The Drum

[billjohnson]

I've never done it but I've seen my brother bring two or three in drumming to them. We were looking at him both times and he was sitting twenty yards behind me but gobbler had drawn the line until he did that. Immediate change in posture when he thought he heard a drum.

[peewee]

I can hear it from about 100 yards away. I have been taking my 9 year old daughter this year and we have had 3 gobblers within 40 yards and she says she cant hear it. I dont know if she doesn't know what the sound is or if she just can't hear it.

As far as calling them in I have seen it done once about 8 years ago on 2 two year olds. I was hunting with a friend and the birds had hung up just out of sight. We had to get to work. Out of now where he tried it and the birds ran in. One got shot, up close and personal.

[billjohnson]

Sound is a funny thing. If the brain doesn't recognize it, it just won't register. I know that deer have always grunted in the woods but I had never really noticed it until I had heard it on deer hunting videos. After that, I heard it all of the time. It's just like turkeys don't yet realize what they are hearing when you ride up on them in an electric vehicle. I know that they hear the tires on the ground but they just don't react to it. As I said, yet! I have ridden right up on flocks of turkeys that didn't run out of the green patch until I was right on top of them. I know that they hear wheels on gravel but it's just not registering.

[mshunter77]

I have heard it a handful of times, but have watched a strutter knowing I should hear it and couldn't.

Same here but my hearing has never been very good.

[Hambone]

You know you are close when you can hear one drumming on the roost. This actually happened to me this morning. I wish I could brag that I got him...but I got whipped......again!

[gator]

can hear it a long way off...and, it has definitely helped me a time or two over the years.

gator

[randywallace]

I can hear the drumming from about 60 yards. The spit part sounds like a loud tick and I can hear it a good bit further off.

[Hole Hunter]

I heard it this morning right before the boom! But I usually end up seeing the bird before I notice the spitting and drumming.

[JLT]

Gator's ability to hear drumming has helped me as well..........to the tune of keeping up with a tight lipped bird for 13 hours. He gobbled once at a plane during that time! Sometimes I can hear it and sometimes I can't. The spit is fairly easy to hear for me and I can hear one gobble for a ways.

[deltadukman]

I cant hear them until they are within 50-60 yards, even then it can be tough. Not sure if its my ears being bad or what. Question though, when a bird breaks into strut, do they all spit and drum everytime? Never really thought about it until now.

[Hambone]

They don't spit and drum every time they strut. If you are pretty close, you can see the gobbler tremble a bit when he does it.

[DUCK-HUNT]

I can hear it quite well when the terrain/conditions allow. I have witnessed/heard a bird coming in drumming from a 150yds. It was the loudest drumming I had ever heard and he was just walking in. Walking at a brisk pace coming in but drumming the entire time, never dropped strut. They dont always drum when they are strutting.

It is a game changer when it comes to getting birds killed IMO.

[Jake St. John]

I used to hear it to about 80 yards. He has to be almost in the blind with me now. Need to get some electronic ears.

Old-----Mr. E

[SWAG]

Along the same lines as my earlier post....great idea if it is an option....raise you a small flock of tame turkeys. The sounds and habits of these birds really can make you a better turkey hunter. I used to love to just sit and watch them as they went about their daily business, especially in the spring time. There are sounds I have heard hens make that I have never heard talked about by "proffesionals". Little "rur rur" notes of contentment, different tones and speeds of "clucks" all of which seem to mean something different, gobblers spitting but not drumming, gobbler clucks, etc, etc, etc. And of course a person gets very talented at picking up on these sounds from greater distances as they spend more time around the birds. There would always be a week or so in late March or early April when the gobblers would pretty much stay awake all night, just waiting for daylight to arrive. This was the height of the breeding. Every hen was getting bred daily in the flock. I could walk out side and hoot at 11:00 pm, 1:00 am, 3:00 am, and 5:00 am and always get a response during this week of exctasy...ha! Now I know wild birds may not always do some of these same things on the same scale as their tamed cousins, BUT still alot to be learned from watching the creatures. I have heard wild turkey gobblers gobble in the middle of the night. I was coonhunting in a pro hunt event one night in south central TN when the dogs got off in a deep hollow from us about 1/2 mile away. Bad track or something, the dogs were having a tough time figuring out where the coon had went. Long story short...one of the dogs had a big, booming, bawl of a locate and each time he would do this a turkey gobbler on the pine ridge 1/4 mile away would gobble. This was around the 11:00 pm time of night. I was not near as suprised as some of the other hunters on the cast were. Another encounter with the same type scenario comes to mind when I was hunting a "tough" bird at Noxubee NWR during the college years. Knowing where this bird roosted and wanting to get on the "right" side of him and his hens before daylight, I arrived at my hunting spot around 4:00 am. Walking across an opening that early would allow me to get where I wanted to be. I had not walked a good 30 steps from my truck when what did I hear. Ole tom gobbler gobbling. Not once mind you. He gobbled 30-40 times between 4:00 am and daylight. All of this to say that we never stop trying to learn as much as we can about the elusive wild turkey. Every advantage one can pick up is a tool they can use in the future. As hearing and sight and stealth abilities start to fade, one may find themselves relying more on their wisdom of the habits of the bird than their sheer hunting and calling talents.

[Jake St. John]

I worked a bird about 6 years ago down in Homochito. He gobbled about 9:30 way up on the ridge top. Only problem was, I was down at the creek. I was not about to climb up that hogback. I told myself if he came, he was going to have to come down to me. He answered a few calls and hung up about 80 yards up a ridge leading down in the bottom. I played my favorite trick on him to get him jealous. I gave him a couple of sweet yelps followed by a loud set of gobbler yelps and shut up. The next thing I hear about 10 minutes later is Loud drumming. I mean loud. I had a net blind at the time and I told myself, "this bird has got to be close. I looked through the net blind and he was standing 8 yards in front of me drumming like crazy. He got behind a tree and I shot him through the net blind.

Fun with a drummin bird.

Mr. E