By Roger Hook
If you have spent much time in the spring woods chasing gobblers, you have probably gotten the chance to watch a number of birds perform their mating ritual. You have seen gobblers strut in front of hens, or strut as they make their way toward your location thinking you were the hen.
Part of the ritual is spittin’ and drummin’.
What is it? And, what does it mean? The answer to these questions could add another tactic to your spring hunting arsenal and assist you in exploiting a gobbler’s weakness.
Frankly, nobody really knows why a gobbler spits and drums. To my knowledge, there are no scientific studies that have been done on the subject. To discuss drumming is to enter the arena of speculation. There is a wealth of speculation, however, that revolves around the “why” and “how.”
Well-known author and turkey hunter Lovett Williams told me candidly when I asked him why gobblers drum, “I don’t know. In some ways,” he continued in his professor-like manner, “to refer to what gobblers do as spitting and drumming is a misnomer. Spitting includes saliva. There is no saliva involved in what gobblers do.”
We do know, though observation, that the sound referred to as spitting and drumming is a deliberate vocalization. Deliberate vocalizations are meant for other animals to hear. When a gobbler drums, there are two distinctly different sounds.
First there is a short, windy “chump” followed by a low, soft “hum” of about 1 1/2 seconds in duration. The spit, or “chump,” as Williams refers to it, is termed a “pulmonic puff.” My experience, watching domestic and wild gobblers spit and drum, would lead me to believe that the spitting sound is a sudden release of air that originates within a gobbler’s lungs.
The drumming sound is just as mysterious. Williams said that the “drumming sound was too low to record on most outdoor recording equipment. The pitch of the drumming phase is below 60 Hz and seems to ascend in pitch near the end, as the sound fades away. The drumming or ‘chum’ is of vocal origin, though some believe that its source may be the rapid vibrating of the spread tail feathers. At any rate, the source of the hum is yet to be definitely determined.”
One thing we do know is that the spitting and drumming phenomenon is associated with gobblers and hens mating. Gobblers spit and drum when they are strutting. The ritual conveys interest in mating on the part of a gobbler, and it would appear to be used to stimulate the hen.
Williams speculates that hens may base their choice of mate based on the sound of drumming. Big gobblers may drum louder and therefore be more aggressive.
The second time I benefited from a caller vocalizing the drumming sound was while hunting with two-time World Champion caller, Don Shipp. We were in the Ozark Mountains of the Natural State. A stubborn four-year-old tom refused to leave a small group of hens he had been courting for several days.
Following one change of location, Shipp began drumming with his natural voice. The plan worked to perfection. The long-spurred rascal couldn’t stand the thought of another gobbler intruding on his territory. He never knew what hit him.
When I asked Shipp how he produced the sound he said, “I spit air through my teeth, then, after a short pause, I bring a low hum deep from the chest and get higher in volume as it comes up.”
As this issue goes to press, Mark Drury’s M.A.D. Calls and Lohman Game Calls are working on new calls to reproduce the spitting and drumming sounds. These calls will be available spring 1999.
“Spittin’ and drummin’ will work on field turkeys that are notoriously difficult to call. I’ve watched a more dominant gobbler use spittin’ and drummin’ to intimidate other gobblers. One will often go up to a gobbler that is strutting and it will quit strutting.”
“I hunt a lot of places where the turkeys get heavy pressure. Gobblers in places like that quit gobbling, or at least gobble less. I think these gobblers rely on spittin’ and drummin’ to attract their hens. They also know that gobblers that are with hens will be spittin’ and drummin’ so when they hear that sound, they naturally gravitate toward it.”
“Sometimes the sound is coming from me rather than a real turkey.”
“Jakes will answer drumming from a mature gobbler. They may not respond to a big tom’s gobble, but they will sure answer the drumming. They answer with two or three coarse yelps that are out of rhythm.”
Hunters should key on these fast, choppy jake yelps. They should know that he is answering a big gobbler that is right there beside him. You know the big gobbler is right there because they can’t hear the drumming very far.
I’ve heard jakes yelping from the roost with those coarse, broken rhythms and gone to them because I knew they were answering a big gobbler drumming. I think the jake is letting the mature gobbler know that he knows his place in the pecking order.
Like these veteran hunters, I can attest to the fact that, in the right situation, drumming will lure a gobbler to your setup when nothing else works.
Even though it is a gobbler vocalization, it is relatively safe because the sound is soft and subtle. Other hunters cannot hear it very far. Drumming is a good alternative to gobbling, and will likely work just as effectively.
You might want to give it a try the next time you deal with a henned-up gobbler or one that refuses to budge.
ShootingSavvy Editor’s Note
This article originally appeared in Turkey Call Magazine (Jan/Feb 1999) and remains one of the clearest explanations of drumming behavior ever published, and remains a go-to tactic for tough toms.