Well, don't THAT suck ??

[Scottf270]

Buddy called today said a hen had 7 little ones with her in his yard today. I've been trapping his property hard for 3 years. Killed 2 mature gobblers this spring for the first time in a long time.

Saw a group of 6 Jakes this spring as well. Saw numerous hens and my buddy heard other gobbles after the season. Things are looking up around here.

I hear the gloom and doom surrounding turkeys but I got off my azz and did what I could and am seeing a real difference. I encourage you guys to buy a dozen coon, possum, skunk, coyote and bobcat traps and get after it.

[zelmo1]

Buddy called today said a hen had 7 little ones with her in his yard today. I've been trapping his property hard for 3 years. Killed 2 mature gobblers this spring for the first time in a long time.

Saw a group of 6 Jakes this spring as well. Saw numerous hens and my buddy heard other gobbles after the season. Things are looking up around here.

I hear the gloom and doom surrounding turkeys but I got off my azz and did what I could and am seeing a real difference. I encourage you guys to buy a dozen coon, possum, skunk, coyote and bobcat traps and get after it.

This is real peeps. I have a trapper friend and he started last fall. I hunt when I can but he is thinning them out. My overall numbers are down, but I think they might bounce back if we keep thinning out the egg / nest raiders. Not a lot of poults seen here and not one hen with more than 3 poults. I put on a lot of miles scouting year round and it has declined 3 years running. I am hoping we can turn it around in our small area. Everyone needs to do a little bit. Z

[Howieg]

Agreed , if " every " turkey hunter would just do a little nest raider control we would see survival rates improve .     And don't tell me , well I only hunt public and can't do any trapping .
BS ,  check regs and do your part ...

[Yoder409]

Agreed , if " every " turkey hunter would just do a little nest raider control we would see survival rates improve .     

RIGHT ON !!!!!!!

For the price of ONE BOX of 5 TSS shells........... a guy can buy 4 DP coon traps, a bottle of fish oil and a bag of marshmallows.

It's EASY !!!!!!!!

[Vintage]

I would say you haven't priced DP's lately. LOL

[Jim K]

At my place I have several hens with poults. I watch turkeys every day. Over the years I keep saying only 30% of the hens nest. Now I'm just talking here at my place. I'll see hens walking around together all spring. Just seems to be the way it is. Maybe they are Jenny's don't know. My neighbor has been trapping here for three years now. It has definitely helped. If he stops trapping, I'll start. It's all we can do.

[Wvgobbler]

Yeah that's not good... I seen 2 hens Saturday with 10 poults each!! Fingers crossed

[aclawrence]

Don't no if you get FFG but it said State of bird report shows massive bird decline only exceptions were the waterbirds and ducks,  My guess is chemicals and the G5 EMF are causing havoc on all animals including human. Either or it still sucks.

I used to see red wing black birds when I was growing up around my papas farm all the time. I don't ever see those birds anymore.


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[Yoder409]

I would say you haven't priced DP's lately. LOL

I believe I paid $13/each at Rural King last fall.

[Yoder409]

I would say you haven't priced DP's lately. LOL

I believe I paid $13/each at Rural King last fall.

My bad.   

They're $14.99 now.

[Scottf270]

I just bought 6 more at Rural King last week for $14.99. Gives me 20 dog proofs. I'm mad at them....lol.

[Paulmyr]

Some pretty interesting stuff on the TFT Wild Turkey Science podcast about predators and trapping. Seems there is an incredible shortage of brood rearing habitat across the country for polts just out of the nest and for the 1st couple weeks after being hatched. The term coincidental comes up a lot. Because of the lack of good habitat, most polts from nests that get predated most likely wouldn't survive anyways. Many dying from environmental extremes whether it's being too cold, too hot, not enough to eat, or being vulnerable to predation that wouldn't happen if the proper habitat was in place.


The consensus seems to be trapping can be very successful if the proper habitat is in place. If the habitat sucks than trapping is a mute point.

[Greg Massey]

Sometimes you may not see the poults, hens are pretty amazing in how they protect them from predators. I've seen hen's spread wings on the ground and keep poults safe under cedar trees, to let the other hens feed. It's pretty amazing to see all this take place while some feed and others protect the flock .....

[Yoder409]

I just bought 6 more at Rural King last week for $14.99. Gives me 20 dog proofs. I'm mad at them....lol.

Was just at Rural King end of last week.  They were out of DP's.

Hopefully that's a good sign.......that folks are USING them and removing raccoons.

[Howieg]

Nesting fun fact ... some of the lone eggs you see away from a nest are possibly toted away from the nest because they are bad or broken . The hen will do this to protect the remaining eggs .
The hen will also sometimes eat the bad egg .