The Drum

[jdbuckshot]

Who can hear it?

I can only hear it if he is real close.

My older brother can hear one drum from 100 yds. I can hear them walking through the leaves at long distance when my brother cant. - but he can hear them drum every time.

I have found out over the years that there is a distinct advantage to being able to hear or sense a gobbler drum, especially when they are not gobbling much.

when me and my brother hunt together and he says " I hear him drumming" I just go ahead and prop the gun up on my knee and get ready.

I wish I could hear it like he could- but I can't -I can hear the spit- and see the feather shake but can barely hear the Boooom


do you think its more an inner ear thing? or what?

[Gunslinger]

I can hear it a long ways. It is definitely an advantage if you can hear it. I killed one bird this year that came in behind me while working a gobbling bird in front of me. I would have never known he was there if I hadn't heard him drumming. It also helps tremendously to get your gun pointed in the right direction when a gobbling bird decides he's going to sneak in the last 100 yards without gobbling. I feel sorry for folks that can't hear em drum. That sound is just as sweet as a gobble IMO.

[arduckslayer]

I can hear it a long ways. I feel sorry for folks that can't hear em drum.

+1

[champcaller]

They have to be close for me to hear it. Hunted with a guy that could hear it forever off and it definitely helped.

[LawDawg]

I can't hear it. I don't know if it's a frequency thing or what. I can hear the spit, but I wish I could hear the drum. I hunt with a guy in Alabama that can hear it from a good ways off. I've killed several birds that I never heard because he could hear them drumming.

[SWAG]

I used to could hear it. I also used to could hear a gobble from an incredible distance. Part of that was having chickens, ducks, and turkeys as pets growing up. A person can get so used to hearing such animal sounds from long distances just from being around them so much. I could be hammering on a broke down tractor across the creek from Mom's and hear those tame turkeys gobbling close to a mile away. I could sit in the house with all the clatter going and still hear "Ole Puff & Stuff" drumming at the sliding glass doors admiring himself.

I say used to because after ten duck seasons of hunting RIGHT beside my 17 year old son, I have in fact lost some of that great hearing ability. Sad really because I used to pride myself on being able to hear the little things. Truthfully, I watch very little when deer hunting. Always have just waited to hear the deer coming. Frustrating to say the least. I still hear faint gobbles that someone else may not "hear", but I have conceded that they do hear it, they just do not know that was a turkey that just gobbled from X length away.

My Dad used to get frustrated when he did not hear a turkey gobble or drum that I was hearing. He spent $$$ on those hearing things. I always felt sorry for him. I am beginning to feel his frustration. One positive of those hearing devices was that he did get pretty good at hearing more distant gobbles and soft hen yelps and such. He could rarely tell the direction they came from, but he could enjoy hearing them. Reminds me....maybe those hearing devices are in the gun cabinit at Mom's.....will have to check that out

[Hambone]

I can hear drumming for about eighty yards and consider it to be the most exciting sound in turkey hunting. As others have mentioned, I have killed several turkeys that came in drumming, but never gobbled a time.

Acoustics are a funny thing in the turkey woods. The other day, my wife and I were listening for gobbling right at daylight. She and I were about 200 yards apart, yet she could hear a gobbler the several hundred yards to the other side of me and I couldn't hear him at all. I finally went back to where she was and could hear him from there. Weird - and I have good hearing.

[vicksburg]

I can hear it waaay away. It has helped killed many birds over the years as well.

[Hambone]

I can hear drumming for about eighty yards and consider it to be the most exciting sound in turkey hunting. As others have mentioned, I have killed several turkeys that came in drumming, but never gobbled a time.

Acoustics are a funny thing in the turkey woods. The other day, my wife and I were listening for gobbling right at daylight. She and I were about 200 yards apart, yet she could hear a gobbler the several hundred yards to the other side of me and I couldn't hear him at all. I finally went back to where she was and could hear him from there. Weird - and I have good hearing.

To clarify, in the second paragraph above, I was talking about gobbling, not drumming.

[deerhunt1988]

I can hear it a long ways. It is definitely an advantage if you can hear it. I killed one bird this year that came in behind me while working a gobbling bird in front of me. I would have never known he was there if I hadn't heard him drumming. It also helps tremendously to get your gun pointed in the right direction when a gobbling bird decides he's going to sneak in the last 100 yards without gobbling. I feel sorry for folks that can't hear em drum. That sound is just as sweet as a gobble IMO.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

[quackerkiller]

Had a buddy (beginner) call me around lunch today and he had a bird gobbling every breath and couldn't get him to come in.... I told him to just leave him alone and we would come back later... Walked in around 3:30 this evening and he gobbled at the first cutt I sent out.... Well we got set up and I went to working him.... After about 20 minutes, I could hear him drumming...... Now I should have said earlier that we had 13 mph winds at the time.... Well it sounds crazy, but I could hear this turkey drumming, and I could see a good 60 yards in any direction..... Later the turkey popped out to my right not giving him or me a shot.... Let him ease off and drew down at a south paw stance, then started on him again..... He came back within 40 yards but I couldn't get a clean shot.... Long story short we left him going out and coming into hearing distance (drumming) around 5:30.... Gonna try to get him in the morning... I feel like it's gonna be a really nice first turkey for my friend.... I just have a feeling he's gonna be a stud!! Wish me luck!

[Old Swamp Gobbler]

I can still hear it....some birds do drum louder than others....

[teul2]

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

[billjohnson]

I can still hear it pretty well. I'm 57 now and I definitely can't hear it the way that I did in my younger years. Years in pit blinds and guiding 6 to 10 hunters in peanut fields have taken their toll. I try to wear ear plugs but alway end up losing them getting up and down in a layout blind. I've got a buddy that I've turkey hunted with for years and he has never been able to hear drumming. It is an incredible advantage to be able to hear it. Mature turkeys, I mean really good ones, really don't gobble that much in my experience. I'm convinced that a hen can hear drumming in these moutains up here in N. AL as far as they can hear him gobble.

[champcaller]

Which begs the question does that "ppffftttdddmmmm" sound work as call to sound like a gobbler spittin and drummin?

Anyone tried it?