public land field hunting question

[Ky strutt n bust n]

i hunt religously on a huge chunk of public land here in western ky, Land between the Lakes. i've been hunting there for 10+ years and was wondering out of 150,000 + acres or so why i have hardly ever see turkeys in fields like you would anywhere else. and i dont mean in the middle of hunting season but like now, pre-season with no pressure. i know of a few hide away big green fields that are about a mile or so from any gravel road, where i have never seen another mans foot track, surrounded by huge ridges, and creeks, and have never seen nor heard a bird in these fields. very seldonly  my question is why not? why dont the turkeys use these fields? i have better luck working birds on logging roads, and huge wooded ridges than in a beautiful green field where youd see them strutting on the side of interstate but not a mile off the nearest road. ive wondered this for years but would like kinda of an logicial exaplantion. !!!

[ThicketThrasher]

Here in the east Tennessee mountains, we have some fields that were cut out by the forest service during logging operations several years ago. These fields are usually miles from a paved road. The forest service will keep them mowed a couple times a year but I have never seen turkeys using these either. I really can't say why, but I would assume that since there are no cattle in these fields, the turkeys don't have alot to eat here. The fields are fescue  and usually about 2-3 acres in size.

[mnturkey]

I hunt a large public land area in MN and I strictly hunt the field edges, our fields are plowed and corn, soybeans and alfalfa are planted.  I have had considerable luck with the fields.
If the fields are left and grow over with no food they most likely will just pass through.

[Frankinthelaurels]

It has to have something to do with where the hens are located and why they are located there..if they the hens don't go to the fields then the gobblers won't go either... I'm assuming that the woods there must be fairly young and not mature woods that block out all the sunlight so that there's very little under growth and there limited amounts of food for a young flock.. if it's all young woods then maybe enough sunlight is reaching the forest floor to allow enough thickness to supple lots of insect protein for the young poults. That's why in old growth mature woods they go to power lines, gas wells, tram roads and old grown-in fields, that's where the food is for the poults. Remember it's the hens that run the show, they only care about food and survival and really nothing else. If a hen goes in parking lot the gobblers will follow. IT'S all about food for hens, she need lots of insect for her young poults and that's in the sun hit forest floor with lots of young plants, and mainly bugs... could also be predators around fields keeping the hens away... people pressure from tourests. Gobblers also love nothing more to show off on sunlight hit trams road here in the laurel mountains and maybe you have enough roads in the woods to keep them sunny and happy showin' off for the ladies. I'll be coming to LBL for the second quota hunt for the first time, I'm also staying for the entire next week.. I'll let you know more of what I thing when I come back.

[Ky strutt n bust n]

It has to have something to do with where the hens are located and why they are located there..if they the hens don't go to the fields then the gobblers won't go either... I'm assuming that the woods there must be fairly young and not mature woods that block out all the sunlight so that there's very little under growth and there limited amounts of food for a young flock.. if it's all young woods then maybe enough sunlight is reaching the forest floor to allow enough thickness to supple lots of insect protein for the young poults. That's why in old growth mature woods they go to power lines, gas wells, tram roads and old grown-in fields, that's where the food is for the poults. Remember it's the hens that run the show, they only care about food and survival and really nothing else. If a hen goes in parking lot the gobblers will follow. IT'S all about food for hens, she need lots of insect for her young poults and that's in the sun hit forest floor with lots of young plants, and mainly bugs... could also be predators around fields keeping the hens away... people pressure from tourests. Gobblers also love nothing more to show off on sunlight hit trams road here in the laurel mountains and maybe you have enough roads in the woods to keep them sunny and happy showin' off for the ladies. I'll be coming to LBL for the second quota hunt for the first time, I'm also staying for the entire next week.. I'll let you know more of what I thing when I come back.

i too willl be hunting the second quota.  PM sent

[Ky strutt n bust n]

these fields are usually planted in like clover substances and "biologic" food plot setups. and this past fall it was planted in milo, which they left standing and the field was still like that when i was out there 2 weekends ago shed hunting. idk, we've had success couple hundred yards off the fields, but never in. i havent turkey hunted them in 4 years or so for the fact i aint gonna waste no more time and have other more productive spots. it just questioned me over the last couple years

[Wingbone]

I hunted there alot when I was in college at Murray State in the early 2000s, and I witnessed the same thing. I found gobblers roosted within a 100 yds of the fields, but they never went to the fields off the roost. I did kill a few, later in the day, skirting the fields. It was almost like they new not to get out in the fields, but they would get just close enough(without gobbling) to see if there were any hens out there. I don't know I just always attributed it to the tremendous pressure and traffic through LBL during turkey season. I hunt a refuge close to my house that is the same terrain, and I experience the same behaviors there....they avoid the fields.

[jakebird]

Where i hunt in the ridge and valley region of sc pa, turkeys frequent field quite a bit, even on the public land, though heavy pressure usually pushes them back in further when season opens. My fav scenarios are long fields that butt up against steep ridges. The hens are drawn to those fields in the early am to feed on insects, and the gobblers follow and enjoy a wide open strut zone for all the ladies. Im speaking of regularly cultivated crop fields, hay, winter wheat, corn stubble that hasnt been turned under. Perhaps these older fields that see no maintenance or frequent mowing lack the abundant insects that the farm fields produce. Or it could be related to elevation. I rarely see turkeys where i hunt use high elevation fields to the degree of the lower fields at the bases of ridges or along river bottoms. They just arent as fertile, imo so prob much less attractive to insects and in turn, turkeys.