Newest study early results..

[G-Man]

Bighest take away 15 of 18 hens attempted to nest. Of those 13 nest were abandoned or destroyed...  seems like predators are big issue or lack of proper nesting habitat. imo....

https://www.realtree.com/turkey-hunting/articles/early-results-in-for-year-1-of-alabama-turkey-study

[Cabin Fever]

Interesting. Thanks for posting. I wish NY would do a similar study. I’ve been at my current property for 2 years now, but have yet to see a poult! There’s been 6 hens in the immediate area each year, but I’ve never seen a poult with any of them. Have a few gobblers around in the spring available to breed the hens.

Last year I started trapping nest raiders and hunting predators, hoping that would help. I took out 28 coons, 23 possums, 6 skunks, and 12 fox. Yet, still no poults around this summer…

I haven’t hunted turkey at all, as I don’t think we have any to spare and want to keep what we have for seed. None of the surrounding neighbors hunt them either, so that’s not an issue. Just no poult recruitment… I don’t get it…??


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[G-Man]

11 minutes ago, Cabin Fever said:

Interesting. Thanks for posting. I wish NY would do a similar study. I’ve been at my current property for 2 years now, but have yet to see a poult! There’s been 6 hens in the immediate area each year, but I’ve never seen a poult with any of them. Have a few gobblers around in the spring available to breed the hens.

Last year I started trapping nest raiders and hunting predators, hoping that would help. I took out 28 coons, 23 possums, 6 skunks, and 12 fox. Yet, still no poults around this summer…

I haven’t hunted turkey at all, as I don’t think we have any to spare and want to keep what we have for seed. None of the surrounding neighbors hunt them either, so that’s not an issue. Just no poult recruitment… I don’t get it…??


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Keep after the predators and look at creating nesting cover.  Fortunately i have decent production here after dropping about 5 acres of aspen for food and cover. 

[jperch]

Everyone seems to have an opinion about the decline in the turkey population.  In my area there has been no change in habitat.  It is a mixture of farmed fields, woods, swamps and overgrown brushy areas.  There has always been coyotes during the last 25 years and they prey on turkeys.  There is an abundance of raptors too.  The one new predator on the scene are the fishers.  Maybe they have made a difference, who knows.  I have seen a very few hens, no poults.

[cas]

4-5 years ago I'd never seen a fisher/picture of one. Now I have hundreds of pictures of them. Even saw one late morning turkey hunting this spring. Have to wonder if it was coming to my calls. 

[blackbeltbill]

   I believe  the Decline of the Wild Turkey " in certain areas" is more of-- Death From 1 Thousand Cuts.

   My paper DEC Kill records going back to 1985 clearly show that Western  NY Had a Tremendous  amount of Wild Turkeys, while Putnam,Orange,Rockland Westchester, and Long Island had very few Wild Turkeys and very low Spring and Fall Kills. I already wrote that in some years Rockland County had ZERO Turkey Kills in Spring or Fall.

   Now-- it is just the opposite all these Decades later in these areas listed above.

 Those old paper DECRecords that you probably  won't  find online clearly indicate  as,I have already wrote in another Thread- that a number of Western,NY Counties had absolutely  Huge Fall Turkey Kills. And western,NY has always been a " 1 Fall Bird" area.

  You can't  have DOUBLE the Fall Turkey Kills over the Spring Kills and expect the Turkey Population  to increase. 

  Famed Turkey Hunter + Author- Dwain Blain in looking at Spring + Fall Turkey Kill Records in States he was researching  to hunt would-- " Add 100% to the recorded Kills " to come up with the true Kill Rate.

   I have written  before that there are now-- Too many of us.  Once you break the ice- we all become Turkey Killing Hunters who regularly  bag Birds.

 It is more then just Habitat and Predators...

  People  here want to Truly help the Wild Turkey?

 Do what,I have done for going on 11 years now. Feed the Wild Turkeys- especially  in Winter.

 There is no Hunting past my Dead end Street. When the Turkeys show up- that is when,I go outside with the Birdseed. I had 29 Wild Turkeys last Winter.

It is also obvious  that Huge Rural areas have " dry pockets" of low Turkey numbers while places like overcrowded  Bergen County,NJ have Turkeys in plenty of backyards  and no Public Land to hunt that,I am aware of.

[turkeyfeathers]

13 hours ago, cas said:

4-5 years ago I'd never seen a fisher/picture of one. Now I have hundreds of pictures of them. Even saw one late morning turkey hunting this spring. Have to wonder if it was coming to my calls. 

had a fisher definetely coming in to kill a hen , me this spring. he was on a mission and had i not yelled hey,hey would have climbed right up me to climb tree i was against to get a better vantage point. he wasn't much farther than the end of my 12 before i yelled at him

[LET EM GROW]

With good nesting habitat one wouldn't have to hunt the predators so hard. But with no real good nesting habitat one must control nest predators to their best ability. Fawns and Turkey poults require a little different habitat for successful growth. And most dont consider Turkey populations when going in and doing "work" on their land for healthier and better deer herds.. 

If anyone is on FB, follow Mike Chamberlain.. He has a ton of good info on there and every Tuesday he posts new info on his findings.. Turkey Tuesday..  

We hunt predators to our best abilities while battling life at the same time.. and the Poults are certainly there, They have their preferred habitat and they will stick to it until they are strong enough to escape all dangers. Where you see poults at a very young stage in life, its best to just leave the area alone for a month or so. Give them all the help they can get to succeed in life... First pics here on this part of the Lease, when there was literally zero life here this spring.. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by LET EM GROW

[dbHunterNY]

trapping is a hobby that's been headed out to pasture and certainly no way to make a portion of a living anymore. coons, fisher, fox, coyote, etc. vast majority of furbearers will prey on turkeys. also qdm seems to be practiced more on a wide scale (by myself included). The best deer habitat isn't the best turkey habitat. thick cover a deer can just see over is a gauntlet for turkeys to go through without getting lurking predators around that they can no longer see coming.

[blackbeltbill]

I read,I believe  on oldgobbler that a certain Hen has 1 Particular  Gobbler that She has chosen.

  I am hoping there is not any truth to that because if her Gobbler is Bagged too early- perhaps She does not Nest.

 I know from my 1992 Book- Wild Turkeys-- Biology + Management tha That Turkeys " can recognize individual  Turkey Voices/ page 69. 

[cas]

On 9/12/2022 at 11:29 AM, blackbeltbill said:

 

  I am hoping there is not any truth to that because if her Gobbler is Bagged too early- perhaps She does not Nest.

 

I heard that from a biologist some time back on a pod cast. That the "pecking order" re-establishes itself, but it takes time. Depending on when it happens, it can take long enough that the season ends first. (breeding or hunting )  The next male in line doesn't just jump in and take over.

[blackbeltbill]

28 minutes ago, cas said:

I heard that from a biologist some time back on a pod cast. That the "pecking order" re-establishes itself, but it takes time. Depending on when it happens, it can take long enough that the season ends first. (breeding or hunting )  The next male in line doesn't just jump in and take over.

That makes sense.

 In the Book- The Wild Turkey/ Biology + Management on page 63 is a Sentence that has stayed with for Decades.

  A TURKEYS  ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE  INDIVIDUAL TURKEY VOICES " IMPLIES" THAT IT COULD LEARN TO RECOGNIZE  INDIVIDUAL  HUMAN CALLERS.

  If a Hen no longer hears her Gobbler - perhaps her nesting is put off until she chooses another Tom.