Am I the only one concerned about the substantial number of both wild and domestic birds infected with the current strain of avian flu and the possibility of mortality in the wild turkey flocks?
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No.
Massachusetts is testing dead birds right now. It is happening.
From what I understand it's more prevalent among waterfowl and domestic fowl. But wild turkeys can get it evidently.
I am worried.
But, I realize there's nothing I can do about it.....except, maybe, shoot more turkeys to slow the spread ??
Quote from: Yoder409 on February 04, 2025, 08:27:50 PMI am worried.
But, I realize there's nothing I can do about it.....except, maybe, shoot more turkeys to slow the spread ??
Me too
I'm concerned.
One thing people can do is to stop feeding wild birds.
We lost three bald eagles to it in the last two weeks here in ne Oklahoma
Quote from: Zobo on February 04, 2025, 08:53:13 PMOne thing people can do is to stop feeding wild birds.
YES !!!
Question to those that may be watching/listening to podcasts/media from wild turkey biologists: How much discussion has there been about avian flu impacts on wild turkeys?...and have there been any discussions about how to address those potential impacts?
I talked to the head biologist in the NC Wildlife dept last year during an interactive online session about bird flu impact here and he said they are not concerned at this point because turkeys are larger and it does not affect them like smaller waterfowl. I got radio silence when I mentioned that poults don't start out at 12-20 lbs, so you can interpret that as an impact.
I'm curious about all your years of hunting gobblers, how many turkeys have you found dead from diseases or natural causes? This is for adult hens and Gobblers
In all my years of deer and turkey hunting, I've only found one turkey which had been shot / wound and not found until a couple days later..
In 50 plus years of chasing deer's I can't say I have ever come across a disease deer.
So in my opinion the odds are very low, in the last 18 months I have seen more turkeys than I have in the 2 years prior.
I do agree anything is possible
They are euthanizing flocks of snow geese here in south eastern Pa. They say the spreading of the avian flu will infect the turkey population here.
Quote from: Greg Massey on February 05, 2025, 03:22:59 PMI'm curious about all your years of hunting gobblers, how many turkeys have you found dead from diseases or natural causes? This is for adult hens and Gobblers
In all my years of deer and turkey hunting, I've only found one turkey which had been shot / wound and not found until a couple days later..
In 50 plus years of chasing deer's I can't say I have ever come across a disease deer.
So in my opinion the odds are very low, in the last 18 months I have seen more turkeys than I have in the 2 years prior.
I do agree anything is possible
We find quite a few dead whitetail and blacktail deer that die from EHD and hair-loss syndrome. Also, we commonly find deer parts from animals that have obviously been consumed by bear, coyotes, cougar, etc. It's hard to know if those were killed by the predators, died from disease, or winterkill, etc. Similarly, I've found several turkey carcasses over the years but it's never been clear what they died from....I haven't heard of local diseases affecting turkeys so always assumed that this was due to predators or hunters.
Quote from: packmule on February 05, 2025, 04:36:07 PMQuote from: Greg Massey on February 05, 2025, 03:22:59 PMI'm curious about all your years of hunting gobblers, how many turkeys have you found dead from diseases or natural causes? This is for adult hens and Gobblers
In all my years of deer and turkey hunting, I've only found one turkey which had been shot / wound and not found until a couple days later..
In 50 plus years of chasing deer's I can't say I have ever come across a disease deer.
So in my opinion the odds are very low, in the last 18 months I have seen more turkeys than I have in the 2 years prior.
I do agree anything is possible
We find quite a few dead whitetail and blacktail deer that die from EHD and hair-loss syndrome. Also, we commonly find deer parts from animals that have obviously been consumed by bear, coyotes, cougar, etc. It's hard to know if those were killed by the predators, died from disease, or winterkill, etc. Similarly, I've found several turkey carcasses over the years but it's never been clear what they died from....I haven't heard of local diseases affecting turkeys so always assumed that this was due to predators or hunters.
I agree, i'm sure it's more prevalent in some states with a higher number of predators etc
Good Post
The "doom and gloom" forum strikes again.
I saw someone posted feeding deer/wildlife could cause spread?
Just curious on turkeys who flock anyway, how this would increase risk of bird flu spreading?
In deer I can see how CDW can spread thru corn piles because they chew like cows and food/salvia falls back into the bait pile
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(https://i.ibb.co/s9ZTWG8C/FA741-A0-A-D033-4626-8-BF1-2378-DE81-D579.jpg)
In an effort to bring some positive thoughts in here, I found this when I googled the subject. I personally spend a tremendous amount of time in my hunting areas and have never found a turkey carcass. I am by no means downplaying or interjecting any expertise in here so all I can say is I hope we all don't experience any turkey losses in our areas, and all around the country the populations flourish. Be safe, it's right around the corner...
Used to be around here they did not used to spread domestic turkey droppings, after they started doing it there started to seem be an up shoot of problems with birds in the area. I do not think wild birds are able to handle what domestic birds can and I think that is part of it. I know some will say when they get around it flying around bird farms (Clearly I am not just talking turkey) but not to the extent they do since it started to become used wildly for fertilizer, now the wild animals including birds are much more exposed to it and I seriously wonder if it has actually be looked at as it seems to be an odd coincidence.
Last report I read from PA was that one lake had large flocks of dead geese in it.
The Flu virus was polluting the water from all of the dead geese.
Yes, I have found a bunch of winter mortality turkeys in my time. But, don't expect to find those remains in April and May. Look for them Now and into early March. You'll find them if in higher altitude areas, northern US.
Quote from: Tom007 on February 05, 2025, 05:45:05 PM(https://i.ibb.co/s9ZTWG8C/FA741-A0-A-D033-4626-8-BF1-2378-DE81-D579.jpg)
In an effort to bring some positive thoughts in here, I found this when I googled the subject. I personally spend a tremendous amount of time in my hunting areas and have never found a turkey carcass. I am by no means downplaying or interjecting any expertise in here so all I can say is I hope we all don't experience any turkey losses in our areas, and all around the country the populations flourish. Be safe, it's right around the corner...
I had briefly considered the impact but didn't do a search on it. That is good to see. Thanks.
Quote from: Tail Feathers on February 06, 2025, 10:40:22 AMQuote from: Tom007 on February 05, 2025, 05:45:05 PM(https://i.ibb.co/s9ZTWG8C/FA741-A0-A-D033-4626-8-BF1-2378-DE81-D579.jpg)
In an effort to bring some positive thoughts in here, I found this when I googled the subject. I personally spend a tremendous amount of time in my hunting areas and have never found a turkey carcass. I am by no means downplaying or interjecting any expertise in here so all I can say is I hope we all don't experience any turkey losses in our areas, and all around the country the populations flourish. Be safe, it's right around the corner...
I had briefly considered the impact but didn't do a search on it. That is good to see. Thanks.
You bet. We still have to be cautiously optimistic until all the facts and research come out. All we can do is hope they do not get infected....
I saw someone posted feeding deer/wildlife could cause spread?
Just curious on turkeys who flock anyway, how this would increase risk of bird flu spreading?
In deer I can see how CDW can spread thru corn piles because they chew like cows and food/salvia falls back into the bait pile
Where I hunt the have corn feeders for deer. Think they are done for the year with the feeders tho
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Quote from: knifeshark on February 05, 2025, 03:57:24 PMThey are euthanizing flocks of snow geese here in south eastern Pa. They say the spreading of the avian flu will infect the turkey population here.
I think it has been around for awhile in SE Pa. Our turkey flocks have been knocked down to super low numbers for years now.