Just like the title says. Last year during archery season I came across some turkey sign in a few different places that were fresh. Some of my hunting friends saw turkey in the area.
Am I likely to find turkey near these locations in the spring?
Not always. Turkeys have different needs different times of the year and will be where those needs are met.
Thanks. How far away typically will they travel?
We have a lot more birds on the farm over winter than the rest of the year, they are here for the hot lunch program...
They have already started breaking up for the year... guess the feed lot keeps them around until snow melt.
MK M GOBL
Quote from: Daveb on March 16, 2018, 03:35:28 PM
Thanks. How far away typically will they travel?
Depends on what sub-species your talking about. Eastern birds I hunt on public,up to 1 mile.
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Quote from: fallhnt on March 16, 2018, 07:47:07 PM
Quote from: Daveb on March 16, 2018, 03:35:28 PM
Thanks. How far away typically will they travel?
Depends on what sub-species your talking about. Eastern birds I hunt on public,up to 1 mile.
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Thanks your reply. Here in CO 1 Mile is still nearby, lol.
I'm hunting Merriam this spring.
Merriam will cover ground.
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Quote from: Daveb on March 16, 2018, 03:35:28 PM
Thanks. How far away typically will they travel?
I read a report from the game commission in PA, they put tracking collars on wild turkeys, and found turkeys will travel as far as 17 miles, mostly in search of food. :o :o :o That was quite an eye opener for me.
My experience has been that turkeys are usually in the same places each spring, and in the same places each fall, but not always in the same place in the spring where you saw them in the fall. Hope this helps.
I hunt Easterns in southern Missouri. I can think of a few places that will have birds both in the spring and fall. I can think of several places that will hold fall flicks but have little activity during the spring. As for how far they move during the course of a season, there will be many factors that determine the distance. Food and nesting habitat are what I consider the primary needs for turkeys. Also consider that as late spring and summer, poults will require some cover that allows them to feed and be concealed to an extent.
Bottom line is scout the area you intend to hunt for the season you intend to hunt. It seems simple but I've talked to more than a few hunters who were eager to spring hunt their traditional deer hunting spots because they seen a number of flocks of birds. They were surprised that they couldn't find a bird or hear a gobble. These were all fairly inexperienced turkey hunters.
I think it varies from place to place. The easterns that I hunt in Illinois leave the area usually during late summer and don't usually return until mid to late March the next year. They just have some other place they would rather be in the fall and winter.
Quote from: Daveb on March 16, 2018, 03:32:29 PM
Just like the title says. Last year during archery season I came across some turkey sign in a few different places that were fresh. Some of my hunting friends saw turkey in the area.
Am I likely to find turkey near these locations in the spring?
Yes and no. I'd go back to the spot and scout them at first light and again at Fly-up. They're probably in the general area--say a square mile or so. However, they may move different places to exploit food and cover. Some of my flocks have been using the same roost trees on and off for generations, and they do so in all 4 seasons of the year. However, they may disappear for months at a time.
We hold some birds during the fall mainly one large flock of hens(30-40) and only usually have one group of gobblers with about 5-6 birds in it. Come spring we keep most of our hens and generally get a few more gobblers. Usually have 10-15 gobblers on the place.
I think it all depends on what you are providing the turkeys. We primarily manage for turkeys and try and make sure we are offering good nesting habitat and food year round.
Being that we are in Mississippi our winters aren't usually very harsh so I don't think the birds move as much if you are offering enough of what they need.
Food source will dictate more, or less, where the turkeys winter each year. They will go to the food, so they may not be in same spot each year. Scout and know your food sources.
On our lease, we rarely see birds in the fall/winter while deer hunting, but they always seem to come back in the spring. I wonder if it has to do with the heavy snowfall that we get since it is in one of the major lake effect snow belts. I honestly don't know where they go though because they would have to travel pretty far to get into an area that doesn't get hammered with snow. We have corn fields on that farm every year which I would think would hold them, but maybe they find another area to feed where the snow isn't 6 foot deep.
I hunt 500 acre property that is loaded with birds in the winter and fall... A few stick around, but these birds spread out, with seemingly a small percentage staying on the property.
During the spring, the larger flocks break out into smaller groups and look for breeding areas over a more spread out area... So areas that have high concentrations of birds will (in my experience) thin out, and some areas with few to no birds in fall and winter will now have breeding birds...
Prime breeding areas will likely hold dominate toms and hens....
It all depends on where you are. I have a friends ranch in South Dakota that I coyote hunt in the winter. Two years ago there was two groups of longboards less that 1/4 mile apart that had 48 in one bunch and over 60 in the other bunch. There was not a hen on the place. I drew a tag to hunt that area and there was ONE longboard and a half dozen hens there in May. The rest had dispersed out onto the prairie. Most of them relocated 8 to 10 miles from where they spent the winter. FOOD FOOD FOOD.
I have seen here in NC it depends on food sources and acreage with favored habitat. Seems like they like ridges and hardwood slopes in fall and winter. Then open areas and plots adjacent to bottoms in the spring. I feel like the creek and river bottoms are major travel areas for Toms in the spring. Just like bucks in the rut. Scout, scout scout!