Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

I moved from Florida to out in the country in Tennessee last May. I was very pleased to see my property had lots of critters, including deer and turkeys. But most of my turkey experience has been  further south than here.
Come the end of October though, the turkeys disappeared. I figured they had gathered with a winter flock. I am familiar with the winter flocking phenomenon, but I haven't experienced it in person. I was dismayed when my turkeys disappeared. I had a bumper crop of acorns this year, and have been putting out corn for the deer and turkeys since I moved in.
Not only did they disappear from my place, but they disappeared from the entire area. I didn't see any turkeys on my place or driving around for almost 3 months. Finally, a couple of weeks ago I drove by a field that I'd seen turkeys in before, and there was a winter flock of about 150 birds. They were about 2 miles from my place.
So here are my questions.
1 - Is the winter flock I saw likely to include my birds, even though they were 2 miles away?
2 - Why didn't the turkeys hang out at my place when they had tons of food, and no pressure?
3 - Are my turkeys likely to return to the area? Or are new turkeys going to take over? Or do turkeys change areas after flocking up?
Thanks for the help guys!!

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Can't answer all those questions partly or authoritatively, but I'd say, one, yes, some of your turkeys are very likely in that giant winter flock, and, two, yes, your turkeys are very likely to come right back. Oddly enough they tend to show up at my house in the winter mostly. I get some in spring obviously but I get huge groups in winter. One place I hunt is flat covered up in spring and bare in winter. A couple miles from there, just over that ridge I'll see groups of 100. No doubt in my mind that's those birds. And they always seem to return. Kind of seems to work like deer habitat. I don't really care if big bucks are on my property during summer or not; I want big bucks on my property come fall. Most times those are two different places.


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Curious what type of field did you see the turkeys in  2 miles away. Is it a high energy grain field? Something is attracting them to the area that is beneficial to winter survival. Reliable open water maybe?


I would say it's a good possibility some of the turkeys from your property are mixed with the flock you seen. They'll travel much greater distances than 2 miles to winter flock. It maybe habit that brings the turkeys to that field 2 miles away. If you keep feeding corn during winter you might be able to keep some of them around.

Pretty good chance some of the turkeys you seen last summer will be back with a possibility of new blood. The Turkeys up here in Mn will start to disperse around the end of March maybe a little earlier if the weather is nice or depending on where you are north or south in the state.

Hunt a farm in Northern Ky. The turkeys are never seen in deer season but will be there every turkey season and usually don't start gobbling till a week before the season starts.

After the winter flock breakup turkeys will more than likely return. Just before the breakup both gobbler flocks and hen flocks will come together, it's like a rendezvous. Once this gathering take place they will split up and if your lucky enough to see all of this take place that morning, the gobblers will go in different directions with each having a few hen's leaving with each gobbler. It's amazing watching all this take place. In all my years of turkey hunting I've only seen this happen twice while scouting before spring season opens. I sure others will add to this and have seen and witnessed the coming together of both gobbler flocks and hen flocks and the breakup of these flocks. It's all part of the survival and matting ritual of the turkeys in my opinion.

Quote from: Paulmyr on February 02, 2022, 09:54:43 PM
Curious what type of field did you see the turkeys in 2 miles away. Is it a high energy grain field? Something is attracting them to the area that is beneficial to winter survival. Reliable open water maybe? It maybe habit that brings the turkeys to that field 2 miles away.
...If you keep feeding corn during winter you might be able to keep some of them around.
...depending on where you are north or south in the state.

Great questions!!
I live in farm and cattle country. There are green grass fields bordering my property that don't look any different than the field I saw the big winter flock in. The woods around the field also look the same as the woods here. There are plenty of ponds, small lakes and year round streams throughout the area, but there is more water over here than there is over there.
I've fed corn non-stop since I moved in. One of the first things I did was out out corn. Priorities!!!
I'm on the eastern side of Tennessee, about 2/3's of the way up to the north, in between Nashville and Knoxville, but just south of both.

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Quote from: Greg Massey on February 02, 2022, 11:38:47 PM
if your lucky enough to see all of this take place that morning, the gobblers will go in different directions with each having a few hen's leaving with each gobbler. It's amazing watching all this take place. In all my years of turkey hunting I've only seen this happen twice while scouting before spring season opens. I sure others will add to this and have seen and witnessed the coming together of both gobbler flocks and hen flocks and the breakup of these flocks.

I hope to see such awesome things. That's what I dreamed of for 25 years before retiring and moving to the country.

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Thanks for those answers!! Any other thoughts and ideas from the guys here at the forum? I haven't experienced this before.

