The temperatures had been in the 40's and 50's for the last week, and the
turkeys had been gobbling every morning. But, during the night a cold front
had come through, bringing with it cloudy weather and wet snow. I'd gotten
up early, left the hotel and drove to the farm where I guided turkey hunts.
Once I got to the farm I drove to the bluff where I'd put a group of toms
to bed the night before. I got out of the Suburban, placed my Haydel's
turkey diaphragm in my mouth and blew a soft tree yelp; no answer. I tried
again, louder; still no answer. Then I blew a loud lost yelp, and waited
in silence. All I could hear was the sound of a flock of wood ducks as
they flew by overhead; wheet, wheet, wheet. For the next two hours I drove
up and down the bluffs, trying to get a bird to answer my calls. I tried
a flydown cackle, a peacock call, even a coyote howl, but nothing worked.
It looked like I would go home empty handed, and I did. It wasn't until
ten years later that I understood why I couldn't get a tom to answer my
calls.
Research
I began researching turkeys in 1998, to try
to find out how gobbling, breeding and daily activity are affected by the
weather. During my spring and fall research I would leave the house 1 1/2
hours before daylight, drive a half mile to where I research and hunt turkeys
in southern Minnesota, and write down everything that happened until I
could no longer see or hear the birds. I was there long before the first
gobble, and I was able to watch the birds fly down, feed, call, strut,
fight and breed. I usually spent three to four hours watching and listening,
but there were times when I stayed until 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon.
Then I'd return a couple of hours before sunset, watch the birds as they
fed in the evening, and watch and listen to them fly up to roost for the
night.
During the study I kept track of the time of
sunrise and sunset, the sky conditions, the temperature, wind speed and
direction, when gobbling began and ended in relation to sunrise, how many
gobbles occurred every five minutes, which bird or group of birds the gobble
came from, and where the birds were. Then I looked for correlation's between
the gobbling, breeding and daily activity of the birds, and with the different
weather factors. The results of my research have taught me a lot about
turkey behavior.
Cloud Cover
One of the first things I noticed during the
study was that the birds began gobbling and flew down later than normal
when there were cloudy skies. Turkeys rely heavily on their sight to alert
them of danger, and because they are daytime animals, they wake up when
the sky begins to get light, and they wait to fly down until they can see
well enough to detect danger. On cloudy days the toms would begin gobbling
about 20 minutes later than they did on days when the sky was clear. Both
the toms and hens flew down about 20 minutes later than normal on cloudy
days. The dominant toms usually flew down and arrived at the strut later
than the hens.
Temperature/Windchill
During the study most gobbling occurred when
morning temperatures/wind-chills were between the upper 30's and lower
60's. Gobbling was severely reduced when the temperature/windchill dropped
below 34 degrees, although this may have been because most of the cold
days were, cloudy, windy, and rainy or snowy. Because turkeys inhabit a
wide variety of habitats they are accustomed to different temperatures
and wind-chills. Lovett Williams Jr. told me that turkeys in Florida gobble
when morning temperatures are at 32 degrees. I shot my first Merriam's
turkey in Nebraska shortly after it gobbled at 10:30 in the morning, it
was 96 degrees.
On cold days the birds not only called less,
they also began calling later than normal, usually after it had warmed
in the mid-morning hours. They also flew down later than normal. Once they
were on the ground the turkeys often sought areas that were open to the
sun, usually out of the wind, where they were warmer because of solar radiation.
During extremely cold weather they sought food sources out of the wind,
and fed for several hours before they returned to the woods. I often saw
them feeding on top of an open corn crib, at a silage pile not far from
a cattle barn, and in a field where the farmer spread cattle manure every
few days.
Precipitation
A research paper sent to me by Dr. James Earl
Kennemer stated that when there had been precipitation during the last
12 hours, gobbling activity was reduced. As a result of my research I'll
go a step farther than that. When it had rained within the last 12 hours
gobbling activity was almost non-existent. If the birds did gobble it was
later in the day than normal, usually after the skies cleared and the temperature
warmed, and then there was less gobbling than normal. When it had rained
during the night, but wasn't raining in the morning, I often saw the birds
sitting in the open, especially if the sun was out, with their wings outspread,
trying to dry out.
If it was still raining in the morning the
birds often stayed in wooded areas later than normal, and chose areas with
little ground cover to feed and rest in. I watched them walk through the
woods on several occasions, and when the vegetation was wet they preferred
to stay on game rails, old roads, and in areas with low vegetation. They
didn't seem to want to get any wetter than they already were. When they
did come out into the open to feed they used areas with low vegetation;
new growth meadows, picked agricultural fields and pastures. But, not all
birds are alike. One day when I had the state wildlife habitat manager
with me we saw a hen standing in the middle of a county road in a pouring
rain.
