...


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## bull0ne

Hooty Hoot said:
			
		

> Good post Bullone, I`ve noticed the same. Again, I wonder why?



The nature of the beast i suppose,game & game activity is almost always suppressed the first and second day of a stalled low pressure system......after that the empty bellies become a priority and they have to start feeding even if the weather is less than perfect.

A good rule of thumb is when you're going turkey hunting and listening to the FM radio on the way & you can't pick up your favorite stations very well but you're hitting stations 150 miles away that's a sign the low pressure system is hanging over your head.......seldom will it be a good gobbling morning.


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## NUTT

Cause me and Dominant Predator done came in there and killed him. That's why he don't gobble the next day!


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## gsubo

Or i could be his throat hurts too bad from gobblin his head off the day before. Naw, actually I have noticed this too sometimes.  Alot of times if its been raining heavy and even if it blows out and clears up by daylight i dont hear much gobbling and especially foggy mornings.  I hunted last year a spot opening day where id been hearing four different gobblers for a week hammerin.  That morning i slipped in before daylight in thick fog and only heard one gobble twice and fly out the tree about 8o yards from me and act like i wasnt there.  I wonder too sometimes.


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## bull0ne

gsubo said:
			
		

> Or i could be his throat hurts too bad from gobblin his head off the day before. Naw, actually I have noticed this too sometimes.  Alot of times if its been raining heavy and even if it blows out and clears up by daylight i dont hear much gobbling and especially foggy mornings.  I hunted last year a spot opening day where id been hearing four different gobblers for a week hammerin.  That morning i slipped in before daylight in thick fog and only heard one gobble twice and fly out the tree about 8o yards from me and act like i wasnt there.  I wonder too sometimes.



Ah yes....i remember last opening day as if was yesterday.....i watched 5 longbeards feeding until sunset,they could not have gotten very far before fly-up time but the next morning they did'nt gobble at all......but i did find a gobbling bird fired up during the midmorning,just as the sun burned the clouds and fog away he started talkin' on his own.


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## Arrow3

Ive heard birds gobble in the freezing cold and also gobble in the rain....Who knows what he will do from one day to the next....


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## DaddyPaul

This is precisely the reason I try to go every morning of the season down here in Fl., well that and the fact that I love it!  I figure the more days I am in the woods the better the chances of being there on the right day?  Like some have said there are some days that they seem to gobble better on than others based on the weather but there are no hard and fast rules.  They pretty much gobble when they want to.  One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is maybe the birds are using alternate roosting sites?  I hunted (actually guided) on a property about 8 years ago that was basically about 900 acres of river swamp.  It took me a while to figure it out but I did in the end.  You could go to one particular spot in the morning and hoot and the woods would literally explode with gobbles.  The next morning they would be silent!  On the next morning they would be back and gobbling.  We finally figured out which side of the river swamp to get on to be with the birds but it took some time.  I guess they would fly down and feed and frolic all day in the swamp and then fly up on the other end, then reverse the next day.  If you are hunting a smallish property this could be part of your problem?  Just a thought?


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## Jody Hawk

If someone could answer this question he'd be a millionaire. I too have heard birds gobbling on cloudy mornings with freezing cold temps and then not say a thing on a blue bird sky morning with a low in the 40s. Don't know how many times I'd hear nothing and a buddy hunting less than a few miles away said that they were hammering it on his place. I find that if they gobble their heads off one morning then they usually will not be quite as vocal the next morning. Who knows what these crazy birds are thinking that causes them to do what they do?


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## bull0ne

DaddyPaul said:
			
		

> This is precisely the reason I try to go every morning of the season down here in Fl., well that and the fact that I love it!  I figure the more days I am in the woods the better the chances of being there on the right day?  Like some have said there are some days that they seem to gobble better on than others based on the weather but there are no hard and fast rules.  They pretty much gobble when they want to.  One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is maybe the birds are using alternate roosting sites?  I hunted (actually guided) on a property about 8 years ago that was basically about 900 acres of river swamp.  It took me a while to figure it out but I did in the end.  You could go to one particular spot in the morning and hoot and the woods would literally explode with gobbles.  The next morning they would be silent!  On the next morning they would be back and gobbling.  We finally figured out which side of the river swamp to get on to be with the birds but it took some time.  I guess they would fly down and feed and frolic all day in the swamp and then fly up on the other end, then reverse the next day.  If you are hunting a smallish property this could be part of your problem?  Just a thought?



