Saw 6 hens in a field bordering our property this morning.
Not a SINGLE poult among them. :(
Yes, that's sad.
Maybe it was girls night out and the kids where fending for themselves.
Don't no if you get FFG but it said State of bird report shows massive bird decline only exceptions were the waterbirds and ducks, My guess is chemicals and the G5 EMF are causing havoc on all animals including human. Either or it still sucks.
Friend just sent me a picture of a hen with ten poults in an area we access in central Florida. This forum is starting to be the "Doom and gloom forum".
Very sad ive seen several hens no little ones either
Considering on average 75 percent or more of wild turkey nest attempts fail, a guy is more likely to see hens without polts than a hen with polts.
Quote from: joey46 on June 17, 2023, 04:03:39 PM
Friend just sent me a picture of a hen with ten poults in an area we access in central Florida. This forum is starting to be the "Doom and gloom forum".
I agree this place is depressing. Every year all I read is how there are no poults and hardly any birds left but seems like most hunters gets their limits or have opportunities to.
Anyway I saw a hen yesterday crossing the street with a group of poults. Couldn't count them but they were there.
Quote from: Paulmyr on June 17, 2023, 06:37:20 PM
Considering on average 75 percent or more of wild turkey nest attempts fail, a guy is more likely to see hens without polts than a hen with polts.
There was a group of 5 then a single 150 yards away in the same field. The single seemed like she COULD have been just stretching her legs off the nest. But the 5 together appeared to be just feeding along as a group.
Being only the 2nd/3rd week of June, hens with unsuccessful first attempts SHOULD be workung on a second attempt, I'd think.
I sat on the back deck at my grandads and watched two big longbeards feed in his field most of the afternoon. They have been regulars for about a year now. They even come into his yard.He says he can talk to them, and they don't even get nervous or walk off.
Quote from: Yoder409 on June 17, 2023, 08:14:44 PM
Quote from: Paulmyr on June 17, 2023, 06:37:20 PM
Considering on average 75 percent or more of wild turkey nest attempts fail, a guy is more likely to see hens without polts than a hen with polts.
There was a group of 5 then a single 150 yards away in the same field. The single seemed like she COULD have been just stretching her legs off the nest. But the 5 together appeared to be just feeding along as a group.
Being only the 2nd/3rd week of June, hens with unsuccessful first attempts SHOULD be workung on a second attempt, I'd think.
From what I've heard it's my understanding that second and 3rd attempts are rarely successful. Plus, not all hens will attempt a 2nd nest. Being it's the 2nd / 3rd week of June, some If not all of the hens in the group you seen could have already attempted second and even 3rd nests.
Depending on the hatch in your area last year, it's possible you have a group of 1st year hens hanging together. I've heard a couple biologist state 1st Year hens just aren't that good at hatching nests.
Not the best here either, done seen a lot of poultless hens around. Not trying to be gloom and doom, just the facts. I have never heard that about the first season hen struggles to hatch off successfully but could definitely see where that is the case. Hopefully things get better. 2 of my spots are still as good as ever, others not. We shall see........
Quote from: Paulmyr on June 17, 2023, 09:41:19 PM
Quote from: Yoder409 on June 17, 2023, 08:14:44 PM
Quote from: Paulmyr on June 17, 2023, 06:37:20 PM
Considering on average 75 percent or more of wild turkey nest attempts fail, a guy is more likely to see hens without polts than a hen with polts.
There was a group of 5 then a single 150 yards away in the same field. The single seemed like she COULD have been just stretching her legs off the nest. But the 5 together appeared to be just feeding along as a group.
Being only the 2nd/3rd week of June, hens with unsuccessful first attempts SHOULD be workung on a second attempt, I'd think.
From what I've heard it's my understanding that second and 3rd attempts are rarely successful. Plus, not all hens will attempt a 2nd nest. Being it's the 2nd / 3rd week of June, some If not all of the hens in the group you seen could have already attempted second and even 3rd nests.
Depending on the hatch in your area last year, it's possible you have a group of 1st year hens hanging together. I've heard a couple biologist state 1st Year hens just aren't that good at hatching nests.
Could be.
And very possible.
Guessing that the poults (peeps) we found 2 years ago were an anomoly. But it was Labor Day weekend and they were no more than a week.outta the egg. But likely less than that.