I also found that the birds were late on their
daily travels when it had rained in the last twelve hours. If the skies
were still cloudy in the morning the birds flew down later than normal,
and arrived at traditional feeding/strutting areas later than normal, later
than they did when the skies were cloudy but when it had not rained. It
took me a while to understand why the bird were so much later on rainy
days. I didn't understand why the birds were so late on rainy days until
I watched them feeding one afternoon in a soybean field about a half mile
from a group of white oaks where they often roosted. They birds usually
fed in the field on the east side of the woods, moved around to the south
side of the woods, and then flew into the trees about 50 yards from the
field edge. The next morning they would fly down from the trees and land
in the bean field, about fifty yards from the edge of the woods.
On this particular evening the turkeys had
been feeding for about a half hour when it began to rain. The birds
moved into the woods on the east side, and as it continued to rain they
flew into a group of elms, where they roosted for the night. Because it
was raining in the afternoon, before the birds roosted, they had stopped
feeding earlier than normal, flew up into trees they didn't normally use,
and roosted earlier than normal. Because they were farther away from their
traditional feeding/strutting area the next morning, they couldn't fly
down into the field. They had to walk farther than normal to get to the
field, and they arrived at the feeding/strutting area later than normal
the next morning. There were several times during the study when it rained
in the afternoon, before the birds flew up to roost in a traditional roosting
area. This usually resulted in the birds arriving late at open feeding/strutting
areas the next morning, and they didn't follow their normal route.
Wind
My studies show that less gobbling occurs
on windy days. When the wind is blowing it's hard for the toms to hear
other birds calling; consequently they gobble less in response to each
other. When it was not windy the birds often roosted on the upper two thirds
of east or south facing slopes. I suspect this was because the prevailing
winds were easterly, and because the birds might gain the benefit of late
evening and early morning sunlight. When there were strong winds, or when
it was both cold and windy, the birds roosted on the downwind sides of
slopes or wooded areas, in heavy cover if the could. In areas where there
are conifers, turkeys often roost in them during cold weather. On windy
days, especially when it was cold or rainy, the birds usually fed in areas
out of the wind; low-lying areas, wooded areas, and the down wind side
of hills or woods. When they did feed in areas open to the wind they ate
quickly and then moved into protected areas earlier than normal.
Barometric Pressure
According to noted waterfowl biologist Dr.
Jim Cooper, birds have numerous air sacs in their bodies that allows them
to detect slight changes in barometric pressure, and warns them of approaching
storms. Some hunters believe birds, including turkeys, feed heavily up
to two days before a storm because they know it is coming. This would allow
them to wait out a storm and resume feeding after it passes.
| To
List Of T.R. Michels Articles:
T.R. Michels
T.R. Michels is a nationally
recognized big game researcher, speaker and writer. He is the author of
the Whitetail, Elk, Turkey and Goose Addict's Manuals; and the Deer Addict's
Manuals. He is also the innovator of the Moon Indicator, which predicts
peak monthly movement of deer and elk, based on the forces of the moon;
the Daily Deer Movement Indicator, which helps hunters decide when and
where to hunt, based on current meteorological conditions; and the Rut
Phase Indicator, which helps hunters determine the stage of the rut, and
when and where to hunt, by the current deer activity and sign. T.R.'s latest
books, available for 2001, are the Deer Addict's Manual, Volume 7: Hunting
Tactic; the Scrape Addicts Manual; and the Outdoorsman's Cookbook, Volume
1 and 2.
Contact:
T.R. Michels
Trinity Mountain Outdoors
PO Box 284
Wanamingo, MN 55983
507-824-3296
E-mail: trmichels@yahoo.com
Web: www.TRMichels.com |
|
| To
List Of T.R. Michels Articles:
T.R. Michels
T.R. Michels is a nationally
recognized big game researcher, speaker and writer. He is the author of
the series Whitetail, Elk, Turkey and Goose & Deer Addict's Manuals
and the innovator of the Moon Indicator.
T.R.'s latest books, available
for 2001, are the Deer Addict's Manual, Volume 7: Hunting Tactic; the Scrape
Addicts Manual; and the Outdoorsman's Cookbook, Volume 1 and 2.
Contact:
T.R. Michels
Trinity Mountain Outdoors
PO Box 284
Wanamingo, MN 55983
507-824-3296
Web: www.TRMichels.com
E-mail: trmichels@yahoo.com |
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