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In the areas that I know that hold winter flocks the flocks seems to gather and wander around a decent sized area. I suppose until the find decent pickings. Usually there's a fair amount of snow around. It would probably be a good bet turkeys know what fields get wind blown or what hillside have a tendency to not drift in and the eats may be easier to get at. Not sure this will help you in eastern Tn.

 I had a small piece of land that did not hold turkeys year round (lot of grain farming around) but always held a spring breeding flock. I could ease over a ridge where they roosted in a big hollow and watch them in the mornings. Spring break up is something to witness. Gobblers would hit the ground and start fighting immediately. Some would break off and leave as already mentioned while others would accept their sub-dominant position and stay with that flock.
What little I know you can take or leave. Will they return? I would guess likely.  Why did they leave has a lot of variables like most things turkey. You mentioned the best answer with the birds just forming winter flocks. Eastern birds usually don't have a home roost address compared to a Rio for instance but from what you've seen already there's a good chance you'll have birds come spring. 

I have seen it a bunch, even the opposite way.  Had a ridge on a property that was filthy with gobblers in the fall and winter, I have seen as many as 15 toms on that ridge in Nov.

I many years of hunting that property I only killed one bird on that ridge.  And really for the most part on the complete opposite end of the property, the north end close to that ridge looked outstanding for turkey habitat but almost never had any on it!

1. yes and no, a few may have made it over there, I doubt many survived.
,
2.There was/is pressure.

3.originals, no------new ones, no.
So, no

What you have a chupacabra thats moved in.

I've seen it happen, usually on public ground the day after opening day

Gathering in winter is what they do.  Likewise, breaking up.  Absent changes in habitat or the evil baiting (feeding = baiting), your spring turkeys will likely return.

If you had a bumper crop of acorns, there was probably a bumper crop everywhere else around you. I'm guessing you're in the highland rim area of TN - the white oak crop was insane last year. The turkeys go wherever they want. Sometimes it's obvious why they move and sometimes it's not. They'll start splitting up here in the next couple months and you should start to see a few around your place again.


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Quote from: catman529 on February 03, 2022, 04:58:34 PM
If you had a bumper crop of acorns, there was probably a bumper crop everywhere else around you.
I'm guessing you're in the highland rim area of TN.

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Yes, it's almost exclusively hardwoods in this area. White and red oaks everywhere. So I'm sure you are correct.
Upper Cumberland, just east of the Highland Rim.

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Quote from: silvestris on February 03, 2022, 04:17:17 PM
the evil baiting (feeding = baiting)

I'm not baiting turkeys. We put out corn by the house to see deer every day. The turkeys found it, of course. In the spring I will follow Tennessee law about hunting my place. I don't hunt turkeys over corn.

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Quote from: crow on February 03, 2022, 10:13:51 AM
1. yes and no, a few may have made it over there, I doubt many survived.
,
2.There was/is pressure.

3.originals, no------new ones, no.
So, no

What you have a chupacabra thats moved in.

Why do you think most of them died? Plenty of food to eat, and good habitat. It's relatively mild weather here in middle east Tennessee. I also haven't seen or gotten that many game cam pics or videos of predators.
Why do say there was/is pressure? I don't hunt deer or turkey at my place..... yet. Neither do any of my neighbors. Lots of farm and ranch land around me.
So none of my turkeys are coming back, and no new ones are replacing them?
And a chupacabra has moved into the area?
Dammit!! Now I've got to move again!!!

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Quote from: Dtrkyman on February 03, 2022, 09:44:27 AM
I have seen it a bunch, even the opposite way.  Had a ridge on a property that was filthy with gobblers in the fall and winter, I have seen as many as 15 toms on that ridge in Nov.

Fortunately for me, the turkeys seem to be here in the spring, summer and into the fall, but disappear in late fall and winter. I guess that's better than the other way around.

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Hey brother!  Glad to see you retired and are living your dream!  Congratulations on a well earned retirement. 

I have the opposite problem on my place, here in the fall (4 on the camera today) and gone in the spring. Cleared an area for dove and hoping it will attract some birds year round with better habitat.  Everyone knows any birds I get coming in will be reserved for daughter and grandson though.

If you get a hankering to hunt some north florida birds, give me a shout.   

Quote from: RutnNStrutn on February 03, 2022, 07:56:50 PM

Quote from: crow on February 03, 2022, 10:13:51 AM
1. yes and no, a few may have made it over there, I doubt many survived.
,
2.There was/is pressure.