The group of 5 were smaller than the lone hen farther out. Could very well have been late hatches last year. Hope that's the case.... rather than 5 unsuccessful nests.
I can only speak of my local area.
I live in WV..... In my part of WV it has been a very cold, drawn out spring. Just within the last week we have had consecutive mornings in the 50's. We were running low 40's since first week of March.
Food for thought. I have had almost zero seeds come up in the garden. Only thing that half way came up was green beans and two of 6 squash. No cucumber, no butternut squash, almost no beets, had much better luck in brassicas in March! Had to resort to my house to start seeds I usually direct sow.
Friend seen poults here last weekend, you will see poults soon in PA.
Possibly non breeding Jenny's
Buddy called today said a hen had 7 little ones with her in his yard today. I've been trapping his property hard for 3 years. Killed 2 mature gobblers this spring for the first time in a long time.
Saw a group of 6 Jakes this spring as well. Saw numerous hens and my buddy heard other gobbles after the season. Things are looking up around here.
I hear the gloom and doom surrounding turkeys but I got off my azz and did what I could and am seeing a real difference. I encourage you guys to buy a dozen coon, possum, skunk, coyote and bobcat traps and get after it.
Quote from: Scottf270 on June 18, 2023, 11:34:29 PM
Buddy called today said a hen had 7 little ones with her in his yard today. I've been trapping his property hard for 3 years. Killed 2 mature gobblers this spring for the first time in a long time.
Saw a group of 6 Jakes this spring as well. Saw numerous hens and my buddy heard other gobbles after the season. Things are looking up around here.
I hear the gloom and doom surrounding turkeys but I got off my azz and did what I could and am seeing a real difference. I encourage you guys to buy a dozen coon, possum, skunk, coyote and bobcat traps and get after it.
This is real peeps. I have a trapper friend and he started last fall. I hunt when I can but he is thinning them out. My overall numbers are down, but I think they might bounce back if we keep thinning out the egg / nest raiders. Not a lot of poults seen here and not one hen with more than 3 poults. I put on a lot of miles scouting year round and it has declined 3 years running. I am hoping we can turn it around in our small area. Everyone needs to do a little bit. Z
Agreed , if " every " turkey hunter would just do a little nest raider control we would see survival rates improve . And don't tell me , well I only hunt public and can't do any trapping .
BS , check regs and do your part ...
Quote from: Howieg on June 19, 2023, 12:16:08 PM
Agreed , if " every " turkey hunter would just do a little nest raider control we would see survival rates improve .
:you_rock:
RIGHT ON !!!!!!!
For the price of ONE BOX of 5 TSS shells........... a guy can buy 4 DP coon traps, a bottle of fish oil and a bag of marshmallows.
It's EASY !!!!!!!!
I would say you haven't priced DP's lately. LOL
At my place I have several hens with poults. I watch turkeys every day. Over the years I keep saying only 30% of the hens nest. Now I'm just talking here at my place. I'll see hens walking around together all spring. Just seems to be the way it is. Maybe they are Jenny's don't know. My neighbor has been trapping here for three years now. It has definitely helped. If he stops trapping, I'll start. It's all we can do.
Yeah that's not good... I seen 2 hens Saturday with 10 poults each!! Fingers crossed
Quote from: Nate on June 17, 2023, 04:00:28 PM
Don't no if you get FFG but it said State of bird report shows massive bird decline only exceptions were the waterbirds and ducks, My guess is chemicals and the G5 EMF are causing havoc on all animals including human. Either or it still sucks.
I used to see red wing black birds when I was growing up around my papas farm all the time. I don't ever see those birds anymore.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: Vintage on June 19, 2023, 02:36:00 PM
I would say you haven't priced DP's lately. LOL
I believe I paid $13/each at Rural King last fall.
Quote from: Yoder409 on June 20, 2023, 08:57:26 AM
Quote from: Vintage on June 19, 2023, 02:36:00 PM
I would say you haven't priced DP's lately. LOL
I believe I paid $13/each at Rural King last fall.
My bad. ::)
They're $14.99 now.
I just bought 6 more at Rural King last week for $14.99. Gives me 20 dog proofs. I'm mad at them....lol.
