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Let's get some positive news floating around here. Has anyone seen or heard of others seeing poults? I'm hoping for a great hatch across the nation. If you see some share the good news here!

I haven't yet, but you gotta be in the right place at the right time this time of year. The hens keep em pretty well hidden until they get bigger in the mid to late summer. I'm keeping a close eye out any time I'm in the woods.


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I saw some in Mississippi. And we sure need em! Only seen a couple but was in tall grass and they were small, most likely more there. Just didn't want to disturb them any more than I already had.

Have saw 2 broods in north MS. Both were composed of one hen and 7-8 poults that were 2-3 weeks old . Could already fly. Lot better start than the past few springs! My area was also 2" below average on May precipitation.

Our DNR, here in NC, has their yearly Summer Turkey Sighting survey that will kick off the 1st of July and run to the 31st of August.  I have taken part in it for many years now.  We should be getting our report card in the next couple of weeks to do our tallies on.  Personally I haven't seen any poults but I can tell you our weather has been very dry through the month of May so rain and cold weather won't play a roll in killing off the little ones.  I Pray our hens had a GREAT spring with egg laying and that predators didn't get too many.  I'll definitely check back in the next couple of months with what I observe.

Happy to hear of the folks seeing some. I haven't seen any myself yet but in talking to others I believe our hatch is starting off better than last year. We will know more in a month or so when they start being more visible.

Zero here in sw ms yet ,, and plenty wet weather !  Hope I'm wrong , but it's sure looking like a slim year

I saw a group the other day but only a passing glance at 5 or so entering the woods. Our turkey numbers are LOW where I am at right now so I hope they have a great summer and winter

Central MS, guy that lives by the club i am in has been seeing a good many, sent me video of poults running everywhere!

Saw 4 hens with about 15 little bittys near a populated area. Good to see.

Had my first hen w/poults sighting while hunting in Michigan this past week. Didn't get a good look but through the brush but there were several poults, possibly more.

 I have not. But a friend said he did, 1 hen, 13 little butties. Was telling a friend and he said me at work had seen some last week of WV season .
This was from Southwestern tip of MD, and the armpit of the Eastern panhandle of Wv

5/19, found a lot of scratching, started soft talking and scratching my way thru woods, sign continued to get fresher. Look to my left a Hen is 15' from me, have to get to phone, she doesn't  like me moving, starts to walk away then turns and starts walking back to me, start videoing, then the ground starts moving between us, 8 newly hatched poults. Cant get the video to post here, too big of a file, click on link below, I hope it works, taken me 2 days of trying to get it posted. It was awsome to see interaction between momma Hen and her poults, think when she first saw me move she putted, they all froze, had to been only 7 to 10' from me and I never saw them till she calls for them to follow her.




https://photos.app.goo.gl/3qCGzLCktPB57UPK7

Very cool video!

I have a bird feeder at my taxidermy shop. I put cracked corn under it. This weekend I got trail cam pics of 3 hens with 8 poults at my feeder. This got me excited as last year I only had 1 poult here all summer. I'm not sure how much I'll see them as I'm sure they'll be in the woods eating cicadas.

That was a cool video. I can't post pictures on here either!

It's still raining down here  by the gulf. It's been very wet down here this spring. I  don't see them untill   late summer

Seen 1st hen with poults this week in East TN, hope they can avoid the predators.

Saw 6 hens on the move this past week in northern PA, none had poults with them.

Cool video Jeff! She had a bucket full of them too!

The wife seen a hen with a handfull of little ones last week,, here in west central Wisconsin

I've seen 3 different groups here in central AL over the past two weeks. Last weekend we saw a hen with 4 poults all could fly and were the size of small chickens. We saw another this weekend in one of our very large food plots with 10 poults that all flew and were a little bigger than quail. The other hen had 8 poults and they were very tiny, the size of small chicks. This wide range in size of poults is pretty common were I hunt. Hopefully most of the little guys make it.