3.originals, no------new ones, no.
So, no

What you have a chupacabra thats moved in.

Why do you think most of them died? Plenty of food to eat, and good habitat. It's relatively mild weather here in middle east Tennessee. I also haven't seen or gotten that many game cam pics or videos of predators.
Why do say there was/is pressure? I don't hunt deer or turkey at my place..... yet. Neither do any of my neighbors. Lots of farm and ranch land around me.
So none of my turkeys are coming back, and no new ones are replacing them?
And a chupacabra has moved into the area?
Dammit!! Now I've got to move again!!!

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Ok, we'll take this step by step,
Most of them died because they've been eaten.
It doesen't surprise me you don't have pics of other predators once a top tier predator moves in.

No, none of your dead turkeys are coming back, it doesen't work that way.

The ones that are gone, are gone (*see Joe Hutto where the poults got scared by a big snake near a wood pile and always skirted it after that event.)
Probably be years before new one's will risk it.

I wouldn't go to the extreme of moving ,just get yourself a short stocked gun, compact bio's, hang an unwaxed moldy trumpet around your neck, and sneak onto some local farms without asking landowner permission.

and start drinking heavily, at least your in an area with some good local refreshments

 :TooFunny:  :TooFunny:

Quote from: crow on February 03, 2022, 09:33:51 PM

Quote from: RutnNStrutn on February 03, 2022, 07:56:50 PM

Quote from: crow on February 03, 2022, 10:13:51 AM
1. yes and no, a few may have made it over there, I doubt many survived.
,
2.There was/is pressure.

3.originals, no------new ones, no.
So, no

What you have a chupacabra thats moved in.

Why do you think most of them died? Plenty of food to eat, and good habitat. It's relatively mild weather here in middle east Tennessee. I also haven't seen or gotten that many game cam pics or videos of predators.
Why do say there was/is pressure? I don't hunt deer or turkey at my place..... yet. Neither do any of my neighbors. Lots of farm and ranch land around me.
So none of my turkeys are coming back, and no new ones are replacing them?
And a chupacabra has moved into the area?
Dammit!! Now I've got to move again!!!

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Ok, we'll take this step by step,
Most of them died because they've been eaten.
It doesen't surprise me you don't have pics of other predators once a top tier predator moves in.

No, none of your dead turkeys are coming back, it doesen't work that way.

The ones that are gone, are gone (*see Joe Hutto where the poults got scared by a big snake near a wood pile and always skirted it after that event.)
Probably be years before new one's will risk it.

I wouldn't go to the extreme of moving ,just get yourself a short stocked gun, compact bio's, hang an unwaxed moldy trumpet around your neck, and sneak onto some local farms without asking landowner permission.

and start drinking heavily, at least your in an area with some good local refreshments

You should take up stand up comedy!!!

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Quote from: g8rvet on February 03, 2022, 08:20:21 PM
Hey brother!  Glad to see you retired and are living your dream!  Congratulations on a well earned retirement. 

I have the opposite problem on my place, here in the fall (4 on the camera today) and gone in the spring. Cleared an area for dove and hoping it will attract some birds year round with better habitat.  Everyone knows any birds I get coming in will be reserved for daughter and grandson though.

If you get a hankering to hunt some north florida birds, give me a shout.

Thanks Larry!! The wife and I are loving it here in Tennessee so far. Hope your changes bring in more turkeys to your property.
I'll keep that hunt in mind. Good luck this spring brother!!

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Quote from: RutnNStrutn on February 03, 2022, 07:36:07 PM

Quote from: catman529 on February 03, 2022, 04:58:34 PM
If you had a bumper crop of acorns, there was probably a bumper crop everywhere else around you.
I'm guessing you're in the highland rim area of TN.

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Yes, it's almost exclusively hardwoods in this area. White and red oaks everywhere. So I'm sure you are correct.
Upper Cumberland, just east of the Highland Rim.

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I didn't make it to the Cumberland plateau this past fall, but everywhere I went on the highland rim was stupid loaded with white oak acorns. There are acorns sprouted all over the ground right now because the critters couldn't eat them all.

Anyway, be careful with the corn during the warm months. The hot humid summer weather is conducive to growing the fungus that produces aflatoxins, which can kill a whole flock of turkeys.

Good luck this spring!


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Quote from: catman529 on February 03, 2022, 11:02:26 PM

Quote from: RutnNStrutn on February 03, 2022, 07:36:07 PM

Quote from: catman529 on February 03, 2022, 04:58:34 PM
If you had a bumper crop of acorns, there was probably a bumper crop everywhere else around you.
I'm guessing you're in the highland rim area of TN.

