Curious if anyone has seen actual studies on survival rates for birds that are forced to move off a property due to various destructive events. For example, if a smaller property has birds and is surrounded by housing developments or other commercial uses and the land is bulldozed and built, they obviously have to move, but wondering how many will actual survive the move. Deer are like cockroaches and do fine, but turkeys seem more sensitive to such things. Random thought while observing the continuous development around me.
My question is, what is a small property in this question?
I hunt a decent sized property that is narrow. Houses on all four sides. Yesterday, Mexicans were building a new house, "felt like I was in a Mexican reasturantee" with all the music.
Turkeys can survive like the deer. Plenty of people to feed them, plenty of trash for the possums and coons, plenty of cats for the coyotes.
If I'm not mistaken juvenile hens usually disperse every spring during breakup. Doesn't sound like they fair nearly as well as the Jake's that tend to hang around.
These are 50-100 acre tracts that keep being developed and gone forever. I see birds in the open spots on them but they have to run a gauntlet of roads and houses to move to another property when it happens. It the unending urban sprawl inching its way from Charlotte and filling the land.
No doubt the sprawl won't stop. Hunt the edges as long as you can!
You'll have to ask the turkeys I see in the middle of the hood in NE Minneapolis. :newmascot:
Quote from: bwhana on April 13, 2025, 07:29:10 PMThese are 50-100 acre tracts that keep being developed and gone forever. I see birds in the open spots on them but they have to run a gauntlet of roads and houses to move to another property when it happens. It the unending urban sprawl inching its way from Charlotte and filling the land.
I noticed that as I was driving through the Carolinas couple weeks ago. Housing tracts going up and some farmland around them with birds.
Quote from: Paulmyr on April 13, 2025, 09:19:03 PMYou'll have to ask the turkeys I see in the middle of the hood in NE Minneapolis. :newmascot:
I've seen a ton myself in the cities on business trips there, especially on U of M campus. I give credit to them having better or bigger greenways and parks at least as compared to here.
I have had turkeys feed right past my living room windows in the middle of St. Paul, MN. The urbanized birds around here are fearless. You can't hunt them in the city limits, but they keep their distance away from humans like the rabbits and squirrels in our neighborhood.
Judging from the populations of urban birds, I would suspect that they do just fine. Obviously have to have some habitat to nest, and food... Residential areas with creek bottoms seem to be prime.
I went to U.C. Davis, and never once saw a turkey in town... Now they are a nuisance. I saw a professor suggest a hunting season on them in town... He thought bolas would be a good residential weapon.. ::) .
Residential areas offer protection from predators & people feeding them (or gardens). People think they are cool at first, until their gardens are destroyed, or birds start jumping on the cars.
One area I hunt is a fairly large property with zero housing and prime habitat... Far, far lower population density than than just across the highway in a small housing community.
Yard turkeys are extremely easy to harvest, if you are in the yard (which is really not hunting), but I feel that once they step off that property they are actually more cautious than more isolated birds. Strutting and breeding all takes place in small protected pastures or large yards, and those birds seem to understand the boundaries.
Our state collared birds. In typical fashion they had no gps collars. They had to go find em w reg tic tic type collars. The ones some of the younger guys prob never even saw. Old technology it seems.
The collars reach the receiver dependent on terrain many many miles. We'd use em on bear dogs, coon hounds and beagles. These darn collars wouldn't even reach some of the turkey. Took forever to find em (shoulda used gps)
Anyhow some found over 10 miles away and 7 was super common. This only after being collared.
Southern part of the state found 75% survived so I don't think it'll adversely effect them. Northern part of the state had 75% mortality but from predators.
One nest had a camera on it. The hen had each of her eggs eaten by a fox. They later found that collar with no hen. They feel the fox got her too so that wasn't dispersion effecting outcome
They do just fine...
Quote from: Paulmyr on April 13, 2025, 07:08:33 PMIf I'm not mistaken juvenile hens usually disperse every spring during breakup. Doesn't sound like they fair nearly as well as the Jake's that tend to hang around.
Because jakes don't nest. Spending a 40 days and 40 nights on the ground puts hens and jennies at a much higher risk of predation.
Those risks would be the same whether they displaced or not. The survival survival rate of hens that don't displace is better than than the jennies that do as well. At least that's how I remember it.