Larry Long 1995 NC Bowhunter of the Year T.R. Michels (Guide/Wildlife Researcher/Speaker) Robby Williams aka "The Georgia Chief", CPA, WMA Hunter Chip Ferguson Former QB, Florida State Seminoles, Avid Hunter David Beaver (aka Preacherman, Avid Hunter) Tom Naumann aka "Big Country", Cherokee Run Hunting Lodge Talk to the Pro Team Live!
SPRING TURKEY BEHAVIOR & BREEDING by TR Michels of Trinity Mountain Outdoors - With the approach of spring the weather gets warmer, daylight hours become longer and the urge to mate comes over turkeys. The jakes join the toms and begin forming small groups that search for hens. The toms and jakes begin to associate with the hens as they all look for new spring growth (succulent grasses and forbes) and insects that appear near stream beds and on south facing slopes (that warm up first). They look for leftover agricultural crops, mast crops of nuts and acorns; and pick through cow chips, cattle feeding areas, and old and new plowing for insects and leftover food. Where turkeys inhabit hilly or mountainous terrain they may even change home ranges, seeking higher elevations as snow depth decreases and new forage becomes available. They may travel from as little as a half mile, to as many as several miles between their winter and spring range. Gobbling is the tom's way of expressing dominance; telling all the turkeys in the area that he is ready to breed, and to fight for the right. Toms also use gobbling as a means of attracting hens. Supposedly, the toms call to get the hens to come to them; but toms do respond to hen calling and will go to the hen. The advertising strategy of the tom changes once it is near a hen; gobbling is used to attract hens from a distance. When the tom is within visual distance of the hen it begins to strut, relying on the color of it's head, it's expanded tail, and it's puffed up body size to attract the hen; to prove it is the biggest, healthiest, most colorful male. This explains the dimorphism (the difference in coloration, size, or antler growth) in many animals. The strongest, healthiest male with the most coloration or largest rack, attracts more females, breeds more females and passes on his genes to the offspring.
I don't doubt that toms gobble to get hens to come to them. But, in my research I found that the hens were often in a feeding/strutting area first, often using the adult version of the Lost Yelp call, then the toms showed up, gobbling as they came. Once the toms saw the hens they usually started strutting and pursuing the hens. Only then did breeding occur. I believe that in many instances, the toms respond to the calling of the hens, not the other way around.
A graph of turkey gobbling and breeding activity is much like the graph of rubbing and breeding activity in white-tailed deer. Turkeys, like deer, are influenced by photoperiod (the number of light hours per day), but it is lengthening hours of daylight, not shortening hours of daylight, and warmer spring temperatures that trigger turkey-breeding behavior.
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MAY DEER MANAGEMENT by TR Michels of Trinity Mountain Outdoors - There is no question that deer herds must be managed. Increasing human populations, urban sprawl and changing land practices have led to less available deer habitat while deer herds have continued to increase, which has led to an overpopulation of deer in many areas. This has compelled wildlife managers to issue abundant doe permits each year in order to keep the deer herds within the carrying capacity of the available habitat.
The deer management practices of many wildlife agencies revolve around the need to balance the deer herds in relation to the habitat while still trying to keep deer populations high enough for hunting, with hunting as the primary method of deer reduction. The current practice of keeping deer populations high enough that they can be hunted, and the past management practice of bucks only hunting, combined with the belief by many hunters that they should only shoot bucks if they want to keep deer numbers high, is precisely the reason why there are too many deer, particularly does.
It is usually too many does (as in Minnesota and Wisconsin), not too many bucks in a deer herd, that prompts game managers to issue numerous doe permits in the hopes that enough deer will be removed to keep their numbers at acceptable levels. Eventually this becomes a vicious cycle and both the deer and the habitat suffer. The effects of this cycle generally result in low buck:doe ratios and fewer numbers of dominant breeding bucks, which leads to breeding periods that are later, and longer, than they should be, resulting in poor spring survival rates of fawns.
- BY TR Michels.
POST RUT DEER HUNTING - The buck pictured here was one harvested at my hunting lodge, Cherokee Run. The massive rack swamp buck was taken after Christmas. He was shot on the run chasing a doe wide open! The dates in which the rut takes place will vary from state to state, region to region. In the Carolinas, the the peak of the rut will typically fall in the 2nd or 3rd week of November. There are states like Alabama that hunt deer into January because the rut comes in that late!! There are different phases to the rut as you know. The "post rut" is the period of time after much of the breeding and chasing of does has taken place. The post rut would be in December in many states, not considered a great time to hunt?!! From my experience at the lodge, I have found a couple good reasons to hunt late season...first, with most of the breeding over, the bucks are tired and weak for chasing after the girls. They have expended an unbelievable amount of energy by constantly being on the move...searching, chasing, breeding, and do it all over again and again and again!! The post rut is time for a little R & R. Bucks will know move back to food sources for strength and energy. They weren't that worried about eating a few weeks prior...they are now. Try hunting some food sources relatively close to bedding areas. The second reason to hunt the post rut is to catch a buck chasing a doe in the "secondary" rut. There are always some does that come into estrous the cycle after the primary rut. Though tired and weary, that old buck is not going to turn down an opportunity to breed again. Some of the biggest bucks we have shot at Cherokee Run through the years have been taken between Christmas and New Years Day. Many of those bucks were never seen during the primary rut! Don't give up on late season hunting. Bucks are hungry and sometimes get careless by messing with one doe too many! Good luck!! - Tom Naumann, ESH Pro Team
To learn more tips from the pros, visit...www.eatsleephunt.tv
Larry Long 1995 NC Bowhunter of the Year 
Gobbling is the tom's way of expressing dominance; telling all the turkeys in the area that he is ready to breed, and to fight for the right. Toms also use gobbling as a means of attracting hens. Supposedly, the toms call to get the hens to come to them; but toms do respond to hen calling and will go to the hen. The advertising strategy of the tom changes once it is near a hen; gobbling is used to attract hens from a distance. When the tom is within visual distance of the hen it begins to strut, relying on the color of it's head, it's expanded tail, and it's puffed up body size to attract the hen; to prove it is the biggest, healthiest, most colorful male. This explains the dimorphism (the difference in coloration, size, or antler growth) in many animals. The strongest, healthiest male with the most coloration or largest rack, attracts more females, breeds more females and passes on his genes to the offspring.
I don't doubt that toms gobble to get hens to come to them. But, in my research I found that the hens were often in a feeding/strutting area first, often using the adult version of the Lost Yelp call, then the toms showed up, gobbling as they came. Once the toms saw the hens they usually started strutting and pursuing the hens. Only then did breeding occur. I believe that in many instances, the toms respond to the calling of the hens, not the other way around.
A graph of turkey gobbling and breeding activity is much like the graph of rubbing and breeding activity in white-tailed deer. Turkeys, like deer, are influenced by photoperiod (the number of light hours per day), but it is lengthening hours of daylight, not shortening hours of daylight, and warmer spring temperatures that trigger turkey-breeding behavior.
For more info, visit ...
