| Author |
Message |
GN
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 8:55 am: | |
I cannot kill turkeys on an east wind , at least I am rarely succesful on that conditon in my part of the mountains. On an east blow, The birds do not gobble much(if at all) in my experience. I have rationalized this in to a theory: birds do not like to walk in to bright sunlight in their face off the roost and tend to walk/fly away from the rising sun. BUT, they also do not like to walk fly downwind..so they are in a real conundrum(pickle) when they have to make choice of having to lose one of the atmospheric defense assets...so they just take the day off, andsit silentluy in a tree until the sun gets high and they can see another braver turkey on the grond and they will fly to it...seriously, I hate an east wind and get so physched out by that condition I never hunt well in one. Anybody else have this experience? |
HODY
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 2:40 pm: | |
Wow GN you continue to amaze me with these pondering questions. How strong of an East wind are you talking about? I think I will start keeping a log of some things this year, to answer these kinds of questions. One question I have pondered and will ask you, is there a certain barometric pressure that the birds seem to gobble their best at? In other words if there is not a certain number is it better for rising or falling. |
TScottW88
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 2:57 pm: | |
I agree with Hody... GN will amaze ya'! I have been kicking myself all year because I have never kept a log. Especially after last year and the "Craig" Gobbler. Will defintely be keeping a log this year. Will also have to keep an eye on that east wind. |
GN
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 6:15 pm: | |
Hody, I like a rising atmoshperic pressure myself. My best gobbling days are general y the first calm morning after a storm front has been around for a day or so. I really love a day with no wind at all. If you catch a thunderstorm in the middle ofthe night andit is not a major front with extreme high winds behind it, I ususally find a lot of gobbling at dawn. Now here is another peeve of mine..full moons. Tenn opens this weekend on a full moon or close to it. Hate'm. I have noticed that very frequently on a full moo n or right after it the moon will set in the west right at daylight's first light and the wind always blows hard i n my mountains as the moon is setting andsun is rising..I have observed this many times and have no explannation..I do know this is when you get the highest and lowest tides in the ocean too...go figure...dawn winds uusally make for poor gobbling experiience. I love no moon nights for best am gobbling. I think on a really full moon at the height of the mating season the birds talk a little through the night and can sometimes see each other in trees and get together real quick afterdaylight. Theories are interesting to me. Check me out on these this year. |
HODY
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 7:47 pm: | |
I definately agree with the calm day after a storm. Also you are correct about the tides. They are called spring tides during a full moon, and that is because the gravitational force is greater then. I will keep tabs on the wind issue. Maybe we can market a thing on Moon phases like Knight and Hale have done for other things. One good thing about the moon this year, is that for the VA season opener it will be near the new stage, and I think that is good. GN I will check out the moon rise and set times for you and get back to this isue. |
HODY
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 8:06 pm: | |
OK GN check this out on the first day the Moon will rise at about 21:23 and set at about 07:47. But by Monday it will rise at 23:43 and set at 09:01. The first day may fall into this theory, but by monday hopefully the moon is still high enough in the sky that the winds will subside. I guess we'll wait and see. Here is the site if you want to check it out. You can punch in any city and the times will come up for the year.