Some pretty interesting stuff on the TFT Wild Turkey Science podcast about predators and trapping. Seems there is an incredible shortage of brood rearing habitat across the country for polts just out of the nest and for the 1st couple weeks after being hatched. The term coincidental comes up a lot. Because of the lack of good habitat, most polts from nests that get predated most likely wouldn't survive anyways. Many dying from environmental extremes whether it's being too cold, too hot, not enough to eat, or being vulnerable to predation that wouldn't happen if the proper habitat was in place.
The consensus seems to be trapping can be very successful if the proper habitat is in place. If the habitat sucks than trapping is a mute point.
Sometimes you may not see the poults, hens are pretty amazing in how they protect them from predators. I've seen hen's spread wings on the ground and keep poults safe under cedar trees, to let the other hens feed. It's pretty amazing to see all this take place while some feed and others protect the flock .....
Quote from: Scottf270 on June 20, 2023, 10:06:40 AM
I just bought 6 more at Rural King last week for $14.99. Gives me 20 dog proofs. I'm mad at them....lol.
Was just at Rural King end of last week. They were out of DP's.
Hopefully that's a good sign.......that folks are USING them and removing raccoons.
Nesting fun fact ... some of the lone eggs you see away from a nest are possibly toted away from the nest because they are bad or broken . The hen will do this to protect the remaining eggs .
The hen will also sometimes eat the bad egg .
Another nesting tidbit. Some hens are parasitic layers where as they lay eggs in other hens nests.
All the genetically modified crops can't be helping them or us.
Fellas, I'm not saying there are not multiple factors to nesting success. I worry about farm chemicals, weather, urban sprawl, mismanagement of forests etc.
But don't fall for all the "experts" excuses and double talk. A lot of Conservation Dept's are falling woefully short doing their jobs. Missouri is blessed with a decent amount of public land but the budget won't allow any real large scale and meaningful work. They parrot climate change, bird flu and other crap.
Unchecked populations of predators is a real problem. Killing them is hard to do, takes a lot of work, and is unpopular with the granola crowd. But the results I have seen in my area are undeniable. Don't get sidetracked by talking heads. Get out there and get after them!!
I've seen hens with poults, groups of (evidently) barren hens, and some currently active nests (based on the nesting hens behavior) this spring, which seems about normal. There have been no gully-washer rains here locally, so nesting success should be good this spring for turkeys and quail too.
Check out this hen, she's getting with the program:
https://gardenandgun.com/articles/watch-mama-turkey-fends-off-a-big-rat-snake/?utm_source=emma&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=June2023_tots_20&utm_content=turkey
Brother texted me a picture yesterday of 6 adult hens in his yard.
No poults. :(
That makes 12, now, that we've seen in the area we hunt that are without. (Nope. Not the same ones.)
As a farmer I can tell you that nothing has changed in spray materials for quite a few years now. So blaming agriculture operations for the turkey decline is not going to help the cause. Predators definitely don't help but they have been around forever and turkey numbers around here are dwindling faster than any increase in predators. I don't have any idea or answer to the problem, but I do know that if we are ever going to see the glory days of turkey hunting again, something must change. I for one am all for a temporary stop of the fall season here in PA and a shorter spring season. And ending all day hunting and going back to the old days of 12:00 pm quitting time
Quote from: Farmboy27 on July 01, 2023, 05:25:24 PM
As a farmer I can tell you that nothing has changed in spray materials for quite a few years now. So blaming agriculture operations for the turkey decline is not going to help the cause. Predators definitely don't help but they have been around forever and turkey numbers around here are dwindling faster than any increase in predators. I don't have any idea or answer to the problem, but I do know that if we are ever going to see the glory days of turkey hunting again, something must change. I for one am all for a temporary stop of the fall season here in PA and a shorter spring season. And ending all day hunting and going back to the old days of 12:00 pm quitting time
I'm not so sure it's the spraying but rather the general practices have changed. Polt rearing cover has been greatly reduced since the the late 80's. If things are going to turn around land owners need to stop worrying so much about feeding turkeys and start providing them with the habitat they need for the 1st couple weeks out of the egg. Get them through that period and their survival rate goes up substantially.
Federal, state, and county agencies need to start providing this type of habitat as well. Instead of planting invasive species like fescue, bermuda, and other grasses there needs to be a push to plant forbes and native species which are conducive to polt rearing.
I have yet to see any poults this summer, either on my place or in fields in the area. Normally by now I would have seen many. I see multiple hens several times a day.
Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk