Optimum gobbling temperatures

[njdevilsb]

I love mornings like we had this morning.  It was calm, clear, and about 45 degrees.  We had a couple that were answering just about everything on the roost.  I love those cool clear mornings for gobbling.

[Huntaholic]

Temps = 15 to 50, the key is to having a rising barometric pressure. I kept detailed charts on all this stuff way back before computer spread sheets, adobe, MS office pro, wtc.... and these are the results I came up with. In the end though I found it didnt matter, I was going hunting anyway, and even on "bad" mornings sometimes would would screw up and gobble!

[Tail Feathers]

Low to mid 50's seems to fire 'em around here.

[turkey_slayer]

Give me a frosty morning after its been hot for a bit. Don't have to shoot em. They usually break there necks gobbling so much

[WV TURKEY THUG]

Give me a frosty morning after its been hot for a bit. Don't have to shoot em. They usually break there necks gobbling so much

so this is whats happening to some of the birds i tried calling this year i wondered why they shut up all of a sudden lol

[TauntoHawk]

Interesting..since I'm on Tapatalk I can't see where everyone is from but those temps are very very cool. Much cooler than I had guessed you guys would say.

I think some guys are thinking over night lows for first thing in the morning while other guys are saying daytime highs. My pefect morning is a Crisp 39 over night and a blue bird day with a high of 68 and just enough breeze to keep bugs from being bad. Birds are birds though I've had gorgeous mornings that are stone quiet and Rainy Foggy mornings that the birds burnt the place down with gobbles.

[Marc]

Interesting thread.  I never really paid much attention, but I will from now on.

This year for the first couple weeks of the season, we had wet weather.  The days I hunted there was no rain, but still a lot of moisture on the ground.  At this time, the birds became more active later in the morning.

Then we had a really warm spell (up to 90°), and things were more quiet.  (Although, the two birds I did kill were durning this time in the early afternoon, and the only birds I heard gobbling).

Later in the season, things cooled off again, and the activity increased.  We had a small storm and cooling weather, and right after this, the activity level really picked up.

[Spring_Woods]

Marc, I see what you're saying but as the season progresses (at least around here) the hens go to nest much sooner in the morning or won't even go to gobblers at all and just nest full time. That could also be a factor besides just temperatures alone.

And yes, I do mean morning/first light temps.

Edit add; because of the funny swings we've been having the birds are a lot quieter on the very warm days 80 + deg. You generally have until about 9 or 10 am to get one hammering and that's about it. After that you might as well hit the pool.

[RutnNStrutn]

I mainly hunt in the SE, in Dixie. I would say temps between 40-60 degrees are the best for gobbling, with low humidity. Higher humidity and temps seems to shut down the gobbling.

[870FaceLift]

50-60 degrees is about where you want to be here in my part of Ohio.  I used to love clear, crisp mornings for gobbling, but this year that hasn't been the case.  The three hardest gobbling mornings I've experienced this spring were when we had huge rain/thunderstorms the previous night.  Yesterday, for example, the storm passed through at 6:30am and they were gobbling like crazy by 6:45am.  Go figure.   

I have come to the conclusion that turkeys do what they want - I can't seem to put a scientific method or analysis behind it. 

[Marc]

Marc, I see what you're saying but as the season progresses (at least around here) the hens go to nest much sooner in the morning or won't even go to gobblers at all and just nest full time. That could also be a factor besides just temperatures alone.

And yes, I do mean morning/first light temps.

Edit add; because of the funny swings we've been having the birds are a lot quieter on the very warm days 80 + deg. You generally have until about 9 or 10 am to get one hammering and that's about it. After that you might as well hit the pool.

Interestingly, I think the birds were done breeding early in our season.

My impression is that if the hens are still roosting, they are not sitting on the nest, and if they are not roosting, they are sitting on the nest, but might meet up with the toms for a bit in the morning...  This is when it seems to me that the toms are a little more susceptable to being killed.

That being said, early in our season there was a pair of toms with a group of hens, and then a single tom with a group of hens early on...  Later in the season, these toms were all by themselves right off the bat (and I still could not get them to come in to me)...

Last weekend of the season, right after a storm, there was a single hen crusing with all three toms, and a lot more gobbling than the previous high temp weeks.

I wonder if that hen did not lose her nest and was trying to re-breed, firing up those toms again?

If I ever figure it out, it will no longer be fun though...