Hard to soar with eagles...

[jinman]

...when you're surrounded by turkeys. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I had four toms and seven hens in my yard yesterday morning. I couldn't get them all into the picture because they were too spread out around my deer feeder.

Here in Texas, so many turkeys out and about is a sure sign of Spring. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Youare]

Wow! bare ground /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Back in January we had 18 turkeys 3 feet from the house looking for eats in the horse pasture. It has been a difficult winter for the birds because of the hard packed snow cover.

Yesterday we woke up to 7 inches of new snow just after the ground started to appear again. Tonight we could get a few more inches. Can't wait to see turkeys like that again. We have had several large flocks of Canada geese circle the area last week, that is always a sign of advancing spring.

Randy

 

[thcri]

The turkeys, deer, pheasants and geese are always around our house. So for me that is not a sign of spring even though I love the animals. Sign of spring for me is when the barges break through the ice on Lake Pepin. They are working their way up and I think after they take the ice measurements friday they will head up the rest of the way. Pool 4 is Lake Pepin.

Vessels Current Location in Pools for Mississippi River : Pool ALL
Run at 10:25:01 on 03/18/2004

*REPORTING PERIOD : 03/05/2004 - 03/18/2004

Date & Time determined by S(tatus) column: A=Arrival,L=StartLockage,D=EndLockage

VesselName Vessel# Date Time Status Total Barges
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pool 1 Up Bound
LITTLE RED TUG 0000003 03-16-04 11:30cst D 1

Pool 5 Up Bound
REGGIE G. 0568371 03-18-04 09:42cst D 12

Pool 6 Up Bound
MARY L 0565425 03-18-04 08:50cst D 15

Pool 10 Up Bound
GOLD CUP 0548418 03-16-04 20:40cst D 4

Pool 11 Up Bound
SANDY N 0624968 03-18-04 04:20cst D 9

Pool 12 Up Bound
BERNARD G 0557869 03-17-04 22:08cst D 15
LOIS ANN 0556629 03-18-04 08:14cst D 11
WYACONDA 8888715 03-18-04 08:43cst D 1
JACOB MICHAEL ECKSTEIN 0668998 03-18-04 09:11cst D 7

Pool 12 Down Bound
ROSE M 0603786 03-10-04 11:55cst D 5
STEPHEN L COLBY 0506770 03-18-04 08:45cst D 0

Pool 13 Up Bound
CHARLIE BOY 0565777 03-15-04 08:50cst D 0
BILL BERRY 0644959 03-17-04 08:14cst D 15
JOSEPH PATRICK ECKSTEIN 0600552 03-18-04 06:22cst D 8
RAYMOND GRANT ECKSTEIN 0633152 03-18-04 10:07cst L 8

 

[DAP]

Jim, I had 4 wild Toms and 39, count em' THIRTY NINE hens on my front acre Tuesday. To bad they got no white meat.

My real post reason was this .. the paper today reported that in Wisconsin somewhere, some fellas in the woods verified that a black bear scaled a tree 45 feet to finish his winter snooze in a bald eagle nest. These guys were on an egg count for the DEP.

 

[frank_f15]

nice shot, am assuming u took that from inside, around here if u tried to step out them birds was gone. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JDgreen227]

They would have been gone, yes. Our property is bordered by farm fields on two sides and we see flocks of 35-40 quite often. I have tried to get close enough to get a decent picture of a flock and the nearest I ever got was about 300 feet. Although I don't hunt I have to admire anyone skillful enough to bag a wild turkey, either by bow or gun.

 

[jinman]

It sounds like everyone has a good "turkey story" and mine is that these birds totally surprised me. I've never seen so many toms at once. I was getting ready to walk out of my house to go to work when I looked out and they were enjoying breakfast at my deer feeder. My camera was in my pickup, so I had to walk downstairs to get it and then walk out on my deck (very quietly) to take the pictures. I've attached another photo with my deck rail visible so you can see how close they were to my house. It seems the turkeys here don't feel threatened (they aren't hunted much) and if you don't rush them, they just keep about 75 ft away from you. It's pretty cool to run into a bunch of them in the woods and have them just stand and look at you while you look at them. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Now here's another strange thing. I work right off the runway at DFW airport. On the southwest side of the airport there are several acres of woods. Our facility is a large building in the edge of the woods and every day this week, wild turkey hens have been scratching around in our lawn and under our liveoak trees. I haven't seen any turkeys actually inside the airport fence, but it is conceivable they could fly over there and become a real hazard to the airplanes landing and taking off. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[sassafraspete]

Enjoyed the turkey picture. I had to stop on my way home from work last night, and let 7 cross the road in front of me. They took their time, and I just sat and enjoyed the show. This was on a rural road of course. I can remember when we had no turkey in our area of Indiana. The DNR trapped Grouse and traded to Missouri I believe for turkey to re-establish here. Now the turkey are everywhere, but very few grouse to be found. I got the shock of my life a couple yrs ago while deer hunting in a downed tree top. My grunt call startled an entire flock of turkey.... that unknown to me were just a few yards over a hill away from me. All heck broke loose, and I was ducking for cover as their wings flapped just over my head. I guess it was better to be surprised by the turkey , than a big buck looking for a fight.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Jinman I feel cheated. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif All the time I've been in East Texas I have only ever seen a wild turkey once. I wonder why?. There's plenty of other game around but no turkey or is it just that since I'm not a sport hunter I don't look for them. Come to think of it, I don't hear of anyone else seeing them either and I certainly don't know of anyone who actually hunts them. That surely would be a rare sight to wake up to in the morning. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[frank_f15]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have tried to get close enough to get a decent picture of a flock and the nearest I ever got was about 300 feet )</font>

roger that! when i used to bowhunt deer, one of the greastest thing was when turkeys would walk buy, swear to god they were more nervous and had better eyesight than the deer. they are a magnificent bird .

 

[MDNY]

One of the best things about country living for my wife and I is the constant visitors we get. We chose the country and many of our friends think were crazy at times and that the animals are a problem. For us their just part of our extended family.

Here is a picture of some of the turkeys who visit us. Its funny how animals know where they are safe and where they aren't.

What is missing though is the tom who had another by a feather on its neck. The other tom must have ticked him off something fiece since he was running around our driveway with the Big Tom holding onto a feather in his neck.

 

[MDNY]

Last summer, which was the first summer in our house and of course a week after out lawn was seeded we had a horrible week of rain. So this summer is about fixing my horrible lawn.

But we had a two does visit and one had three fawns, the other had one. The days are warm and the shade is nice. So my wife comments theres a dog in the yard sleeping.

Well there were two but its hard to get the shot without scaring them off.

I guess this is what I like about country living.

 

[jinman]

Michael, those pictures are really nice. I especially like the little fawn in the grass. On the subject of turkeys, last Thursday morning I got another surprise. I had 12 hens and 8 toms at my deer feeder. All of a sudden, two of the toms started running toward the rear of my shed and when I looked on the other side, I saw four more toms running for their lives. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I couldn't figure out whether the toms were trying to protect their food or keep the interlopers away from their hens. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

...I was only 10 or 15 minutes late to work that morning. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I just couldn't force myself to quit watching and go to work. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif