A turkeys hearing?

barry · Post by **barry** » July 28th, 2012, 4:37 pm

Just how good can a turkey hear?

Let's say your doing some tree yelps and clucks, how far away can a gobbler be and still hear it?

Post by **Hoobilly** » July 28th, 2012, 5:43 pm

several years ago, Chris aka GobblerFreak, took my son with him to southern Indiana on a NWTF youth hunt. My son never got to hunt that weekend as his bday was over the cut off date in the age limit.

Well, Freak still took my son out, but no guns...

had over a dozen gobblers going nuts, with at least 6+ actually showing themselves that morning.

When the gobblers were still roosted, Chris told my son to watch and listen..

he took a wing, scratched it in the leaves and a gobble cut him off before he stopped . he waited a minute and did it again, same thing.

He whispered to my son, that bird is close to 200 yards away...if he can hear this wing rustle the leaves, he can hear us talk.

My son to this day says thats in his top 3 hunts he has ever been on, and never shot a turkey.

3toe · Post by **3toe** » July 28th, 2012, 10:00 pm

A turkey can hear you change your mind.

BrentM · Post by **BrentM** » July 28th, 2012, 10:31 pm

It amazes me how well they can pinpoint sounds too, especially in hilly terrain.

ccleroy · Post by **ccleroy** » July 28th, 2012, 11:21 pm

Farther than most give them credit.....most of the newcomers I take can't believe it.....I think it's amazing and uncanny that they can here a series of yelps and come straight to the tree you are on and burn a hole looking for a hen.

drenalinld · Post by **drenalinld** » July 28th, 2012, 11:53 pm

I also hunt

drenalinld · Post by **drenalinld** » July 28th, 2012, 11:54 pm

Some deaf gobblers.

hawglips · Post by **hawglips** » July 29th, 2012, 7:09 am

Their hearing is almost as good as their vision.

barry · Post by **barry** » July 29th, 2012, 10:46 am

3toe wrote:A turkey can hear you change your mind.

Sometimes I think they do

Shooter · Post by **Shooter** » July 29th, 2012, 11:38 am

BrentM wrote:It amazes me how well they can pinpoint sounds too, especially in hilly terrain.

Yep, thier pinpointing abilities never ceases to amaze me.

GOLD HUNTER · Post by **GOLD HUNTER** » July 29th, 2012, 12:37 pm

hawglips wrote:Their hearing is almost as good as their vision.

outlaw · Post by **outlaw** » July 29th, 2012, 12:57 pm

ive went hunting in mornings and heard a faint gobble and for fun call to it and it gobble back 2 hours later i killed him it took him that long to get to me and knew exactly were i was

ICDEDTURKES · Post by **ICDEDTURKES** » July 29th, 2012, 1:09 pm

Their ability to pinpoint the sound is insane.. You can not call for 10 minutes, he is out of sight and comes in and stares at your tree...

I will say however, I think the testosterone sometimes clouds their hearing or maybe their judgement, because on some birds you can get away with "Get your F in gun up" "Pull the dam trigger" as he stands their oblivious to muted screaming.

3toe · Post by **3toe** » July 29th, 2012, 1:45 pm

There are so many sounds in the woods I don't think a turkey necessarily associates a human voice or whisper with danger. And usually when he finally sees where this strange sound is coming from he has a headache of #6's.

ICDEDTURKES · Post by **ICDEDTURKES** » July 29th, 2012, 2:35 pm

3toe wrote:There are so many sounds in the woods I don't think a turkey necessarily associates a human voice or whisper with danger. And usually when he finally sees where this strange sound is coming from he has a headache of #6's.

What about a cell phone set on high, that keeps saying DROID and starts ringing..

TRKYHTR · Post by **TRKYHTR** » July 29th, 2012, 4:04 pm

I was told they could hear a Nat pee on a cotton ball at 100 yards.

TRKYHTR

3toe · Post by **3toe** » July 29th, 2012, 4:29 pm

ICDEDTURKES wrote:
3toe wrote:There are so many sounds in the woods I don't think a turkey necessarily associates a human voice or whisper with danger. And usually when he finally sees where this strange sound is coming from he has a headache of #6's.
What about a cell phone set on high, that keeps saying DROID and starts ringing..

That might could cause problems.

hawglips · Post by **hawglips** » July 29th, 2012, 5:02 pm

ICDEDTURKES wrote:I will say however, I think the testosterone sometimes clouds their hearing or maybe their judgement, because on some birds you can get away with "Get your F in gun up" "Pull the dam trigger" as he stands their oblivious to muted screaming.

Decoys take away their eyes and ears at times.

MKW · Post by **MKW** » July 29th, 2012, 6:14 pm

The turkeys around here don't hear very well. I know this because there have been times that I have called and I got no response at all. Surely if they heard me calling, they'd respond and run to their death.

Mike

ICDEDTURKES · Post by **ICDEDTURKES** » July 29th, 2012, 6:42 pm

hawglips wrote:
ICDEDTURKES wrote:I will say however, I think the testosterone sometimes clouds their hearing or maybe their judgement, because on some birds you can get away with "Get your F in gun up" "Pull the dam trigger" as he stands their oblivious to muted screaming.
Decoys take away their eyes and ears at times.

No decoys were used in the harming of these turkeys

Grover · Post by **Grover** » July 29th, 2012, 8:26 pm

MKW wrote:The turkeys around here don't hear very well. I know this because there have been times that I have called and I got no response at all. Surely if they heard me calling, they'd respond and run to their death.

Mike

I think we hunt the same birds 500 miles apart.

dirt road ninja · Post by **dirt road ninja** » July 30th, 2012, 11:08 am

I've got to agree with the "at least as good as they see" statement.

FullChoke · Post by **FullChoke** » July 30th, 2012, 11:39 am

I believe that a turkey's hearing is able to pick out what they need to hear and ignore what they aren't tuned into. A tree cluck seems to get a response at 200 yards because they are tuned to that sound amidst the symphony of racket in the woods. When I first started hunting turkeys, I was not immediately able to pick out certain 'target' sounds. Now, if I hear something as subtle as a cluck or drumming, I am on full alert. They can probably hear you quietly talking at 200 yards, but it falls into the 'ignoring' category. I also believe that we can talk with them fairly close as long as we don't spit out certain sounds (emphasizing hard Ps like peekapoo). These sounds start to get very close to alarm putting and they are very tuned into that turkey sound for obvious reasons.

FullChoke

barry · Post by **barry** » July 30th, 2012, 12:30 pm

MKW wrote:The turkeys around here don't hear very well. I know this because there have been times that I have called and I got no response at all. Surely if they heard me calling, they'd respond and run to their death.

Mike

From what I hear about you and your trumpets, they would have to deaf to not respond!

JUGHEAD · Post by **JUGHEAD** » July 31st, 2012, 4:27 pm

I'm just learning, but I'm absolutely amazed at how well they can hear. BrentM demonstrated to me a couple of times how good they can hear by doing the softest purrs on a friction call with a turkey standing 200+ yards away and getting him to gobble at it. Not only that, but 2 different times now I've had turkeys that had been hung up 150+ yards away and I got up to slip away from them (to either go around or pull the ol "I'm leaving" trick) in leaves that weren't super dry and loud and the turkey would be chasing me down essentially just from hearing me walk off when I was sure he wouldn't be able to hear me walking.

Gobbler Nation