Syracuse.com - Do violent thunderstorms at night impact turkey hunting the following morning?

[HuntingNY-News]

Our meteorologist, Dave Eichorn, wants to know.

Our meteorologist Dave Eichorn, who's been reporting recently on this wacky weather we've been having asked me, "How do these violent rain storms that have been rumbling through here lately at night affect the wild turkey hunting the following morning?"

I posted the question on my "PS Outdoors" Facebook page and got the following responses from three experienced turkey hunters:

From Lee Mnich, of Minoa:

"I remember a couple of years ago I roosted a nice tom and a HUGE storm with strong winds came through the night. I got in early and walked right down the middle of the field with my buddy in the dark and set up about 100 yards from the roost. Well I just put the decoys in and went to the tree and sat down and when I did I broke a limb and a bird gobbled his head off, I told my buddy that birds in the field and he said no way... I sat down and it was about 20 minutes until you get that blue glow in the sky and I decided to do a couple of yelps and the gobble was even closer in the field, I said no way... Well I was looking at the decoys and said "Hey, did you put out the full strut tom", he said "No, why". I told him look at that big white head and the turkey strutting around the hens.... LOL We both kept looking at our phones and as soon as it was 30 minutes before sunrise that bird was dead, I still remember the flame about 4' long coming out of the barrell..... LOL My only guess is the winds got so bad he flew out of the tree to ride the storm out in the field.."

From Mike Joyner, of McGraw:

" Huge set of variables, and the answer runs the full spectrum. an approaching storm with rumbles of lightening is about the best locator call one can have most times. They'll shut up when the storm gets close. If the storm rages early evening and stops well before dawn they seem to gobble well especially if they have consistently that season. If it lasts well into the early hours, they seem to stay on the roost late. Having been chasing them them past 21 years I have seen it go both ways. I have tagged a few nice birds within minutes of an early morning thunderstorm subsiding, and yet many times wait well over an hour for them to come off the roost in the daylight. One thing I have found is that if they had been henned up bad, they tend to get separated especially if the storm rolls in before roosting time. That changes the game in your favor in most cases."

From Ryan O'Grady:

Yes most definitly takes them off the roost and they scatter . Tend to be more vocal on days with high humidity rather than cooler days."

2 hours ago · Like.

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