Some promising sightings!  Maybe the hatch we need?

I'm seeing a good many in Southeast Mississippi.

Great News! Y'all keep the reports coming.

Saw a hen with 9 poults today. These are the first ones I have seen for myself this year. They were pretty small. I'm guessing about a week old.

Haven't saw any yet, still looking...

Saw a hen with 8 poults this morning that couldn't have been more than a couple days old. Hopefully they all make it. This was in the eastern panhandle on wv

Quote from: JeffC on June 06, 2021, 08:16:41 PM
5/19, found a lot of scratching, started soft talking and scratching my way thru woods, sign continued to get fresher. Look to my left a Hen is 15' from me, have to get to phone, she doesn't  like me moving, starts to walk away then turns and starts walking back to me, start videoing, then the ground starts moving between us, 8 newly hatched poults. Cant get the video to post here, too big of a file, click on link below, I hope it works, taken me 2 days of trying to get it posted. It was awsome to see interaction between momma Hen and her poults, think when she first saw me move she putted, they all froze, had to been only 7 to 10' from me and I never saw them till she calls for them to follow her.




https://photos.app.goo.gl/3qCGzLCktPB57UPK7

Neat video !

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Quote from: JeffC on June 06, 2021, 08:16:41 PM
5/19, found a lot of scratching, started soft talking and scratching my way thru woods, sign continued to get fresher. Look to my left a Hen is 15' from me, have to get to phone, she doesn't  like me moving, starts to walk away then turns and starts walking back to me, start videoing, then the ground starts moving between us, 8 newly hatched poults. Cant get the video to post here, too big of a file, click on link below, I hope it works, taken me 2 days of trying to get it posted. It was awsome to see interaction between momma Hen and her poults, think when she first saw me move she putted, they all froze, had to been only 7 to 10' from me and I never saw them till she calls for them to follow her.




https://photos.app.goo.gl/3qCGzLCktPB57UPK7

Thanks for the video!

I saw 4 hens with 11 poults last evening in south east PA. This I was very encouraging as last year was very poor.

I saw 7 or 8 poults yesterday,they were all bigger than a grown quail!!

We were out spraying our food plots, spreading lime and mowing clover the last 2 weeks, here in Eastern NC and we have seen the hens with poults. Looking good so far!  Summer Turkey surveys will begin in a couple of weeks.

Great video JeffC !!  Thanks for persevering on your download and sharing this.

Beautiful hen and poults. 

Gives me hope for a good hatching season across the SE.

Starting to see more! 2 hens with 16 poults hanging together at home. I'm seeing a few on trail cameras on other farms. Friends are seeing more and there seems to be good reports from folks I talk to. Keep the good news coming in!

I saw 5 hens that had 10-12 with them!

Seen one hen today with 1 poult that was almost chicken size. About on par for Missouri poult to hen ratio now a days. Pretty sad!

This is one of my favorite times of the year. It's so cool to hunt them in the spring and know the hens are nesting, then you get that 2-3 week break after the season and you start seeing little poults. It's cool to see the plan play out...

I unfortunately have not seen any yet and more then likely won't. But at my previous address I used to see them a lot because my backyard bordered a huge forest, no hunting, all public hiking trails but, the birds where still there.


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For what it's worth my father in law saw a hen with what looked like 6 poults, maybe a week ago. This is central MN (twin cities)


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We went from the weather being pretty good for a month or more to now having me really worried. We got 4-6" of rain in 3-4 hours yesterday evening. It was bad. This morning, the hens that had 16 yesterday have 14 today. A couple of them don't appear to be doing very well. I'm hoping the sunshine comes out and it warms them up. It can go from great to bad pretty quickly. It's frustrating when you do everything in your power to have a successful hatch and then it can crumble with some bad weather. I'm hoping the hens in the area have done a nice job protecting. It was a good hatch in our area so far. After last night's rain I am worried.

