sman
Senior Member
After 25 years of chasing birds on public land and private, through the hills of GA to the swamps and fields, I have come to this conclusion.
They are overly stupid and simple minded to the point that it makes them seem hard to hunt.
He has 2 basic needs right now, food and mating. You can kill him with food quite easily. He can't mess that up. He is hungry, there it is, he pecks it.
But I have decided that unless there is ample competition in an area, they are just plain stupid when it comes to mating. He either can't keep his mind on the objective at hand or his brain only has enough cells to remind him to breathe every few seconds.
Where there are ample birds for competition, he is constantly reminded by other suitors what the goal of the day is. If he is left to himself and can have all the hens he wants, he is hopeless mid way through the season.
Take for instance the bird that just crossed my barrel at 120 yards. No roost gobbling. I strike him once at 150 out. 5 minutes later he crosses my barrel. Not a hen in sight. A soft set of yelps. He stops and struts. Gobbles once and then continues on his way. Gobbling every 75 yards as if he just remembered he was talking to a hen. Of course at 150, I get up and follow. I yelp every few minutes and he gobbles. It like he is saying, I hear a hen. Man it would be nice to hook up with her today...oh look a bug.
Thus he proceeds to drag me across the property for some very early preseason deer scouting. Eventually I stop and he continues.
Had he had any competition anywhere nearby, this probably wouldn't have ended this way. The other bird would remind him that shortly this time of year will be gone and they will be back to watching each other strut like muscel heads at the gym. But so is the world of a single lone tom on 400 acres.
They are overly stupid and simple minded to the point that it makes them seem hard to hunt.
He has 2 basic needs right now, food and mating. You can kill him with food quite easily. He can't mess that up. He is hungry, there it is, he pecks it.
But I have decided that unless there is ample competition in an area, they are just plain stupid when it comes to mating. He either can't keep his mind on the objective at hand or his brain only has enough cells to remind him to breathe every few seconds.
Where there are ample birds for competition, he is constantly reminded by other suitors what the goal of the day is. If he is left to himself and can have all the hens he wants, he is hopeless mid way through the season.
Take for instance the bird that just crossed my barrel at 120 yards. No roost gobbling. I strike him once at 150 out. 5 minutes later he crosses my barrel. Not a hen in sight. A soft set of yelps. He stops and struts. Gobbles once and then continues on his way. Gobbling every 75 yards as if he just remembered he was talking to a hen. Of course at 150, I get up and follow. I yelp every few minutes and he gobbles. It like he is saying, I hear a hen. Man it would be nice to hook up with her today...oh look a bug.
Thus he proceeds to drag me across the property for some very early preseason deer scouting. Eventually I stop and he continues.
Had he had any competition anywhere nearby, this probably wouldn't have ended this way. The other bird would remind him that shortly this time of year will be gone and they will be back to watching each other strut like muscel heads at the gym. But so is the world of a single lone tom on 400 acres.
Those woods must be inhabited only by turkey.