http://srd.yahoo.com/srst/14619423/Moon+Rise/1/12/T=1017363523/F=0849e3d87c138b4fb5b678bbb6981401/*http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html |
turkeypicker
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 9:03 pm: | |
Wow: you guys are gonna have me planting my garden by the signs!! LOL. I seem to have good luck hearing birds on calm cloudy mornings just before a rain. GN, when you say an "East Wind" I assume you are talking about a wind blowing from east to west? Forgive me for not knowing weather lingo. I have a tough time hearing birds when the wind blows from east to west. Here in my part of the southern Apps, the wind usually blows from west to east. When this happens I head straight for the southeast slope where the Blue Ridge Divide (eastern continental divide) drops off abruptly. These southeast facing slopes seem to be prime turkey hangouts and I can find shelter from the wind. In my neck of the woods there are almost always farms and fields on this side of the divide. The southeast slope (streams flow to the Atlantic) drops off much more abruptly than the tennessee drainage side as a rule. If you can find a road or trail on a grade down under the continental divide, you'll often not even know the wind was blowing. This probably doesn't apply well to TN, but should work well in NC, and VA mountains. |
sixshot
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 9:49 pm: | |
GN,
You know I never really thought of that as an issue. The same with the moon also. I wonder if hens would start laying,nesting,etc could be depicted by moon phase? I tell ya'll what this computer is almost cheating. The learning curve you can get here is unbelievable!! I am going to make sure to mark wind direction, barometric pressure, moon phase,etc into my log. Thanks guys for the questions and observations that you would never of thought of or just make you go hmmm... |
GN
| | Posted on Friday, March 29, 2002 - 9:03 am: | |
Thanks Hody for the moon table...I have one I use for saltwater fishing too. If the moon sets are as late as your chart says then it might not be a problem tomorrow. It does not make much difference I guess as I will be out there somewhere anyway. TPicker- east wind to me means wind blowing from east to west(old adage about "wind from east , fishin least, wind from west ,fishin best")..etc...I can hide in the lee of some valleys and mountains too, and use the lee -side stratgey whenever practial. Heck, I never know where I am going to hunt some mornings until I start the truck and even then I may change my mind...hhahhah. |
HODY
| | Posted on Friday, March 29, 2002 - 9:11 am: | |
TP, as a rule of thumb winds are named from the direction they come from. So in other words a west wind, comes from the west and blows toward the east. |
tpicker
| | Posted on Friday, March 29, 2002 - 7:36 pm: | |
Season opens tomorrow here with a youth hunting day (ages 10-17 only can carry gun and shoot) and my boy is stoked. It's supposed to be raining though. Any strategies to STOP THE RAIN? LOL. This is the only time lately I hope the weatherman is wrong about rain!! |
manybeards
| | Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2002 - 11:55 am: | |
>>>> GN;
I've never really made the connection,but now that I think about it,I think you've hit on something. For years we've said that when it comes to offshore fishing..... "might as well leave the boat in the slip on an East wind" because fish just DO NOT bite. The old sailors axiom is "West is best and East is least"! Very curious! Great post! |
GN
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 11:26 am: | |
Well, we proved the east wind theory again this weekend. Saturday, it dawned cold (30degrees) and and east wind at 10....after the usual tree gobbling it went quiet and stayed there for the day. Sunday, east wind , again about 30 and birds stayed in trees until an hour after daylight and would not say a word after that. I did hear one bird shock gobble at 3 pm ...that was after he had drifted away from me with hens.Prior to that I could hear him drumming and had his tail in sight across the edge of a ridge top(and in range if his head had popped up). But gobbling was essentially non-existent. |
turkeypicker
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 11:00 pm: | |
GN: I thought you were on to something with the East is least theory until this AM. It was a nasty morning. Rained heavy in the night. So I was lazy and listened from the road in case the bottom dropped out again. The wind was blowing steady from the East and I was thinking of your theory after about 6 stops and no gobbles. Then finally I scared a bird to death by hooting like a madman and he gobbled, but only once. By then I was really admiring your wisdom and observation....UNTIL...the next stop on gobblemania ridge. I hooted and started up 2 birds...1 was only 100 yards from the truck gobbling his fool head off. I moved into position and called. The close bird flew down and gobbled a couple of times, but never answered my calls. Meanwhile a hot gobbling bird down the hollow in China was cutting off my every call, and as usual hens started calling everywhere...story of my season thus far!! The close bird went silent and I deducted he had gone to the hens and the hot gobbling bird. This is where I really messed up. I got up to relocate down the ravine to China, and immediately walked head on into the close bird...he was coming in silently...utter frustration! He flushed and flew to New Zealand best I could see. I proceeded to China and worked the hot bird, but so did about 5 hens. He was one of those birds that issued the guttoral rattle gobble that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I had him within 40 yards at one point, but he was in a Mtn Laurel thicket. I found out later he had followed the hens into the thicket, as I eventually flushed a hen from a nest. I'm sure she was laying. I had some fun up until about 9:30 anyway. The gobbling is picking up a bit, so I hope that means the hens are slipping away day by day. I've watched one bird go from 3 hens down to 1...hoping he will be mine soon. The birds have really been henned up. Good news is I hear gobblers everywhere I hunt...so I think the best is yet to come. This is the longest I've gone in years without using a tag, but it's still been a lot of fun. Now, I don't know what to think about the East is Least theory. Today anyway...East was not too shabby. |
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