Saw first poults today in wnc first hen had 4 or 5 small poults and second hen had two that were pretty good sized.

Saw my first today by the side of the road. Hen had a good handful that looked recently hatched. Middle TN Williamson county. She took em off into the woods pretty quick.


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I posted this on the PA poult thread but I'll repeat it here. I got to watch 6 hens with 23 poults out my shop window this morning. Made my day!!

I have a couple groups that look big enough to fly in central MS. Proud father
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210626/67e7b08fd6b6dd6ef79c9697df83dfc7.jpg)


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Have seen only two hens without poults in western NC since the season ended until today.  Just saw a hen with 6 poults and a big longbeard with them on a bike trail in Lenoir city limits (zero hunting of course).

Had these at my bird feeder yesterday. Made my day(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210627/bf4cfb719f015a8676b013df70fbef85.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210627/4bc951acb080209daac136ecafcb9c9e.jpg)


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That's great, Jim K.  I'm seeing a lot of hens in Middle TN with ZERO poults.  I'm afraid it was a bad spring in my neck of the woods.

Thats impressive Jim K I wish all hens did that well.

I'm thrilled. Last year I had 11 hens walking around all summer with one poult. This is much better!!

Jim K, those are great looking poults. They are growing nicely. They're getting to an age that is much less vulnerable. Happy for you and your turkey population. Keep it up!

Heck Yeah Jim K!! What state you in?

wife saw a bunch while running the dog this morning

landowner of place i hunted this year said he saw a 3 hens with lil ones earlier in the month

been very dry here this year. finally had a now typical flash flood event yesterday. couple valleys south of us got 9 inches of rain in a few hours. that'll kill some birds

Quote from: WiLL B on June 27, 2021, 10:31:34 PM
Heck Yeah Jim K!! What state you in?

im in south east PA.

13 separate hens in last couple of weeks in sw ms ,,, zero poults .  Very poor hatch , along with tons of rain to make things worse .

I've seen several hens with poults this summer and a guy I hunt with called me tonight and said he saw 4 hens with 20 poults today. Much better than in the past few years.

Quote from: shatcher on June 27, 2021, 05:33:54 PM
That's great, Jim K.  I'm seeing a lot of hens in Middle TN with ZERO poults.  I'm afraid it was a bad spring in my neck of the woods.

I always see a few hens without poults in the early to mid summer here in middle TN. I'm not sure what county you're in, but where I'm at there's a good number of birds so it's normal to see a few jennies that didn't lay eggs or hens that didn't hatch a clutch. Seems like the poults start to show up in the open more often the bigger they get. I've seen a few poults so far. Last year I didn't see hardly any poults until mid summer, but it turned out to be a great hatch last year. Cant always judge by what you see in person


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Ive seen 2 poults thus far. Most hens have no poults. I ride gravel roads on my bike everyday approximately 100 miles a week. You get to see lots of wildlife. I wish more of the wildlife was baby turkeys.

Just spraying a clover field here in central MS and jumped a hen less than 10' from my side x side.  I walked over and looked and there was a nest with one poult and about a dozen freshly hatched eggs.  I could hear the others whistling all around.  Got on the machine and got out of there.  Glad I wasn't mowing the fields!!!  She would have started setting this nest in early June. 

Quote from: Shiloh on July 03, 2021, 03:05:43 PM
Just spraying a clover field here in central MS and jumped a hen less than 10' from my side x side.  I walked over and looked and there was a nest with one poult and about a dozen freshly hatched eggs.  I could hear the others whistling all around.  Got on the machine and got out of there.  Glad I wasn't mowing the fields!!!  She would have started setting this nest in early June.

That's exciting. Very cool to hear of freshly hatched poults this late in the summer. That could mean her first nest was raided or busted up somehow and she renested successfully. A friend of mine just had a hen show up with 8 tiny poults, probably 2-3 days old. I'm glad you saw some! Report back more as you see them.

