I have a Jake and a hen running around in the bottoms every day. He won't shut up in the morning. Should I run him off a week before opening day, or will he draw in a Tom? My initial thought is "a live bird running around is better than no bird" Any thoughts?
The assumption would be if you run off the jake a gobbler will fill his position? I think that's backwards. The jake's likely there because a gobbler put him there. Jakes don't take up primary positions unless they're with an older mature gobbler who will tolerate them. Otherwise they get whooped and pushed around to secondary spots. I'd leave the jake and hen be (hen could be beneficial), and search out the gobbler's location. Use that location for a mid day sit when nothing else is stirring.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would leave him alone.
I've had jake's doing jake yelps and pull a long beard right into my setup.. my suggestion is the jake could be beneficial in helping you kill a long beard.
Leave him be.
Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk
Jake? leave him alone Gang of jakes is another matter. Put 3-5 of them together and they turn into hoodlums and will potentially run a longbeard off. But a single jake is just a confidence decoy!
During last week's first Illinois turkey season, on three different occasions I watched a gang of four jakes chase a gobbler across an open field. The mature birds looked like they were running for their lives. I'll be hunting that same area next week during the Illinois' 4th season and hope the jakes are gone. If I only had a single jake near me, I'd be sounding like a hen in hopes of drawing in a jealous mature tom to chase off the jake. Turkeys are territorial and exhibit a peck order of which I take advantage. Also, sounding like a mature gobbler has proven the death of many toms over the years.
IVE GOT A JAKE RUNNING WITH A GOBBLER AND 7 TO 9 HENS I SEE THEM EVERY MORNING I THINK IF I JUST WAIT ILL GET THE GOBBLER SATURDAY MORNING THEN GET THE JAKE SUNDAY MORNING