Darron Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 (edited) Do any of you have any spots that seems like there are only jakes using the property? My 100 acre farm is in SE Ohio is in "turkey country." I have had my trail cam out now since Feb and I have gotten as many as 40+ turkeys on one pic. Out of hundreds of pics, I have gotten only one confirmation on a longbeard. The rest have been jakes. In one pic I had 5-6 different jakes and gobs of hens. Is there a reason for this? Below are a few pics of the birds on my farm. As you can see, hens in the fall are not a problem. And for those of you wondering, No, I do not bait turkeys during season. I stop April 1 so I am legal. The last pic is the only pic I have of a mature gobber. If you zoom in, the bird on the far right of the screen is sporting a nice beard. Edited April 2, 2009 by Darron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Well one thing's for sure, you should have an excellent crop of 2 year old birds to choose from next year! Dakota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 I often see bachelor groups of jakes hanging around hen flocks before the season kicks in. Sometimes this behavior continues into the season some. Gobblers are still in bachelor groups at this time as well. They are less social with the hens until breeding instinct kicks in. Just before the flocks break up they'll start hanging around the hen flocks trying to tempt one away. I'd say the longbeards are probably not far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layin on the smackdown Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Well one thing's for sure, you should have an excellent crop of 2 year old birds to choose from next year! Thats exactly what i was thinking...LOL....don't know what else to tell ya, other than try a different spot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slughunter Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 We had close to the same thing last year. Although me and my grandpa had tagged out in the first hour of season within 20 minutes of eachother, the only other males in the area were these 15 jakes. We didnt see another gobbler the rest of the season: -shane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darron Posted April 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 We had close to the same thing last year. Although me and my grandpa had tagged out in the first hour of season within 20 minutes of eachother, the only other males in the area were these 15 jakes. We didnt see another gobbler the rest of the season: -shane Sounds like the same thing. I have one for sure visual on a mature gobbler and maybe two (but they maybe the same gobbler). Everything else is a jake. The hens are everywhere!!!!!!!!! I have dozens of photos of atleast 30+ hens in one flock. And that's just on my 100 acres, not to mention all my neighbors properties (there's another 500 acres of hardwoods connecting mine that is broken up in lots from 20-60 acres). Maybe they haven't broken up good yet????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Haven't broken up good yet is the most probable reason. Once turkeys get to jake stage pretty much all that kills them is disease and man. I wouldn't think all those jakes have the same daddy and someone got him last year. From personal experience I can tell you that I've killed and seen quite a few longbeards after passing up jakes. These are birds I wouldn't have seen if I hadn't passed on the jakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohiobucks Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Check the second paragraph in this ODNR publication, may help explain the abundance of jake birds you're seeing. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/News/NewsReleaseArchives/tabid/19075/EntryID/1019/Default.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted April 4, 2009 Report Share Posted April 4, 2009 Well one thing's for sure, you should have an excellent crop of 2 year old birds to choose from next year! +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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