Are Northren States Turkeys Now Just As Wary As Southern States Turkeys Or No?

[quavers59]

     The Turkeys up here in New York + New Jersey have really become super Wary now- Spring of 2020 compared  to the Spring of 1995.
     Just alot more expert Spring Turkey Hunters out + about on the Public Lands.
     Also- the advid Hikers + especially  Mountain  Bikers are out now at the crack of Dawn on the weekends starting by late March and Turkey Season in New York opens on May 1st.
     The Turkeys are used to seeing and running from fast moving Mountain  Bikes with Loud Riders wearing many different  colors. Very Bright Blues, neon greens. Bright Pinks,etc.
    Nothing against them as Public Land is open to all groups.
    So do you think that Northren Turkeys are now just as Wary as Southren Turkeys?

[PalmettoRon]

Turkeys are wary anywhere they are pressured. The more pressure, the warier they become. I have hunted Osceolas in places where they are absolutely stupid, at least early in the season, and have hunted Merriam's on an Indian Reservation in AZ late in the season when they are extremely wary. I don't think it has anything to do with geography. So, yes, if birds up north are getting more pressure now, they may well be just as wary as public land birds down south.

[PalmettoRon]

Beat me to it and much more succinctly warrent423!

[owlhoot]

Walkers will not  bother them too much. We have some walking trails around here and you can get really close ,shorts white t-shirt and all. Little different because they do not ever get hunted by man.
Another horse an bike area same thing .

[Dtrkyman]

Pressure, I have seen private land birds as ignorant as any where there is pressure!

[Tom007]

     The Turkeys up here in New York + New Jersey have really become super Wary now- Spring of 2020 compared  to the Spring of 1995.
     Just alot more expert Spring Turkey Hunters out + about on the Public Lands.
     Also- the advid Hikers + especially  Mountain  Bikers are out now at the crack of Dawn on the weekends starting by late March and Turkey Season in New York opens on May 1st.
     The Turkeys are used to seeing and running from fast moving Mountain  Bikes with Loud Riders wearing many different  colors. Very Bright Blues, neon greens. Bright Pinks,etc.
    Nothing against them as Public Land is open to all groups.
    So do you think that Northren Turkeys are now just as Wary as Southren Turkeys?

I thought they were always just as wary, strictly my opinion having hunted the southern guys too. Early season, open woods,  Big woods Mountain gobblers are about as tough and wary as they come. What I have noticed since the 90's is less gobbling, they have learned that significant gobbling leads to significant deaths....this is strictly my experience, and by no means has any biological knowledge or expertise involved. They are all tough in their own way. Great thread, need to hear from all areas of our country...

[CAPTJJ]

One thing I have noticed is everyone seems to have turkeys that are harder to hunt than in other places.

[Happy]

I haven't hunted a lot of different areas but I have hung around a few fellows that have been all over chasing turkeys. Their general thoughts were most everything west of the Mississippi was less challenging then those east and the Osceola sat somewhere in between. That was just a very broad observation though.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Howie g]

Come on fellas , everybody knows these " dirty south " gobblers come from the devil himself .
  If you can kill em here , you can kill em anywhere ...

[Gooserbat]

Genetic evolution...
Overtime the easiest to call birds get shot and their genetics die with them.  Turkey hunting or calling as we know it is a southern thing and many decades and generations of call inquisitive birds have been removed from the gene pool. The hard to call ones lived longer and passed on their hateful genetics.

[turkeyfool]

In my opinion, no. Also, because of Covid getting rid of most of the people at my company last year, I did have the chance to hunt a lot of different states. I would also say that I'd much much much rather hunt turkeys in the north than in the south, for a multitude of reasons. But to answer your question, the fella who said the one commonality is that everyone has turkeys in their state that are harder than others due to pressure is probably an accurate statement

[Nate]

 In Kenny Morgan's book he.talked of MO. Ozarks and Mississippi as the tuffest birds I agree there tuff but I think more cuzz there 100 percent wild. I've been in several states and even with lots of pressure they were not as challenging as MO gobblers in saying that any time any day one may run right up and beg you to kill him.

[THattaway]

Dunno about wary but their accent and all that cussing wears on my nerves.

[Cut N Run]

I've never hunted turkeys outside of a 10 county area in central N.C., but I can tell that the ones facing little hunting pressure are easier to fool than more experienced, pressured birds.  If he's witnessed one (or more) of his buddies being shot, he'll be more cautious than he started.

Jim

[Paulmyr]

When they 1st opened the season in North Central Mn by our cabin all I could think about was how dumb and easy to kill those birds would be having never been hunted.  I thought all I would have to do lay out a few calls and they would come running. I was wrong. They acted just like all the other turkeys I've hunted. Some come running in, most play hard to get.