One question I have for anyone who might know. How long after a hen is bred will she lay her first egg? I haven't been able to find that. I know she lays an egg a day until her clutch is complete and then she will sit for around 28 days but I'm curious how long it takes from the time of mating until the first egg is laid.

I saw a hen with a few poults yesterday.  Overall in a quick run on just one road at my hunting lease we saw a dozen turkeys, including a group of six toms. 

More young poults this afternoon in my yard which is very uncommon.  Probably only been hatched a week or so.  Central MS

5 hens with 40ish total poults around my house this past week

Quote from: Chad Gus715 on July 05, 2021, 09:16:49 PM
5 hens with 40ish total poults around my house this past week

That's impressive! Those are great numbers you just reported. Very nice!

Quote from: Chad Gus715 on July 05, 2021, 09:16:49 PM
5 hens with 40ish total poults around my house this past week

That's great to hear!!

Northwest Oklahoma: I have seen approximately 8-10 hens the last 6 weeks or so, only one had poults. My wife did see two hens that had five poults with them the other morning. I'm sure hoping there is more success out there than what I have observed. I live in an area that used to have lots of birds. Places that I hunted 10 years ago now have zero birds.

Seen six hens today not one poult

Just this past weekend I Seen 3 hens with what I would say 2 different groups of poults.  5 where small and I would say no more then 2 weeks old but 1 of them was twice as big as the small ones.  This in central Illinois

Went to our lease today to spray clethodim on our clover plots and saw a lone hen and a lone hen with 7 poults.  Poults were about half the size of a Funky Chicken.  Great to see more than 2 or 3 poults with a single hen.  Sightings are becoming more frequent.

I like the ones that are about half as big as a chicken or basically Cornish sized.  They roast up really good on a stick over the camp fire.

I went back to our lease this morning to hill up some corn and fertilize with some 34-0-0 and saw another hen with 6 poults.  These last two sightings were in different areas of our 4000 acres.  Checked a camera I had out today as well and had a jake with about a 3 inch beard so things are looking really good for our hatch this spring.

saw 3 hens last week. zero poults. Ive seen one poult this year, and its being raised by a man who ran over the hen with a hay cutter. He incubated the eggs and candled them daily. 4 of 12 attempted to hatch, only one successfully hatched. The poult is almost 3 months old now. doing very well.

Saw 3 hens with 8 poults yesterday. Poults were about a foot tall.

Feel like I am seeing and hearing good reports from folks. Of our 16 that we started with in early June we now have 13. We had a really terrible rain of about 5.25" in a few hours that claimed 2 of them in mid June. I'm sure that got several in our area but I am still hearing of people seeing a better hatch than we've had in years. We also lost one to a predator I assume fairly recently. The 13 we still have are looking good. Any other reports out there lately?

Central MO here.  Been seeing 3-6 poults with just about every hen I see.  Saw one hen with 12 poults this morning, old enough to fly for sure.

My 5 hens with 24 poults are down to 18 now. This morning driving in my lane I saw 2 hens with about 6 poults. Definitely different ones as they were small. Very encouraging this year compared to last year.

Got these off our trail cam.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210801/908234df1820ad33b296dba2f4a73d2a.jpg)

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Seen 12 - 15 very small poults this morning

The wife spotted couple hens today and they had 4 to 6 poults.

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The wife and I moved from FLA up to God's country in Tennessee 3-1/2 months ago. We've got deer and turkeys on our place. Haven't seen any poults yet, and was worried about it. Have had very few sightings or game cam pics of predators or nest raiders. We have been seeing lots of adult turkeys.
Finally last week we had 4 adult hens come in with poults of 2 different sizes. There are 4 poults about 2/3's grown, and 10 poults that are about 1/2 grown. It was awesome to see, and now that they've found the corn pile by the house, we've been seeing them regularly. :icon_thumright: (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/5867cad552fc674f59eecd90dff091c6.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/759950537430da4cd70cbc395626d565.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/9aa499a530e8164710e836eeb357d21a.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/3c9480dd1cab5e723649d0992361293e.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/c52fdf28ca2eb45c312e176bc7795397.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/4f1ce546e419f919d55c2f217ef88895.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/cdeb2bbb1655634822b7763017606c50.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/828ec3c5bd578c72f3aca9743cfd9a36.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/4d73ae274b4e89fe82f2a82bb8a0672f.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210813/d306efa43a63bfa0cef777168efd396b.jpg)