I've seen some gobbler groups have that MO too......one group i hunted was dependable to the point of counting the days to tell which end of the block they would be on..... even if i had'nt hunted there for 4 or 5 days.


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## elfiii

Last year on opening day I had gobblers going crazy on opening day. They were all around me. Shot at one and missed (Doooh!).

The next day it was like being in church, not a peep. Both days it was clear as a bell and cool at daybreak. I know they were there, they just weren't interested in me, even though I chose different setups, different calls, and different calling technique.


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## Gadget

There is no definitive answer to this question, just a bunch of theories, even though there's been numerous studies on the subject.


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## Al33

Gadget said:
			
		

> There is no definitive answer to this question, just a bunch of theories, even though there's been numerous studies on the subject.


I beg to differ sir, it's called "tom-foolery". Those birds just love to mess with our minds.


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## DaddyPaul

Another viable reason could be that one morning he was roosted in close proximity to a heap of hens and the next morning he was lonely?


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## Toddmann

Because one day they feel like gobblin and the next day they just don't feel like gobblin and some days they don't feel like gobblin but they do gobble and on other days they feel like gobblin but they just will not gobble.  I hope this clears things up for U!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Covehnter

I read an article (probably several) on this subject and the theory that sticks in my head is this. . . . its kinda like a baseball pitcher. After going out and throwing a game or some tough innings, he has a few 'down' days to rest up so that he'll be ready when its his turn to come up in the rotation. All makes sense to me, i just know this. . . if they were gobbling there one morning, they arent too far on the next (at least here in Ga).


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## CAL

I have also noticed when coyotes are active right at daylight it seems as if the birds will not gobble.What do any of you think about the dominant gobbler causing the birds not to be real active?


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## Covehnter

I dont know if the coyote make them gobble any less but i know they'll make them stay on roost for a little longer. I do however believe that a boss gobbler can put a dampener on the spirits of the other guys though.


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## elfiii

CAL said:
			
		

> I have also noticed when coyotes are active right at daylight it seems as if the birds will not gobble.What do any of you think about the dominant gobbler causing the birds not to be real active?



Seen that happen. Called a coyote right to me one morning. He circled around downwind and when he hit my scent trail, did a 180 and moved on off without breaking stride. I put a load of 3" #4 over his head just to make sure. That was it for the turkey hunt that morning.


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## Nicodemus

Because they are turkeys. Sometimes I think they even they don`t know what they want to do. How can you outthink something that probably don`t think for itself? That`s also part of the fun of huntin` the crazy things!!


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## elfiii

nicodemus said:
			
		

> Because they are turkeys. Sometimes I think they even they don`t know what they want to do. How can you outthink something that probably don`t think for itself? That`s also part of the fun of huntin` the crazy things!!



You got that right Nicodemus. Sometimes I wonder who is the more stupid, them for being stupid, or me for thinking they aren't!


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## kevincox

Do you think in areas with a high coyote population that turkeys learn to keep quite more?


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## Hooty Hoot

A fish is stupid........but you can pattern a fish.  You can`t even count on a turkey to do something out of habit. I`ve heard it said that turkeys will gobble on the roost in areas with high predator populations. Shut-up when they hit the ground.


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## wooly

*gobble...NO gobble*

That is the best answer I have heard yet!


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## BigBuckDown08

Remember this saying "WIND FROM THE EAST THEY GOBBLE THE LEAST WIND FROM THE WEST THEY GOBBLE THE BEST" Tested and tried, pay attention to it and you will agree!


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## goblr77

Son said:


> Never figured that out, but they can sure shut up. Old timers always told me they didn't like to gobble when wet.



I would agree with that to a certain extent. It always seems if a hard rain comes through during the night that the gobblers are fairly quite the next morning.


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## goblr77

kevincox said:


> Do you think in areas with a high coyote population that turkeys learn to keep quite more?



Yes....and they will fly up earlier and fly down later.


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