ID'ing a bird by his gobble

[2eagles]

Some have claimed to be able to ID a certain tom by his gobble. I don't doubt that you can. I can't. I am older than most and my hearing is not good. It's really hard for me pinpoint where a gobble is coming from. Reminds me of a morning, the sun just starting to wake up the woods I was hunting. I heard a bird let the first gobble, but I couldn't tell which direction he was. Seconds later, I heard it again, but still couldn't figure out where he was. Two or three quiet gobbles later I realized I was hearing my stomach growling. 

[hobbes]

With Easterns I have two distinctions when I hear a bird gobble.......jake or tom.  With Merriam's I can struggle to distinguish a jake from a tom since their gobble is wimpy and the jakes run in packs.

I've never tried beyond that and for the most part think without other circumstances to confirm "yeah thats the same tom",  most guys are kidding themselves.

[Marc]

I am hunting Rio's here, and cannot differentiate toms from jakes by the gobbles at all...

Have not seen a jake for a couple years, but the last one I saw came right in, gobbling like a lion.  Thought I was going to kill the king of the forest...  I ended up killing a nice tom that day, and he sounded like Minnie Mouse doing a turkey impression. 

(Warning: some embellishment for the sake of literary license but the underlying premise is true.  Had I to choose the jake or the tom by the gobble, I would most certainly have reversed these two birds).

[Ozark870Hunter]

I can definitely distinguish between an eastern jake vs old tom. Get a lot of jake groups that double gobble each other to death some mornings. When the big guy cuts in, you know. The jakes go quiet. Got several audio clips of this taking place while I was hunting.
As far as id'ing a specific tom by gobble, I can't say I have, not that it can't be done.

[Double B]

I've been acquainted with a few over the years that I'm pretty confident I could identify by location of roost, when he starts and how frequently, and how his gobble sounds.  They move around to roost but many times in my experience a more dominant bird is always around a certain land feature, like a big bass on a farm pond  stickup.  Woodland easterns here.   But some jakes fool ya.....I set up and called in a full gobbling solo Jake last season and let him walk. 

[aaron]

I can identify a bird by habits and roost location.  I have never heard one with a unique enough gobble to say for certain its a particular bird.   Hunted an old bird in 2013 for the majority of the late season.   He roosted on a point I never heard birds gobble from before and haven't since.   I patterned him preseason 2014 and killed him on opening day---using that same roost.  Im certain it was the same bird from his unorthodox roost location

[wvmntnhick]

never id'd one by gobble. Can generally tell an eastern jake from his older predecessor but not always. Been fooled a time or two. Never cared much in the past as I'd shoot just about any gobbling bird that came to the gun. Had one come in one year though and he fooled me but good. Had a full fan and a stubby beard no Spurs. Had me going for a while. Still ended up shooting him but he fooled me good.

Edit: I really need to get into the habit of proofreading. Not sure anyone could decipher the original post. Lol

[ruination]

Someone describe the difference between a jake and tom gobble for me pls.

[Spitten and drummen]

I can tell you this for a fact. in over 30 years hunting easterns down here in the south , I have ran across a few jakes that gobbled like a mature bird and have been fooled. a couple of times I have had mature birds that gobbled like jakes. I would have bet you the keys to my truck that they were jakes only to strut right on up.  the majority of the time I can easily differate between the two , but I can tell you there are some exceptions

[OldSchool]

I've been fooled lots of times over the years. I'm right often enough between Jakes and older birds to keep me guessing, but until I actually see the bird It's just a guess. As far as identifying individual birds by the sound of their gobbling, not so much.   

Bob

[WyoHunter]

The only time I can tell if it's a jake for sure is if there's a gargling sound at the beginning or end of the gobble. Sometimes they'll yelp before gobbling too.

[GobbleNut]

I've only heard one mature Merriam's gobbler in my life that I thought I could distinguish him from others.  His gobble, for whatever reason, was just really loud and just a bit different.  Other than his, most mature gobblers (within the different subspecies) sound pretty much the same. 

There are some pretty obvious differences between subspecies,...at least Eastern/Osceola, Rios, Merriams, and Goulds.  I wouldn't say for sure I could tell the difference between and Eastern and an Osceola, but the others I think I could identify them correctly most of the time.

[Ozark870Hunter]

In my experience hunting Missouri easterns' the jakes sound cleaner and a little higher pitch. Gobblers sound deeper and raspier. Can't say I can always tell 100% but on several properties I hunt, the bird has matched the gobble he made. Heard one last week that I'm confident was a jake sound off to a coyote howl sequence from my fox pro on an evening yote hunt 03/31.

[Farmboy27]

For me it's just that jakes don't sound as "good". Lots of times they have higher, shorter gobbles. It's easier to tell when you listen to them gobbling from the same location. But I have been fooled both ways several times. As far as telling on longbeard from another, like I said in another thread, I can tell certain ones.  Once in a while I'll find a bird that has a very short or long gobble. Maybe it's super deep or super high pitch. It doesn't happen often but once in a while I'll run across one that sounds so different that he's almost unmistakable.

[Tail Feathers]

I can't.  I can't even always tell a jake from a longbeard by the gobble.  Especially around home where our season starts so late the jakes are mostly grown-up by the start of season.