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Yes, it's almost exclusively hardwoods in this area. White and red oaks everywhere. So I'm sure you are correct.
Upper Cumberland, just east of the Highland Rim.

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I didn't make it to the Cumberland plateau this past fall, but everywhere I went on the highland rim was stupid loaded with white oak acorns. There are acorns sprouted all over the ground right now because the critters couldn't eat them all.

Anyway, be careful with the corn during the warm months. The hot humid summer weather is conducive to growing the fungus that produces aflatoxins, which can kill a whole flock of turkeys.

Good luck this spring!


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Same here in the Upper Cumberland. Acorns out the wazoo!!!
Thanks for the great advice!! I think we're okay with that threat, because the deer are so plentiful and eat the corn so fast that it's gone before it has a chance to grow fungus. Plus when the turks return, the corn disappears even faster. I'll have to stop feeding the deer at the house during spring turkey anyway so that I'm legal and ethical.

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Quote from: RutnNStrutn on February 03, 2022, 11:40:26 PM

Quote from: catman529 on February 03, 2022, 11:02:26 PM

Quote from: RutnNStrutn on February 03, 2022, 07:36:07 PM

Quote from: catman529 on February 03, 2022, 04:58:34 PM
If you had a bumper crop of acorns, there was probably a bumper crop everywhere else around you.
I'm guessing you're in the highland rim area of TN.

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Yes, it's almost exclusively hardwoods in this area. White and red oaks everywhere. So I'm sure you are correct.
Upper Cumberland, just east of the Highland Rim.

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I didn't make it to the Cumberland plateau this past fall, but everywhere I went on the highland rim was stupid loaded with white oak acorns. There are acorns sprouted all over the ground right now because the critters couldn't eat them all.

Anyway, be careful with the corn during the warm months. The hot humid summer weather is conducive to growing the fungus that produces aflatoxins, which can kill a whole flock of turkeys.

Good luck this spring!


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Same here in the Upper Cumberland. Acorns out the wazoo!!!
Thanks for the great advice!! I think we're okay with that threat, because the deer are so plentiful and eat the corn so fast that it's gone before it has a chance to grow fungus. Plus when the turks return, the corn disappears even faster. I'll have to stop feeding the deer at the house during spring turkey anyway so that I'm legal and ethical.

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I'm the same way here with corn. The deer eat it fast enough it doesn't have time to mold. Just like to try and spread awareness about the potential threat to wildlife with moldy deer corn.


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Quote from: catman529 on February 03, 2022, 11:58:13 PM
I'm the same way here with corn. The deer eat it fast enough it doesn't have time to mold. Just like to try and spread awareness about the potential threat to wildlife with moldy deer corn.


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A bit off topic from the OP, but the mold on corn that threatens turkeys isn't something that just appears. Aflatoxins are there the moment you put it out. Levels as low as 100 parts per billion of aflatoxins found in corn destroy the livers and immune systems of wild turkeys, and especially young of the year. The only corn regulated at levels less than that are for human consumption and dairy cattle. Meaning you buy sacks of corn for beef cattle, swine, mature poultry, you're compromising and killing turkeys. You buy corn sold for wildlife, IT'S NOT EVEN REGULATED. What they sell as "wildlife corn," "deer corn," "deer and turkey corn," is the bottom of the barrel crap they couldn't sell to any other market. Why? Most likely because it exceeded levels of things like aflatoxins when checked. Couple that risk with the disease impact of high concentration bait sites, all of that against a steady decline throughout the southeast that has biologists baffled, why put it out? There's a whole, whole lot of things will kill a turkey, but you know the thing they all but never die from? Starvation. You might like watching them in your front yards, but you sure ain't doing them any favors by dumping out sacks of corn.


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I have hunted same property for 20 years in IN and every year by end of October turkeys just disappear.   First of April they reappear.

Quote from: Parrot Head on February 04, 2022, 08:20:19 AM
I have hunted same property for 20 years in IN and every year by end of October turkeys just disappear.   First of April they reappear.

That's good to hear!!

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Wildlife of any species do not benefit from feeding/baiting, or do I repeat myself.

What do you consider feeding/baiting Silvestris?   Just curious.  You are always gruff and state your opinion succinctly, but you are a good voice for the traditional way.  Do you consider managing your property for wildlife to be baiting?  What about food plots for all wildlife?  What about opening dense woods for better habitat-I am thinking like strutting areas/insect food source, etc?   I am genuinely curious.  I won't change my plans for my property based on your answers or anything, just wonder how you look at it.  Even if my little property is over run with birds, I will never shoot one at my home place, I like the chase too much.  I am just wondering how you see it.  I am managing for dove and deer (I don't deer hunt) but my 86 year old dad and the grandkids are welcome to take deer. I have started seeing some turkeys lately as well.

