Neberaska & Kansas ????????

[Turkeyfan]

I just got back from NE & KS had a great trip but i did experience something i need you guys input on. Over last week the birds gobbled really good on the limb but once them hit the ground lets 30 minutes after hitting the ground the gobbling was over for the rest of the day. While going from place to place to try and get one to gobble we would see hens all over the place with no gobblers. So my question is what phase of the breeding cycle do you think i was observing. I was confused to no end trying to figured it out. So any insight would be greatly appreicated.

[Dtrkyman]

The end of it would be my guess, birds were like that when I was in Indiana the last week of season, saw hens by them selves as well as toms, got my bird in the evening, gobbling on the roost and nothing all day, bird came in alone and silent!

[Jay Longhauser]

I saw gobblers breeding hens the last two days in Kansas.  I still haven't kicked a hen off a nest this season and usually have once or twice by now.  I'm seeing the same with quiet gobblers on the ground most of the time and strutting not more than a few feet from a hen most of the day.

[drenalinld]

Laying phase. Quiet gobblers are most often with hens and very content to strut with hens. When hens leave a gobbler to lay an egg they then cruise and eat a LOT to aid egg production. My oservation, not necessarily facts.

[West Augusta]

That's just normal turkey hunting here in West Virginia this year.  I seldom heard a gobble after 6:30 am this year.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

In Kansas right now and seeing the same thing... Have seen probably 40 hens and a grand total of 1 gobbler.

Ill be happy to fill 1 tag on this trip.

[mudhen]

It can get real touchy this time of year in KS & NE.

I've hunted both states going on 15+- years or so.

Hunted both states around the 3rd week of April this year.  NE was a bit tuff, no leaves on trees, but if you got close enough, the birds would work.  But, they were very quiet on the ground, especially as the week went on.

KS was red hot, but we hunt private ground with zero pressure.  Even then, they got pretty quiet after flydown.  They would start up again in the evening, but you had to be set up waaaay ahead of them.

While I have hunted mid to late May in both states, I prefer not to.  There just comes a date when they stop working for the season.  While April can bring bad weather, I think the birds work based on the season timing rather than specifically the weather...

mudhen

[nativeks]

If you are hunting places that get pressure, birds learn quick. Mouthy birds don't last long on public with the amount of pressure its receives in Kansas anymore.

[steinea286]

Here in the NY, the opening week (May 1st) was red hot for gobbler from on the limb till 8 and then they would pick up again around 11am or so (can only hunt till noon). This is typical up here. The following week, I experienced exactly what you are saying. Birds would gobble on the limb and then just get quiet...that was in eastern NY and then in western NY as well. As last weekend started we had a cold front roll in with highs in the 40's and the birds flipped again like a light switch. Called in 14 birds in a weekend with a good friend of mine as both of us tagged out and really exciting hunts!

I know there are two peak gobbling periods typically in NY and I feel that that one week was the separater. Saw many hens by themselves but yet all the gobblers also appeared to be henned up (like the lock-down phase of whitetails). Last weekend, once the weather got colder, more hens were sitting to incubate those eggs....Just my opinion....

[Turkeyfan]

Thnaks for all th insight on my question guys. I am still stumped to what was going on. The places I hunted whre all private and had been hunted only a few times and most of the places had not been hunted at all and that was what really through me for a loop. I got a call from my friend in NE today and he tells me the gobblers are strutting in the middle of the road, go figure. But the not gobbling for the rest of the day was very furstruting to say the least but geeting the birds right off the roost was awesome. I guess that is turkey hunting, just when you think you have got them figured out it turns out you really dont have them figured out.   

[dirtnap]

Just returned from Kansas and Nebraska after 7 days of hunting.  The lack of 2 year old birds in Kansas coupled with the tremendous amount of jakes, made our hunt last a little bit longer than I thought.  The amount of pressure in Nebraska last week on the public land didn't help us any either.  My buddy and I managed to kill 10 long beards, but we were hunting from daylight to dark every day.  They were henned up quick off the limb where we were at for the most part.

[El Pavo Grande]

Hunted NE 2 1/2 weeks ago.  Normally that's decent timing, but it was a little different with the later spring green up.  Trees were just starting to bud out a little.  Gobblers were Henned up tight from flydown to roost time.  Days were quiet following roost gobbling.  We just had to pattern them and basically deer hunt them, but it worked out. 

From my experiences, and I figure it's common among states with very strong populations, I think because you see lone hens doesn't equate to it being over.  They just have that many turkeys and with it being more open, you will see more turkeys.  If they were roost gobbling and not once they flew down, I'd say they were with hens.  I didn't get to make mi animal trip to Kansas, but would think based on what we saw out west and in general this spring, it should be decent this week out there.