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slowest 2nd season ive ever had!!

E

EVIL X

PMA Member
I know 2nd season is not over, but for me it is. Birds gobbled good on roost but as soon as they hit the ground they zipped their lips.. Im talking 10-15 different birds as well that were gobbling on roost. We hunted 23 hours from friday through sunday and literally heard 1 gobble while a bird was on the ground.Only thing I can think of is the meaning of "henned up" to the maximum!
curious to see if we were the only ones with similar experience this weekend?
 
Its over for me as well. We had the same thing happen all weekend. Had a ton of birds gobbling in every direction (and close) while they were on the roost but when they flew down not another word. It's hard to go after them when you have no idea where they are.
 
At least you guys heard gobbles... we hunted Saturday and Sunday (archery) and heard 0 gobbles... Friday my bro in law killed a lone gobbler at 1:30..but he got lucky as it was just feeding through... talked to another group of guys hunting close by and they hadnt seen a bird yet second season..
 
Friday I heard maybe a dozen gobbles on the roost. Nothing once they hit the ground, actually heard 1 more about 8:30. I shot mine about 5:30 just clucking randomly four toms came in silent. The one I shot was 25lbs 9.5" beard but impressive 1.75 spurs largest spurs I have ever seen. My dad shot his Saturday morning. Zero gobbles called in three Toms I took a great video on my Iphone one of them attacked pretty boy.
 
What area were you hunting. I was in SW IA this last weekend and had some of the best hunting I have had for a few years. I filled both my archery tags, and helped the wife and cousin fill theirs!
 
Hunting in southern warren county, it was tough. Every tom that I saw had a min of 5 hens with him and they wouldn't respond to anything and totally ignored my jake decoy. I guess nothing beats the real thing. Overall pretty frustrating weekend, didn't see near as many birds as I usually do.

My buddy shot a nice tom, but he got lucky and had a bird that was feeding past the blind. No gobbling, just happened to be walking by.
 
I was going to start a post on this but since someone else did, I'll just chime in. I was hunting with my dad for 2nd season this weekend down in SE Iowa. We have about 500 acres of prime turkey hunting ground to hunt and it was the weirdest turkey hunting experience I've ever had down there. Just like a few of you said, very little gobbling on the roost and after they hit the ground it was like they vanished. I did call in a few hens and one very immature jake but the gobblers were MIA. At the very least when they are henned up we have usually been able to locate a group in a field or what not but we couldn't even lay any glass on any.

I'm starting to wonder if the winter had its toll on the birds down in my neck of the woods. Or, maybe we just hit that 4-7 day lull period perfectly where every gobbler is with a hen and doesn't need to gobble. 1st season when I hunted up in NE and E. Central Iowa the birds were going bizerck. Anyways, I logged 16 hours in the blind on Fri. and Sat. in SE Iowa and nothing.
 
I think the birds are a little behind, I predict mid to late this week/weekend they will be fired up and ready to play. We usually fill several tags second season and it's usually the best hunting of all the seasons but this years just different. Most guys in my area that killed birds got them right after fly down. Hens are still out feeding mid day instead of nesting and the toms are still following them around. Kind of crappy luck if ya bought a second season gun tag but I guess that's hunting. I think if you held off for third season you will have some good hunting.
 
Things are behind this year, for the mere fact that the hens aren't sitting yet. The ground temperature is not quite warm enough. The past couple years it has been but not this year. This weeks warmer temps will help, but I'd hang on to my hat for 4th season.
 
1st Season I had them Gobbling on and off the roost all day everywhere! Today I heard 3 Gobbles (on the roost) then silence. I had been seeing 4-5 Gobblers every 2 hours or so until last night and this morning.
 
It was very slow for us too. Probably did not help that the farmer came out mid morning to put down Nitrogen.
 