Quote from: silvestris on February 04, 2022, 06:51:38 PM
Wildlife of any species do not benefit from feeding/baiting, or do I repeat myself.

Yes. You are repeating yourself.
Yeah, I get it. I've read your posts and comments ad nauseam. You are against everything that isn't done exactly the way you do it.

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  What you're seeing is pretty common in my area and it sounds like you have everything it takes to hold turkeys most of the year as far as habitat, but maybe not enough or the right mix of food in the winter

  Right now I have 35-40 hens/jakes and 12-15 long beards at my place. Sometime in mid-april they will do exactly what Greg M. described and 75% of these turkey will move off to neighboring properties. Usually after that happens, I'll be left with 8-12 hens, a few jakes and 4 or 5 longbeards that are split up into 2 small flocks. We will shoot a couple of the longbeards, the hens will nest and raise their poults through summer/early fall and next Nov-Dec other turkeys will start to pile into the area.

  I think it's food, because years ago I saw the same thing at my place as you currently see at yours. I usually had a good mast crop, plus I did supplimental feeding, but it didn't matter how much mast there was or how much feed I put out....I still couldn't hold turkeys through the winter.
  About 20 years ago I started getting into foodplots for deer and as I expanded to planting more food and different types of food, that's when I began to hold turkeys all winter. I currently have standing corn with lots of ears left, some beans and a good amount grains/clover. The turkeys have spent the last couple months primarily working on the mast crop from last fall and now that we have snow/ice, they spend most days in and around my food plots.

  I have a hunting buddy that lives about 3 miles away with a similar set up as far as foodplots and we see the exact same thing play out at his place every year. Right now he has tons of food available and he has somewhere around 60-70 turkeys living there. In about 2 months that will all change.

  It's nice to have them on your property year round, but having them there in the spring is what really matters....plus it sometimes costs whole lot less $$$! 

A buddy of mine has the same issue in the mountains of Pa. Then they show up in the later part of the spring. That corn thing is interesting though. In Nj people like to put it down, I hope that's not what is hurting our flocks.

Quote from: crow on February 03, 2022, 10:13:51 AM
1. yes and no, a few may have made it over there, I doubt many survived.
,
2.There was/is pressure.

3.originals, no------new ones, no.
So, no

What you have a chupacabra thats moved in.

I've seen it happen, usually on public ground the day after opening day

Well, you were wrong. Surprise!!!!! NOT!!!
The turkeys have returned, just as I surmised that they would.

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That was a interesting thing about the corn and mold. This winter the snow got deep at my place in MN again, when that happen then the turkeys do come in to my place. They come in to eat the seed off the sumac bushes and then check out all my bird feeders. I did find out that if you have Black Sunflower seeds on the ground and hole corn kernels they will eat ALL the sunflower seeds before they eat the corn. So now learning about the maybe possibility of mold on any corn, I will no longer bother putting any of that out just black sunflower seeds.

Quote from: ddturkeyhunter on April 02, 2022, 10:38:28 PM
That was a interesting thing about the corn and mold.
I did find out that if you have Black Sunflower seeds on the ground and hole corn kernels they will eat ALL the sunflower seeds before they eat the corn.

Corn is not an issue right now. I had to stop feeding 10 days before the season, and there is no corn now.
Interesting about the sunflower seeds though.


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Quote from: RutnNStrutn on April 02, 2022, 11:24:46 PM

Quote from: ddturkeyhunter on April 02, 2022, 10:38:28 PM
That was a interesting thing about the corn and mold.
I did find out that if you have Black Sunflower seeds on the ground and hole corn kernels they will eat ALL the sunflower seeds before they eat the corn.

Corn is not an issue right now. I had to stop feeding 10 days before the season, and there is no corn now.
Interesting about the sunflower seeds though.


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We had some cracked corn out this winter in North central Mn. There were 3 hens that would show up sporadically. When they did, they showed a preference for the cracked corn before they hit the bird feeder for some sunflower seed. When I say hit the feeders I'm pretty sure I mean that literally. I filled it up one mourning before they showed. When they left it was almost empty. Although I didn't actually see it, I'm pretty sure they were pecking the feeder to shake the seed out.The guy up the road had about 20 hitting his corn.