Reading Hens / Gobbler Stage

[Greg Massey]

Do we pay enough attention to the hen activity? In other words are we reading or seeing the sign / movement of the hens as it changes in letting us know what stage the gobblers are coming into next?

I know we pay a lot of attention to the gobblers and gobbling, but I feel sometimes we overlook what the hens are doing with single / pair movement and going to nesting and leaving the gobblers more as the season progress. As the season goes into this stage I feel more Patience's is needed in chasing and hunting these gobblers who are loosing more of the attention of the hens because of more frequent hens leaving the gobblers. For the most part we have been moving around our hunting area and doing a lot of calling for over 2 / 3 weeks with very little gobbling response. 

Why I ask these questions is that for the past 3 spring seasons our season has been pushed back from the regular season opener by almost 3 weeks. Most all of our foliage has leaf out and gobblers are already becoming hemmed up with hens as our season opens which means a lot less gobbling after flying down. As we all know weather and conditions will always play a part in activities with gobbling / movement. For myself I was becoming more and more frustrated with myself and really did not understand at what stage the hens and gobblers had already come into the matting / nesting of the hens. I was seeing more and more hen movement some days in the fields especially after that 9 till noon and there were more or less singles coming out to feed etc. In all of this I can't say I ever saw a mature gobbler following a hen or hens. I did however see a group of Jakes following some hens down and through the field one day just before noon but really the hens were pretty much ignoring them.

After talking with others and most were having these same problems of not hearing much or really seeing much action, I change up my strategy with a lot less movement with setting up in area's that I had seen the most turkey movement and became more patience with less calling and most all soft calling. In changing up the way of hunting the early seasons of many passed years I was able to fill my last tag.

So I tell people after hunting these gobblers for more than 30 plus years one way, these last 3 spring seasons has been a new learning curve because of the stages the gobblers and hens are already at compared to the past 30 plus years of the regular season opener. So again DO NOT OVER LOOK WHAT THE HENS ARE TELLING YOU.

Sorry for the long read.  The late season gobbler only gobbled one time and closed the distance and came in silent and I shot him at 25 yards.  Overall I learned a lot and had a great season.

[ScottTaulbee]

I noticed the same this year. During our youth season, first weekend in April, the hens were bunched up and gobblers as well. Not much gobbling activity. When we opened the second weekend, gobblers were still grouped up and the hens I was seeing would be around mid day, in thick stuff, nesting habitat, tons of gobbling on the roost and silent when hitting the ground. . By the middle of the first week of our season the gobblers were split up and not many hens were seen early morning, good gobbling on the roost and willing to work in straight from the tree. By the second week, all hens were alone and only seen if flushed from thick cover and gobblers were alone and lonely as well, gobbling activity up in to mid day and a lot of gobbling activity in the evening as well.


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[Tom007]

Great advice/thread Greg. I sure have experienced this scenario the past few years. Lack of "after fly-down" gobbling has changed my hunting tactics as well. I too have not payed as much attention to the hens as I should, but recently my early season scouting has added finding and pin-pointing spots where I see hens regularly. You are spot on, if you don't pay attention to the girls and their habits, you could have a tough spring for sure. My scouting this year was more about visual sightings than hearing gobbling. I had success and ended up scoring with these visual sightings. Patience is my number one hunting tactic now.  I totally switched up my gear to include carrying a thick, very comfortable Thermo-seat stadium cushion with back support so I can engage in long sit's.  I try to figure out where and when the gobblers and hens go to specific areas so I can be there well ahead, soft calling and waiting for them to show. I'm still at it now, gobbling is slow, but encounters are close. A few more weeks left, I'll go to the last day as I know it will be a long wait till 2026. I have thoroughly enjoyed 2025, not only through my hunting eyes, but hearing from all of you about your experiences. Thanks Greg, it's posts like these that make me a better hunter for sure!

[Happy]

I will be the odd one here. I  couldn't care less what the turkeys in general are doing. The only thing I care about is what the gobbler I am on is doing. My strategy from day 1 to day 30 doesn't change a bit. Find turkey, get a read on the situation, and proceed from there. I like to keep it simple.

[Greg Massey]

I will be the odd one here. I  couldn't care less what the turkeys in general are doing. The only thing I care about is what the gobbler I am on is doing. My strategy from day 1 to day 30 doesn't change a bit. Find turkey, get a read on the situation, and proceed from there. I like to keep it simple.

If you don't care why you need a strategy or read / situation , it's all the same you just said it ...

[Happy]

What i am saying is that saying the turkeys are in this phase, that phase or whatever is pointless. Turkeys don't have schedules. Figuring out what the particular turkey you are dealing with and going from there is all that matters. I don't sit and softly call more because it's late season, and that's the supposed go-to tactic. I go at it just like it's day one. Every day can be a different scenario, so all this phase stuff is really not helpful, in my humble opinion. Of course, I am lucky to kill one turkey every 5 years, so take it for what it's worth.

