For the Turkey Experts

[moog5050]

I was pleased to see a group of turkey in the field adjoining my property this last weekend.  Are they likely to be around come season or are they still in winter areas and likely moving.  We do see occasional birds here just not a lot in spring usually.

[Pygmy]

Sorry Moog, since Bill left us there are no turkey experts on this forum...<<sigh>>...

Edited March 26, 2018 by Pygmy

[moog5050]

3 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Sorry Moog, since Bill left us there are no turkey experts on this forum...<<smile>>...

Darn it Pygmy, don't leave me hanging.  Will those darn birds stick around or not?  I know you know!

[The_Real_TCIII]

I’d venture to say they will be there. Unless they can be seen from a road. If thats the case they are already dead.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Pygmy]

Okay, I can just tell you what the BIG boys have told me...

The birds are still in their winter flocks, relating to food sources and suitable roosting areas.. Spring dispersal will occur this month, but it might be late in the month and often it happens quickly, in a matter of a few days.. At that time, hens will leave the winter flocks and  relate to good nesting cover...Of course they still have eat, so prime nesting cover adjacent to available food  is ideal..

Good nesting areas are high grass and brush cover, recently cut over woodlots, and similar stuff...

Gobblers will go where the hens are, so if you have the combo of nesting cover, suitable roost trees and feed on your place their should be some gobblers around..

Other than that, I don't know much about it...

[moog5050]

2 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

I’d venture to say they will be there. Unless they can be seen from a road. If thats the case they are already dead.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks Tacks.  No road view.

[Pygmy]

2 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Thanks Tacks.  No road view.

That is definitely a plus..

[moog5050]

2 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Okay, I can just tell you what the BIG boys have told me...

The birds are still in their winter flocks, relating to food sources and suitable roosting areas.. Spring dispersal will occur this month, but it might be late in the month and often it happens quickly, in a matter of a few days.. At that time, hens will leave the winter flocks and  relate to good nesting cover...Of course they still have eat, so prime nesting cover adjacent to available food  is ideal..

Good nesting areas are high grass and brush cover, recently cut over woodlots, and similar stuff...

Gobblers will go where the hens are, so if you have the combo of nesting cover, suitable roost trees and feed on your place their should be some gobblers around..

Other than that, I don't know much about it...

I am guessing we lack the required nesting cover, unless swamps count.  We do have some brush in the swamps and cattails but it could be why spring birds are few and far between.  We tend to see more birds in the fall.

[Pygmy]

Although in Florida Osceola turkeys LIVE in swamps and often roost over water, I have never seen birds relate very much to the kind of swamps we have here in western NY  , ith cattails, etc.  The average  mixed hardwood / conifer forests  provide pretty good nesting areas, especially if there is a lot of understory...Edges of the woodlots are best..The hens instinctively will nest close to field edges, because as soon as the poults hatch they will need an abundant supply of high protein food, and fields have lots of insects which provide the  protein they need..

[dbHunterNY]

if i was an expert i'd say Dan nailed it. i'm not though so i'll just say it sounds good.

we have a lot of hay ground on our place and neighbors. often there's a swamp dropped in between them. birds always seem to come from them but passing through and not so much roosting vs higher ground. experts have always liked our tilled up fields or even the most half-ass attempt at a newly planted food plot full of bugs and seed too. best spots are very buggy. bring your thermacell or bug repellent.

[WNYBuckHunter]

22 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Although in Florida Osceola turkeys LIVE in swamps and often roost over water, I have never seen birds relate very much to the kind of swamps we have here in western NY  , ith cattails, etc.  The average  mixed hardwood / conifer forests  provide pretty good nesting areas, especially if there is a lot of understory...Edges of the woodlots are best..The hens instinctively will nest close to field edges, because as soon as the poults hatch they will need an abundant supply of high protein food, and fields have lots of insects which provide the  protein they need..

The property I hunt has a large section of swamp, and thats where the turkeys hang out for the most part. They cruise through the hardwoods on their way to and from food, etc but their roosting happens in or on the edge of the swamp. I have not yet found a nesting site, but you have a combo of field edge, mixed hardwoods and swamp all within a 200 yard span or less.

