Bad Omen

[Dtrkyman]

Something like 70 percent of the eggs laid never hatch, another 70% never make it two weeks and the of the remaining poults 70% never make it a year!

Think about that for a minute, everything likes to eat turkeys!

A really good example of how predator swamping can help, if all the poults are hatched in a small window more have a chance to survive!  Same with any prey species.  Another example of the potential affects of interrupting the breeding cycle. 

[Sir-diealot]

This past week I've had both coons and skunks on my back porch.  Game camera told me so.  Coons I can trap,  skunks? Not so much.   
I used to trap about 10 coon behind the house each year until someone bought the property and posted it. 
I'm using peppermint oil and Irish Spring soap to keep them off of the porch.  2 days and no unwanted visitors so far.

Line your property line with Cayenne pepper, does a great job of keeping skunk away, of course you have to refresh after a rainfall. Also moth balls work if you do not have pets to worry about. Here is another method with Cayenne Pepper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTTPvG5lWQ

[West Augusta]

This past week I've had both coons and skunks on my back porch.  Game camera told me so.  Coons I can trap,  skunks? Not so much.   
I used to trap about 10 coon behind the house each year until someone bought the property and posted it. 
I'm using peppermint oil and Irish Spring soap to keep them off of the porch.  2 days and no unwanted visitors so far.

Line your property line with Cayenne pepper, does a great job of keeping skunk away, of course you have to refresh after a rainfall. Also moth balls work if you do not have pets to worry about. Here is another method with Cayenne Pepper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTTPvG5lWQ

So far the Irish Spring soap and peppermint oil on a Q tip have kept them off of the porch.  I'll expand if this keeps working.  Hate to waste good Cayenne on a skunk or coon. 

[Turkeybutt]

Paulmyr method works! If the skunk can't see you, it won't spray at least from my experience. I always wrapped the trap first leaving the door free of any wrapping.

[zelmo1]

Two skunks 'relocated' this weekend. 3 yotes slipped the noose though. I am patient, their greediness will be my good fortune,

[zelmo1]

I saw 2 hens that had 5 poults with them on Monday. Still very small but it is encouraging to see them. I found some ammo for my 6.5 creedmore and am confident that the coyote population will go down a bit around here. I am doing a local coyote/ egg stealer bounty contest around here to get them thinned out a little. It's worth a few calls to keep their numbers down. God Bless and whack a turkey predator in your area. Z

[JeffC]

Good luck on the fur hunt, look forward to some pictures.

[nativeks]

I've yet to see a single poult up here.

A guy down the road has been hatching pheasants. He made some fake nests with unhatched eggs to see how long it would take to get raided. First night something got them.

[zelmo1]

Finally saw a single hen with /7 big poults.  They were twice the size as the ones I saw last week. Gives me a little more hope. I did see a couple dry hens also at the edge of dark too. That is concerning. Strange year so far. No poults for a breeding hen is usually one of 3 things. Egg stealer got the nest, predator got the poults or she is dry. They all suck but are part of the cycle. I hope it works out, seems the numbers around here are going down, noticeably. But maybe we are just leveling off to what we can handle. Z

[zelmo1]

Well I just saw the smallest poults I have ever seen, not 3" tall. This is weird on July 7th. They can't be 2/3 weeks old. ??

[zelmo1]

I have seen 2 more bigger broods recently. Weird thing is that one was the size of a patridge and the other brood was all tiny chicks. Still better numbers 6ish in each brood. Better signs I hope. Z