[RutnNStrutn]

Great topic and a good read. I live in a rural area out in the woods, and I see deer and turkeys on a regular basis, so I've tried to pay more attention to turkey behavior.
This year prior to the season and during early season, there would be good roost and fly down gobbling. Then from mid-morning on they would occasionally shock gobble to crows but not your calling, and they had no intention of leaving real hens for unseen "hens".
Mid-season was more of the same, but there are a lot of hens around here. I noticed a slight increase in afternoon gobbling.
Finally about 2 weeks ago the hens vanished. I would only see solo hens first thing in the morning and about an hour before dusk. I assumed that the hens were now sitting on nests due to scarce sightings of them, coupled with increased sightings of solo gobblers and an increase in gobbling. That has continued until now.
I got a gobbler a few days after that noted change. I called in two gobblers with no hens at midday. I immitated what the turkeys were doing by staying quiet. I went to an area where'd I'd seen gobblers following hens. I was periodically calling softly, mainly clucks and purrs on my slate, with the occasional louder call to attract birds that couldn't hear my soft calls..
The only odd factor is it has been a very wet spring. Therefore I haven't been able to get out as often as I would have liked to.
Good topic, thanks for posting Greg.

[zelmo1]

I think all information is useful. I want to know what the general mood is day to day. Happy has a point, turkeys can change in an instant, but I want to be able to counter that move. So I watch and try to learn from my many mistakes. No gobbling here now, so what do I do? Do I tree yelp softly to let them know I am there and see what happens? Do I get aggressive? Poke the boss hen in the eye? I'll try any and all tactics that get my Tommy boy close, lol. Lipstick and a skirt, if he is an upgrade, sure.    Z

[Old Timer]

Yesterday I seen 4 long beards with hens no gobbling. I think I got blisters on my arsh from doing long sits today in the same area. I called sparingly and soft.
No sighting or gobbling. Rains moving in again  so it will be a couple days before I can get out again. Good luck to all.

[Greg Massey]

What i am saying is that saying the turkeys are in this phase, that phase or whatever is pointless. Turkeys don't have schedules. Figuring out what the particular turkey you are dealing with and going from there is all that matters. I don't sit and softly call more because it's late season, and that's the supposed go-to tactic. I go at it just like it's day one. Every day can be a different scenario, so all this phase stuff is really not helpful, in my humble opinion. Of course, I am lucky to kill one turkey every 5 years, so take it for what it's worth.

Rest assured I do take it for what it's worth ... LOL

[Meleagris gallopavo]

I thought I posted a rather long, discombobulated explanation of what I think I know about two hours ago.  I'm kinda glad it didn't take.

I basically hunt 4-6 days a week during the 5 week season here.  I can count on filling tags the first week of the season and the 4th and 5th weeks.  The 2nd and 3rd weeks I may as well not hunt.  I hunt anyway, maybe even more intensely during that dry period because it's turkey season and I'm too curious about what's happening out there to not hunt.

Hard for me to separate what the hens and gobblers are doing.  I see more hens in larger groups earlier in the season, usually with a strutter or two out there with them.  When things go dry in the 2nd and 3rd week the hens I see start to dwindle, and when I see hens I often do not see a gobbler with them.  I know there's gobblers because they gobble on the roost.  After that you'd never know they existed, much less catch one out in the open strutting.  I got obsessed with one spot between weeks 2 and 3 because it was the only spot I knew had gobblers.  I knew there were gobblers there because they were the only ones gobbling on the roost anywhere near me.  Early season I can hear gobbling from several different directions at varying distances.  In this case all was quiet except this spot where I could hear 2 gobblers first thing.  So people talk about gobblers being henned up during this slump in activity.  But I'd see 6-8 hens in the field just after flydown and I'd not see a male bird all morning, and when I came back and hunted there in the afternoon.  But I kept hearing these gobblers within 100-200 yards of where I was seeing these hens.  So I hunted there several days in a row, maybe skipping a day or two before going back.  Saw male birds from a long distance twice but couldn't tell if they were jakes or toms.  Anyway, I quit that place and tried elsewhere.  At the end of the third week on into the fourth the worm turned and I filled my last three tags in five days.  They were very fun hunts.  Didn't see a lot of hens late, but the gobblers became more visible and very responsive to calls.   IT'S THE EXACT SAME EACH YEAR!  So to me the patterns hold in my area and match up with the end of breeding through hens sitting full time.  Baffles me where the gobblers are in weeks 2 and 3.  Even when I see several hens together during that period when the toms are supposed to be henned up, they must be henned up with different hens than I'm seeing. 


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[WLT III]

Turkeys are actively breeding well before and after season dates, in every state that has them. Thats all I need to know.

[Spring Creek Calls]

The stages I pay most attention to.

1. Hens roosting with/near gobblers and are not yet going off to lay an egg.
   Gobbling may stop soon after flydown.
2. Hens roosting with/near gobblers but leaving them mid morning to lay an egg.
   Gobbling picks up late morning.
3. Hens no longer roosting, sitting on the nest. Gobbling may be early and often but sporadic.

I prefer to hunt stages 2 and 3.