Wild Turkeys anyone?

[teejk]

My problem with wild turkeys is that they never come around in the summer when the grasshoppers are really bad. We feed sunflower seeds to the birds and that really helps reduce the grasshoppers in our yard, but the garden is not so lucky. Maybe I need to put a bird feeder down there to attract birds. Grasshoppers are smart enough to stay away from high bird populations. I could get some guineas, but then the bobcats, and owls all sit in the woods waiting for the sun to go down so they can raid the guinea roost buffet.

After the hatching process, I don't think you will see many birds in the open (they hug the ditch lines near trees here...the little ones aren't that smart so Mom needs to get them into cover in a hurry). Come winter time they will be visible everywhere (I guess they have the APP that tells them all about legal hunting seasons). Given all that, if you have a bumper crop of grasshoppers like we did, you can be sure that your garden hosts no more than the remote fields where they don't have to worry about "bang" or dogs or other things.

We had a late hatch this year due to weather but I think it must have been a good one because they are everywhere (12" high and up as of now).

 

[jinman]

When we see turkeys, they are almost always in groups of 20 or more and may have chicks. They tend to wander around and drop by the deer feeder several times per day when they come to that part of the circuit. It's fun to watch the flock (rafter) move around. When they get close to the feeder a single hen will suddenly race toward the corn feeder and start eating. This triggers a stampede toward the feeder, but they all soon lose interest, even in the presence of corn, and move on. They'll repeat this routine 5 or 6 times a day as the browse the ground and grasses. The dynamics of the group is fun to watch.

 

[KennyG]

We've seen a steady increase in turkeys and they seem to be getting more used to people. We have a flock of a dozen or more and in the last year they have been walking right up to the house when they feel like it. They are not to be taken lightly. At my last house my neighbor had a large bird feeder and, when it was snowing, deer would come to feed on the spilled seed. Sometimes a turkey would come and chase the deer away to get the seed. They didn't think twice about charging a full grown deer.

 

[300UGUY]

We have quite a few here, but they are a bit shy. If they see a person, they start moving. If they see a dog, they will run or fly up in the trees. I have had to run them out of my chicken enclosure, they were making a terrible racket, and all my birds were piled up in a corner of the coop.

 

[jinman]

My neighbor had a sliding screen door on his patio door wiped out because the turkeys would see their reflection in the window through the screen and try to peck at it. They shredded his screen.

 

[dave1949]

I know this was posted before in a thread, but just a reminder...it's a dangerous world out there. :laughing:


Wild turkeys terrorize Massachusetts town residents - CBS News

 

[RobertBrown]

Lots of wild turkeys here but they don't act like yours. You get close and they are gone. They instinctively fear humans.

 

[chickenman]

The ones here avoid human contact, what snobs.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I know this was posted before in a thread, but just a reminder...it's a dangerous world out there. :laughing:


Wild turkeys terrorize Massachusetts town residents - CBS News

Sounds like a good excuse to have another traditional Thanksgiving...pop some corn, open a keg of Wild Turkey, cook up a couple hundred of these badazz buggers...

 

[sseelhoff]

Now I'm intrigued about wild turkeys. I already know how to smoke a turkey. The trick is catching and cleaning. Do I need a hunting permit to shoot one on my own property? How hard are they to clean?