# turkey drumming questions



## ballboy (Apr 30, 2011)

was up in the mtns. over the weekend on the youth hunt. We got into an area that had lotss of turkey and had one drumming a lot but could never get it in. 
Does anyone know do toms or hens drum?
Do turkey like to come to water mostly in the evening?


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## bwhntr (Sep 12, 2007)

You were probably hearing the grouse drumming.


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## manysteps (Sep 28, 2009)

I could be wrong, but this is the second time today I've seen someone posting about turkey drumming...

I've ben right in the middle of turkey many times, and I have yet to hear one drumming.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

You usually have to be really close ( like shooting range close to hear a Tom drum), so it was probably the grouse.

Turkeys get a lot of their water intake from bugs and vegetation they eat. I've never had any luck with hunting water holes for them. Find where the roost is and pattern them from there. Look for the area where the toms go to strut. Set up there, be still and wait for them to come to you


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

manysteps said:


> I could be wrong, but this is the second time today I've seen someone posting about turkey drumming...
> 
> I've ben right in the middle of turkey many times, and I have yet to hear one drumming.


I've never heard one drumming unless he was strutting, and you have to be close to hear it


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Drumming is a pretty rare thing to be heard for the reasons Mojo mentions. It is a low pitched strange sound that sort of goes...ah uuumm, ah uuumm. It is a real treat if you actually heard one drumming. It is almost always done on warm sunny afternoons when the old Tom is quietly strutting over a casually feeding bunch of hens. I liken it to a cat purring from contentment.


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## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

Here are some good examples of grouse drumming:

[youtube:5lix3vnl]http://www.youtube.com/v/MVfiIp3QGs4?hl=en_US&version=3&amp[/youtube:5lix3vnl]


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## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

I've had the opportunity to hear toms drumming a few times before. As said in previous posts, it's pretty hard to pick up on unless you are really close. I've heard it referred to as a "spit and drum" because you hear them make a little spit sound then a low humm. It's pretty neat


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## gpskid (Jul 24, 2012)

Really
It is different from the grouse drumming, but is like a paut and hmmmmmm (spit & drum)and can be heard from a distance, ( this happens when they lock their tail fan full) gobblers do it the second they start strutting. I have a call the imitates it and use it instead of hen calls.
If you listen close you can tell when the gobblers getting in shooting range, they'll come in silent this way, once you heard this and wings scraping the ground be ready.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

I heard three drumming this morning!!!!! At one point I had them so close, you could hear their feathers whoosh as they puffed up and puffed down.


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