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

Quote from: JeffC on June 06, 2021, 08:16:41 PM
5/19, found a lot of scratching, started soft talking and scratching my way thru woods, sign continued to get fresher. Look to my left a Hen is 15' from me, have to get to phone, she doesn't  like me moving, starts to walk away then turns and starts walking back to me, start videoing, then the ground starts moving between us, 8 newly hatched poults. Cant get the video to post here, too big of a file, click on link below, I hope it works, taken me 2 days of trying to get it posted. It was awsome to see interaction between momma Hen and her poults, think when she first saw me move she putted, they all froze, had to been only 7 to 10' from me and I never saw them till she calls for them to follow her.




https://photos.app.goo.gl/3qCGzLCktPB57UPK7

Great video!! Thanks for sharing!!

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

Just saw a hen with 2 poults the size of chickens crossing onto my place tonight.

My poults are alive and well, and growing!!! :icon_thumright:(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210816/42cd098c5123e170aad6703d47fb75ad.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210816/d2e01901b175e20119caa0f4760bf998.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210816/0c847022d0aa542228f4efe528c72c39.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210816/9d30bd44a272704d2f385601de2de8a9.jpg)

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

One of the bearded hens behind the house was gone  in late Spring and I figured she was a nesting casualty.  She showed up again in early July with 10 poults.  Another (non bearded) hen started coming around with 3 poults of her own, that got reduced to two.  Those 2 poults took up with the bearded hen & they all come around to eat every day.

Jim

Eastern shore of Maryland, saw a hen with 6 or 8 young poults this morning, maybe 2 or 3 months old. Been told they were in the area, 1st I've seen them, made it across a busy 2 lane. Hope they make it, looked big enough to fly.

The wife saw a different flock of hens that had maybe 6 poults maybe half grown. Different area than our normal group. Dad reported on Wednesday, he saw 6 or 8 hens with probably that many poults in his county. He lives in next county over from us.

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MS had to have one of the best hatches ever.. I've seen several large groups on camera and on the roads.. I am currently running 4 cameras on different properties and there are flocks at each one of them.. 2 are at places I've NEVER seen turkeys..  I've definitely been more excited about turkey pics than deer this year!

Daughter sent me this pic out her back door Saturday.  Really good flock right here on our property. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210823/7c024f35521df2ee6cbc78b24677bd71.jpg)

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Riding around Saturday we bumped a flock.  Looked like 2 adult hens and 16 good size poults. 
Best I've seen in years

Prostaff member for Old Crow Custom Calls

Have seen several Hens and poults grouped up lately, some are large groups, here in SW Michigan.

Saw these about 5 miles from the cabin. Fron what I could tell its about 6,7 hens with a bunch of polts ranging in size from small to 3/4 grown. Close to 30 altogether. Was hard counting them as they were running around eating grashappers. The pic not so good

Paulmyr- That is a lot of turkeys! Very good news in your area!

Quote from: bossgobbler on August 31, 2021, 09:21:02 PM
Paulmyr- That is a lot of turkeys! Very good news in your area!

Yes it is. A little worried though. There are absolutely no acorns this year. The oaks that drop acorns annually in the yard and around the cabin have zero acorns. We had a late freeze up there and it damaged the emergent leaves on the oaks early this spring. Extreme drought followed this summer. No ag fields around.  Fingers are crossed for a mild winter with no snow.