SEIowaDeerslayer said:
I was going to start a post on this but since someone else did, I'll just chime in. I was hunting with my dad for 2nd season this weekend down in SE Iowa. We have about 500 acres of prime turkey hunting ground to hunt and it was the weirdest turkey hunting experience I've ever had down there. Just like a few of you said, very little gobbling on the roost and after they hit the ground it was like they vanished. I did call in a few hens and one very immature jake but the gobblers were MIA. At the very least when they are henned up we have usually been able to locate a group in a field or what not but we couldn't even lay any glass on any.

I'm starting to wonder if the winter had its toll on the birds down in my neck of the woods. Or, maybe we just hit that 4-7 day lull period perfectly where every gobbler is with a hen and doesn't need to gobble. 1st season when I hunted up in NE and E. Central Iowa the birds were going bizerck. Anyways, I logged 16 hours in the blind on Fri. and Sat. in SE Iowa and nothing.
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Many areas in SE Iowa are really down in population at this time. I estimate that there are approximate 15% of the turks that there were 5 or more years ago. Several years of particularly wet springs with poor nesting success and bobcats preying on the adults too IMO.

I used to have 75+ birds on my farm just about any time of the year...now, fewer than 10. You could drive the roads and see dozens of them, now, hardly any.
 
They seemed to work well for me in NW IA called in two Friday Morning and my buddy missed both of those within 5 minutes of each other, Saturday called one into 25 yards but I was self filming and couldn't get a shot off. Later in the day called in a tom, he came in to 60 yards and work away with some hens. Sunday morning a rock-star of a 3 year old gobbled his head off on his way in and I dumped him at 30 yards.
 
Many areas in SE Iowa are really down in population at this time. I estimate that there are approximate 15% of the turks that there were 5 or more years ago. Several years of particularly wet springs with poor nesting success and bobcats preying on the adults too IMO.

I used to have 75+ birds on my farm just about any time of the year...now, fewer than 10. You could drive the roads and see dozens of them, now, hardly any.
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Same situation.....used to be no challenge to blind hunting, they were everywhere. Now, the challenge is to see some.
 
I hunted Fri am thru today am and 2 afternoons. Been very tough and tight lipped since Friday. Friday am birds all over in the fields.and that's been it till the afternoon when catch coming across open to the roost. Watched Tom breed a hen then gobble to me then followed hens. Been within gunshot of roosting toms but they jump out and stand under hens. Called in few hens 0 toms seen a pile though and no jakes. Oh I'm archery in ec iowa
 
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I really can't complain. 2nd season lasted about 2.5 hours for me. Lots of gobbling, and one dumb enough to come to my calls. Probably will be a different story when 4th season rolls around. Best thing was I shot my second season bird with my bow!
 
I took a buddy out on friday morning that had never turkey hunted. He was tagged out with a 28 lb beast with 1 1/2 spurs by 7:00.
I jumped out of bed sat morning and also filled my tag shortly after 7.
This is the first year in a long time that I have left the bow at home and drug out the skatter blaster early in the year. I didnt log many hours but I will say I heard nearly zero gobbling on the roost and that is very strange for the area we were hunting.
My friends bird came in completely silent and mine was gobbling with every step once he fired up, but nothing from the roost.
I think we are in the peak of breeding and 95% of these birds are with hens and dont need to work very hard to find a hen.
3rd and 4th season should be action packed as usual
 
mudingbuck said:
What area were you hunting. I was in SW IA this last weekend and had some of the best hunting I have had for a few years. I filled both my archery tags, and helped the wife and cousin fill theirs!
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I agree, easily had the two best days of turkey hunting on both Friday and Saturday in a long, long time. Lots of birds and action right off of the roost and all the way up until 10AM. Came back out at 2PM on Saturday and had to tiptoe in around a couple hens. Then, was all setup and by 5PM had hens and toms in the field all the way until sunset. Was lucky enough to get a tom to commit for a buddy Friday night.

Saturday morning (just like Friday morning), had gobbling in every direction toms were definitely more aggressive than Friday. Two came in right away (didn't even have to call) shot a double with my cousin for his first bird.

Mine was 23.6 pounds. Looked to be a 3-3 and 1/2 year old bird. 10 inch beard and 1.25 inch spurs VERY sharp.

Was an amazing couple of days!
 
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