Hawks and Turkeys

[ThunderChickenGetter]

I know racoons, possums, skunks, bobcats, fox, and coyote all take a toll on the turkey population. You hear them talked about all the time. We'll here's one that I believe really takes a toll on turkeys, especially polts, that we're legally not allowed to remove to protect turkeys. I'll probably never get a trail cam picture like this again and it's one of the coolest things I've ever gotten on camera. How many of you all believe hawks and owls play just as big of a roll in killing turkeys as four legged predators?



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[Happy]

I witnessed a Bald Eagle try and take out a jake last spring. I know it happens some but I believe that they are harder on the poults than full grown turkeys.

[TurkeyReaper69]

Just kill the hawks and other birds of prey. I know, I know, You won't be able to post to social media #SaveThePoults due to it being illegal. Why even improve turkey habitat if you can't gloat about it to random dudes in a Facebook group?

All jokes aside, they are killers. If I had regular access to private property I was hunting  I'd shoot everyone I see and throw in a ditch.

[2eagles]

#followthelaw

[guesswho]

My first 50 years of turkey hunting I never saw a hawk/turkey encounter.   Now the last 5 years I've seen it 3 times.   My theory, due to the decrease of a hawks natural food source like mice, rabbits etc., the raptors have been forced to expand their menu.   The reduction in their prey numbers is directly related to the expansion of coyotes and the increase of raccoons etc because of less trapping.    Just my thought.

[JeffC]

Great picture, also believe they take a lot of poults, know the hawks hunt my bird feeders everyday, will find fresh piles of different song birds feathers every couple of days.

[Hook hanger]

I have witnessed redtail hawks and eagles take down adult turkeys. First time I seen a red tail take out a hen infront of me was 1989. I have seen eagles that make a nest completely ruin a turkey hunting spot.

[Number17]

Great Horned Owls will kill anything they can get their talons on. They will even attack larger prey by dive bombing and punching them with a closed foot, and have been suspected in the death of humans by blunt force trauma. These attacks are about protecting their nest, not predation.

I had a GHO swoop at a gobbler I was calling across a field. My cousin watched a bald eagle kill an adult gobbler during the youth opener one year. A farmer I know has an eagle nest overlooking his farm. He said all summer long those eagles are picking off turkeys, ground hogs, cats, skunks....etc.

[GobbleNut]

Sometime back in the early 1970's, the federal government outlawed the use of a poison (I think it is called 1080) that was widely used for predator control, mostly coyotes, I think. It was outlawed because it was an indiscriminate killer that took out any sort of predator, including birds of prey, that ingested it.

Prior to the outlawing of that poison and how it was used, there were very few of the birds around (hawks, eagles, owls, vultures, crows, ravens, etc.) that might eat off of those poisoned carcasses, at least in this part of the country.  Nowadays, these birds are literally everywhere!  It seems there is a raptor sitting on every other telephone pole in this part of the country now, and their numbers are steadily increasing over time.

I don't know how much impact this increase in raptor numbers has on turkeys, but there are sure a lot more of them around nowadays than the used to be.  From the comments made by others here, that impact could well be more than most of us would have thought.  The pictures seem to support that concern.

[turkey_slayer]

I had a Tom with 2 hens just out of range but within sight a few years ago from the roost til I killed him about 1pm. A hawk dive bombed the hens 3 times through out the morning. The gobbler would see him coming and would take off running towards the hens gobbling which seemed to deter him just enough, and alert the hens, that he never touched a feather.  It's amazing really to see how anything can escape their talons. Lightening fast and stealthy. I have found a few headless turkeys that met their fate via owl.

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[Marc]

Raccoons, oppossums, skunks, and wild pigs take a good toll on nesting birds and egges...

Coyotes and bobcats take poults and adult birds...  But also eat raccoons, oppossums, skunks, and piglets...  And they tend to eat other fur-bearing animals that compete for food with turkeys...  Probably not bobcats, but potentially coyotes are a net benefit to turkey populations from some studies I have seen (which I cannot find currently to post)?

Raptors certainly take their share of turkeys...  I have seen Cooper's hawks chase poults (unsuccessfully), and would guess that any hawk big enough would take advantage of eating a young turkey...  But owls play heck with turkeys...  Scoop em' up at night...  Poults, hens, and even toms....  Especially some of the larger species such as the horned owls...

I have had access on ranches that were very lightly hunted, with birds shutting up almost as soon as they hit the ground (hens and toms)...  Also seen turkeys up in the trees in late morning, where I know they did not roost. Seemed to me that this correlated with unusually high predator populations....  It is my opinion that we are not the only "hunters" that effect turkey behavior.