[WNYBuckHunter]

58 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

I was pleased to see a group of turkey in the field adjoining my property this last weekend.  Are they likely to be around come season or are they still in winter areas and likely moving.  We do see occasional birds here just not a lot in spring usually.

Im no expert, but last year the turkeys I was scouting at this time, were the ones Haley and I got on during youth season. She killed her Tom the first morning. The birds were back in the field a day later, and straight into regular turkey season. If it wasnt for my blind being stolen, I suspect we would have had another on the ground opening weekend of regular spring turkey season in that spot.

[Steuben Jerry]

33 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

If it wasnt for my blind being stolen

That sucks - hate thieves! I had walked up to mine in the dark twice over the last 10-ish years and found no blind where it was supposed to be. Both times I found it later within 100 yards. Bears. No doubt as the second time he pooped on the wrecked remains.

[Robhuntandfish]

what is a turkeys range?  guess that never occurred to me.  I know a Tom will travel quite a ways but how far? 

[grampy]

28 minutes ago, Steuben Jerry said:

That sucks - hate thieves! I had walked up to mine in the dark twice over the last 10-ish years and found no blind where it was supposed to be. Both times I found it later within 100 yards. Bears. No doubt as the second time he pooped on the wrecked remains.

Really glad that didn't happen while the blind was occupied!!! 

[Pygmy]

3 hours ago, grampy said:

Really glad that didn't happen while the blind was occupied!!! 

I had a bear trash one of my blinds two years ago...He did not remove it, but he made an entrance on one side and basically ruined the blind...Evidently he wanted to get inside and did not know how to use the zipper, so he just made a door of his own..

There was nothing in the blind except an empty plastic water bottle, which he chewed up...Silly bastard...I hope I see him during  bear season.. I'll SHOOT his stupid black ass !!

[Pygmy]

4 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

what is a turkeys range?  guess that never occurred to me.  I know a Tom will travel quite a ways but how far? 

Depends....Up on the lake plains north of Lake Ontario where I hunt every spring the birds sometimes migrate as far as ten miles between  wintering areas and   breeding/nesting areas...

Here along the Pensyltucky border  in the foothills of the Appalachians,  I suspect that many gobblers spend most of their lives within a 2 or 3 square mile area..

However, I am not an expert...If Bill would only come back.....<<sigh>>...

[reeltime]

moog,  danno did a good job covering this and I am no expert on turkeys but will share from experience over the years of turkey hunting and scouting all over the east coast and midwest some info. 

wild turkeys and their habits vary greatly from area to area.   Its funny how we as a hunter will find area's where what we feel would be great turkey habitat with a good food supply and nesting area  but holds no sign of turkeys being there.  some birds will move as Dan said up to 10 miles to winter up together while others will stay home in smaller flocks.  roosting areas will change and it certainly seems as if it varies by individual birds.  some birds have a travel route and roost in whatever trees are available when it gets to be sunset while others are pretty much homebodies and they roost in the same tree on the same limb every night.

Some birds will only fly up 10-12 feet while others will roost 30-40 feet up in trees, some will roost and stay in swampy areas and others will avoid those areas at all costs it seems.  some times it seems as if the turkeys will roost over or very close to the water for security purposes, almost as if they know that if something tries to get to them they will hear the water splashing or the waterfowl will alert them to approaching danger.

some areas just have everything a turkey wants and they will stay there 12 months a year, other areas will hold turkeys all winter but come spring even though the area looks good to us the turkeys will leave.  things have changed over the last 40 years in regards to turkey hunting. The modern day turkeys seem to be more reluctant to tree talk and they seem to shy away from more brushy dense areas, likely because of the abundance of predators.  Its almost as if they know the ones that talk the most are the first to get eaten and predators include us humans, and lord knows there is no shortage of turkey hunters anymore.

I have noticed that turkeys do not like a lot of woods litter, what I mean by that is crappy logging practices. i have seen many good turkey hunting areas ruined where the area was logged and there were lots of logs, tops, mud piles from skidders left behind and the turkeys just do not or will not travel in those areas. its almost as if they know with all that litter in the woods its just that many more areas for the boogie man to get them. lol  but in 5-10 years when that stuff rots down the birds seem to move back into the area.

most of the turkey nests I have found have been in ungroomed fields, what I mean is fields of golden rod/grass mix but not what we would call a brushy field with lots of small trees. I guess they feel its easy to see predators coming and with little to no brush to impede their vision.  Turkeys rely on their vision to survive and is likely one of the reasons they seem to prefer a more open habitat.  but then again I have killed birds where you couldn't see 30 yards because of brush.

