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July Gobbling in Wisconsin; when and why wild turkeys gobble

July 21, 2016 by Charlie 5 Comments

Turkeys gobble all year long.

 

July 21, 2016, the sunrise was greeted by profuse gobbling.  How cool is that on what is predicted to be the hottest day of the summer?

Why do gobblers gobble in July?

This morning is not the first time I have heard gobbling toms during the summer months.  There always has been a bit of mystery as to why there is any gobbling outside of the traditional spring mating season.  As a matter of fact, I’ve heard male turkeys sounding off during every month of the year, plus, many of my fellow hunters report the same type of off-season gobbling all year long.

Here is my reasoning as to the timing of gobbles

Late January – March:

  • Male turkeys are coming out of winter with different levels of physical strength along with differing levels of mating hormones.  The pecking order as established last fall is in the process of being reorganized while the bachelor flocks are beginning to separate.  All of this change is very exciting causing much gobbling.

April – May:

  • Of course, all hunters know this is mating time, the gobbling is an attempt to attract hens and scare off lower ranking toms and jakes. A mystery many hunters ponder is why on some of the spring days the sound of gobbling rings throughout woodlands and on other equally nice weather days mornings can be greeted by silence?  Personally, for the most part, I believe the amount of gobbling is directly related to the willingness of hens to mate and the number of gobblers competing for the hen’s attention.

June – August

  • During June gobbling for mating is winding down and the remaining male turkeys are becoming more interested in forming their
    Courtesy of D Gordon Robertson

    Courtesy of D Gordon Robertson

    summertime bachelor groups.  Some strutting and gobbling continue in an attempt to locate hens that did not breed or have lost their nest.  I’ve seen toms strutting in fields with attentive hens as late as the first week in August.

  • Male turkeys are less competitive and because they are seeking each other’s company rather than only focusing on hens.  Gobbling and coarse yelps are used to find each other.  A lot less fighting takes place at this time of year.

 

September

  • The jakes of the year are asserting themselves and anytime during the day short higher pitch gobbles will be heard.  They will be leaving
    Jakes milling around

    Jakes milling around

    their broods to form what I think of as gangs, much like teenagers who don’t want anything to do with the brood hen.  Many times these jakes seek out broods of hens with jennies to target for harassment.

  • September is an exciting time to hunt these jakes.  When you find them, they respond quickly and aggressively to calling.  Wisconsin fall turkey season opens mid-September.

October – November

  • Winter flock formation begins to take place in earnest.  As these weeks click by the flocks become larger as more birds join male flocks with separate flocks for the ladies.  Establishing pecking order in both flocks is contentious, so wild turkey calls abound at all times of the day.
  • Male turkeys, in particular, will fight, gobble and yell at each other.; This is the best time to get a fall gobbler, considered an extra special trophy by many hunters.

December – January

  • Winter has arrived, the turkeys settle in with the acquisition of food high on their daily agenda.  Occasional tiffs and arguments erupt beard swinging gobblerover the more desired food sources.  A few gobble will be heard from time to time, but mostly angry purrs or clucks warn off an encroaching turkey.
  • If a band of turkeys finds one particularly, abundant food source they will call to others and males may gobble.

All of the above is reason enough to get hooked on year-round turkey hunting.

 

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Filed Under: Featured Stories Tagged With: Fall turkey, hunting, news, Turkey Hunting, turkey news, Wisconsin Turkey Hunting

Comments

  1. WRC says

    July 22, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    With all these really hot days this last week the birds have been very active. This morning I had to stop 3 times to let flocks cross the road on my way to town. With all the rain we had last night the birds were all over the roads drying off. The gobbler flock had 7 gobblers in it, 4 of the 7 were in full strut, blocking the road completely until I eased through them, they only ran into the ditch and came back out onto the road after I passed.

    Reply
  2. Tracy says

    July 23, 2016 at 4:50 pm

    Have you been seeing many poults in your area, charlie? I haven’t seen many here – only one brood, in fact. And they were VERY small, a second or even third hatch.

    Reply
    • WRC says

      July 23, 2016 at 8:27 pm

      What area are you in Tracy? I’m about 50 miles NE of Madison. The poults around here are about 3/4 grown size, the smallest brood I’ve seen lately were about the size of crows.

      Reply
      • Tracy says

        July 23, 2016 at 9:04 pm

        I’m in NE Iowa, about 30 miles south of Prairie Du Chien. I saw these back on July 14th, and they were smaller than adult quail. I couldn’t believe the size, but they were with a hen, so they were definitely young turkeys. I’ve been seeing a lot of gobblers and some lone hens, but no poults apart from that one brood.

        Reply
    • Charlie says

      July 24, 2016 at 1:06 pm

      Around here the hatch is looking to be one of the best, ever. Poults are ranging from grouse to pheasant in size. Most broods are 4-6 poults with a few at a dozen or so.
      Judging by many of the tracks on muddy backroads jakes of the year are starting to separate from their hens.
      Yesterday Vic went on point, upon investigation I found three nearly featherless poults. Clearly a new hatch.

      Reply

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