The Kleberg county area has been plagued by some pretty horrible polt hatches the last several years. We had a really good one last year but previous to that it was pretty hard on baby turkeys. What you should gather from this statement is:

1. Lots of hens
2. Few mature birds especially if the place you're hunting gets hunted yearly.
3. Lots of jakes from last years' good hatch.

All this equals pretty tough hunting until the majority of the hens are bred and off by themselves nesting. IMHO the later in the season, the better. It's pretty hard to get a mature bird to leave a bunch of hens he can see to come find the one calling off in the brush (you).

Good luck. It's a blast!

 

No matter were I hunt, I like to hunt early season when the gobblers are looking for hens. I gets harder to call them in when they have them already. Mid season I hunt them mid day while the hens are at the nest.

 

... x infinity ...

This was of huge debate last year. HIT them early. Once the hens are BRED, it takes the gobblers all of 72 hours to figure that out and start concentrating on food. Birds will always "hen up" early in the morning, but once they're bred, or the hens are determined to be non-receptive, the gobblers will move to food and water and start looking for another hen - this begins in Feb. in S. Texas. Turkey's breeding cycle is a factor of increasing hours of daylight.

Looking back through ~21 years of Texas springs, droughts, wind, clouds, floods, rattlesnakes, Godzillas, late freezes, sun spots, escaped zoo animals, pipeline crews, low flying aircraft, bred hens, and all the other excuses we give for not getting it done ...

Whether hunting for myself or guiding for a customer in the Texas S. Zone over 75% of my birds have died with a week of April 2nd. Another 5 or 6% were killed between March 21st and April 2nd; and another 6 - 10% came between the 17th and 27th of April. Anything killed in May was out of state up north, but that last figure is partially due to my refusal to hunt down south when it's hot.

The majority of these birds were probably killed around a major moon phase that corresponded to the "right" weather.

 

I have to respectivly disagree with all this hen breeding/timing nonsense. They (turkeys) are a largely habitual terrestrial land animal, and get a lot more credit than they deserve. I don't think the timing of the hens breeding makes as much of an impact to harvest-success as you guys are giving credit for.

Weather conditions are probably the most important variable of day-to-day success. Last year my wife and I killed 4 long beards in the first 7 days of the season, and 4 on the last two days; which were our only times to make it afield. In years past I've killed or guided every weekend of the season with consistant success. I'd pray for light winds and no rain before worrying about where the hens are in their reproductive cycle. This past Jan I had a quickly successful double with a buddy on gobblers that responded to calling with strutting and drumming.

The largest influencing factor to turkey hunting success is not where or when you hunt, but rather how. If you treat a turkey like a deer you are dooming yourself to a sub-par hunting experience. When we hunt, I'll spend a maximum of 20-30 minutes calling blind (if I'm not working an active bird) before moving along to another area. Sitting and waiting (or feeder hunting) is as very slow way to kill a bird.

All that said, I'd choose to hunt the 3rd-5th weekends of the season if I were scheduling a hunt. The weather is usually a **** shoot, but by then it should be consistently warm with fewer snakes out and about.

 

I have to respectivly disagree with all this hen breeding/timing nonsense. They (turkeys) are a largely habitual terrestrial land animal, and get a lot more credit than they deserve. I don't think the timing of the hens breeding makes as much of an impact to harvest-success as you guys are giving credit for.

Weather conditions are probably the most important variable of day-to-day success. Last year my wife and I killed 4 long beards in the first 7 days of the season, and 4 on the last two days; which were our only times to make it afield. In years past I've killed or guided every weekend of the season with consistant success. I'd pray for light winds and no rain before worrying about where the hens are in their reproductive cycle. This past Jan I had a quickly successful double with a buddy on gobblers that responded to calling with strutting and drumming.

The largest influencing factor to turkey hunting success is not where or when you hunt, but rather how. If you treat a turkey like a deer you are dooming yourself to a sub-par hunting experience. When we hunt, I'll spend a maximum of 20-30 minutes calling blind (if I'm not working an active bird) before moving along to another area. Sitting and waiting (or feeder hunting) is as very slow way to kill a bird.

All that said, I'd choose to hunt the 3rd-5th weekends of the season if I were scheduling a hunt. The weather is usually a **** shoot, but by then it should be consistently warm with fewer snakes out and about.

10-4**

 

Weather is the biggest factor Turkey hunting. They like those Warm days and light winds. Just like anything else we chase in Texas ducks, deer, geese and trout you are gambling when right condtions will arise when you are in the field or on the water.

I was at our place in Sonora 3 weeks ago and I could have killed multiple gobblers. It was 80 degree and birds were all over the place. The next day a front rolled through and shut them down.

I love it early season when the hens are still grouped up! Hens will be in there normal pattern feed first then hit water. If you find a gobbler on the roost and get between him and the hens. He is a dead bird!!

 

Respectfully disagree. When you are hunting a turkey population with a 20:1 hen to mature gobbler ratio, your odds of calling that bird off of those hens is pretty slim. In Kleberg County, which is where the op was asking about, choice roost sites are few and far between meaning that the gobblers and hens are roosted side by side.

It would be nice if it worked as some stated above where the gobbler hits the ground and spends his day looking for hens but the reality here in Kleberg county is that the gobblers are surrounded by hens until they are bred and off nesting.

The later the better.