I guess basically turkeys do what turkeys do and turkeys go where turkeys go, I have seen turkeys roost in some crazy area, I have seen turkeys do things that have left me scratching my head. lol.

 

Robhuntandfish  if you are still reading this,  thankfully our eastern birds while they may range out a mile or 2  they are far more a homebody compared to their western brethren the Merriams,  those buggers put their running sneakers on before they fly down in the morning cause when they hit the ground they can motor across the prairie.   I was on birds while scouting a few years ago that by noon were 4-5 miles from where they flew down from. But there is no where in NY that looks anything like the prairies of nebraska, south dakota ,southern wyoming where there is thousands if not hundreds of thousands of acres of fields.

now time to head to the woods.

[G-Man]

Well you maybe in luck this spring.. we are having one anytime soon

.snow by the weekend again..the birds may be confused and stay there thinking it's winter....

Seriously though it depends more on time od day you saw them. The closer to sunrise or sunset the better your chances off them.staying in area for early season. Mid day they me roosting a mile or more away and are just looking for food 

[moog5050]

1 hour ago, G-Man said:

Well you maybe in luck this spring.. we are having one anytime soon

.snow by the weekend again..the birds may be confused and stay there thinking it's winter....

Seriously though it depends more on time od day you saw them. The closer to sunrise or sunset the better your chances off them.staying in area for early season. Mid day they me roosting a mile or more away and are just looking for food 

Saw them walking in in the morning around 8:30 so not bad I guess, but wasn't first light either.

[fasteddie]

21 hours ago, moog5050 said:

I was pleased to see a group of turkey in the field adjoining my property this last weekend.  Are they likely to be around come season or are they still in winter areas and likely moving.  We do see occasional birds here just not a lot in spring usually.

By any chance .... Was the group of Turkeys Pygmy and his buddies ? 

[grampy]

Some very good replies here, considering our resident 'expert' went to roost.

Though I am far from an 'expert', I do have an observation or two I'll share.

In the hill country where I hunt, during winter, and this time of year, turkey's will keep to lower elevations, for the most part. As the weather warms and snow melts, a lot of them will move to higher woodlots and pastures to roost, feed and nest.

During nesting season, most hens will stay within one square mile. The boss gobblers will pretty much stay with the hens, within their area. It is most challenging for a hunter to pull these boss gobblers away from the hens. The lesser toms are the ones that will travel farther, between hen groups, looking for their own 'harem' or easier breeding opportunities. These toms, are the ones most likely to come to a hunters calls.

 

 

 

[G-Man]

30 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Saw them walking in in the morning around 8:30 so not bad I guess, but wasn't first light either.

Woods change perhaps thier roost area was cut down and your became prefered. Still your best chance will be early season. At my place they roost in a ravine early season and as it goes by they leave the ravine and move about 200 or 300 down the ridge a week .as things green  up . Eventually ending up about a half to 3/4 of a mile from where they were roosting beginning of the season.its a pretty predictable pattern hand has held true since the late 90s

[G-Man]

You can draw turkey to roost in your area by doing several things. The easiest it to trim up a few trees on an edge.. this allows the birds to fly up with out flying thru a bunch of limbs that face a field or open area. 

They prefer horizontal limbs 1.5 in in diameter with a brush free area to fly down in. Trimming out limbs above these limbs may promote them to pick your limb. As well as removing enough for a fly down area.. 

Birds will often go to the higest point when strutting in a "flat woods"a 2 ft rise is huge for them .especially if in a brush free area to bee seen..

Bust open that ant hill on the edge of the woods or in that open area.. birds like to dust and roost close to dusting areas ( they like to eat ants as well). 

Think twice before plowing under that fallow field to make it a food plot. It may be prime nesting and fawning area. Especially with so many fallow fields put back into production as corn prices rise ..

[moog5050]

48 minutes ago, fasteddie said:

By any chance .... Was the group of Turkeys Pygmy and his buddies ? 

Could be.  I did spot some empty genny cream ale cans nearby and one bird was sighting in a fixed 4x scope.