August Turkey Watching! Picture added

[jb1069]

Since I bought my property 5 years ago this was the first year I was able to get the food plots put out. I have fenced off 7 acres from the pasture and started plowing, discing and adding fertilizer. A week ago Friday I planted approximately 2 acres on each end of the 7 acres and planted a mix of wheat, oats, peas, radishes, turnips and clover. I also added 50lbs of chufa in each 2 acres. I hit the rain cycle just right and had rain the very next morning and the next 2 days following planting. Within 4 days the turkeys started showing up on camera. I couldn't believe the numbers showing up so I set a blind up Saturday evening and went in Sunday morning to watch. It started off slow but by 10am I had 20 birds in the field, all within 30 yards of the blind. The first set of 10 were all hens which included 2 bearded hens. The next 9 that came as a group were all young toms sporting 4 to 5 in beards. I am assuming these were this last springs jakes. The last bird made his entrance with a loud cluck that gathered everyone's attention, a long bearded Tom. I was surprised by the beard length that he was such a small bird. Easily 3 to 5 lbs smaller than the young toms. Once he entered the field the young toms harassed him most of the time. He never stood his ground and was constantly moving away from the mob of young toms. The hens just did their thing and fed for over an hour while the boys mixed up feeding with pecking order games. When they finally left after an hour, they all left with the group they showed up with the long bearded tom leaving with the girls. It was one on the best mornings turkey watching I have ever had and made all the work of the food plots worth it. As I spent the rest of the day thinking about all the good things I saw I realized out of 10 different hens there was not one poult between them all. I am not exactly sure what size poults would be this time of year but all the hens appeared to be the same size and looked like adult birds to me. All the toms were good size and had beards so unless I have unusually fast growing turkeys I don't believe there were any young ones in the group. That is definitely a concern.

[silvestris]

At least you have some turkey factories for the future.  And you have the possibility that the small adult gobbler just may be a very old one.

[GobbleNut]

I agree with silvestris that the long-bearded, light-weight gobbler is likely an old-timer that is the last remaining member of what was once a multi-member bachelor group.  He will probably live out his remaining days as a solitary old hermit.

The group of young gobblers is an indicator that you had a good hatch and survival-to-adulthood in your turkeys in 2022.  The lack of young turkeys this year could be the result of a poor hatch and/or survival this spring,...or it could be that the hen's with poults could just be keeping to themselves and not venturing out where they are visible much right now.  Hopefully, you will see some show up at some point.

Regardless, it appears your turkey population is in good shape for now...and the work you have done in helping them is proving to be well worth your efforts.  Great work! 

[jb1069]

Thanks guys for your input. Your thoughts give me more to think about on the current status of the turkeys in my area.

Gobblenut, I really appreciate you seeing that what I intended to do was to help the turkeys and not just create a killing field. I did this along with trapping due to the low numbers I have been seeing the past few years. It was very surprising to me to see 20 turkeys on my small place in such a short time.

[Greg Massey]

I agree those groups could just be moving through the area, hopefully with all the work you did they will stick around. Spring season will tell you, more about your area and numbers of birds.. The gobblers sure are fun to watch, with how they play games with each other ....

[Paulmyr]

I seen 3 hens with about 20 or so polts 2 weekends ago along side the hwy. One hen had a group of polts with her where the females could easily be mistaken for adult hens if she hadn't been standing amongst them. They all looked like mature hens except she was bigger. This was in North central Minn. The other 2 hens had polts that were about the size of large chickens.

[jb1069]

Picture from this morning added to original post

[tal]

 What was the address?     Warm your heart right there.

[Paulmyr]

Picture from this morning added to original post

I count possibly 15 hens so if statistics hold true, there should be 4 or 5 hens around somewhere with polts.

[Tom007]

Nice to see the birds.......

[JeffC]

thanks for sharing the picture jb1069, hope they stick around for you.

[GobbleNut]

Looks like 21 turkeys in the picture posted.  I see at least three mature gobblers, possibly four, although the closest of the four may be a jake.  Hard to tell, but I don't see the jakes you indicate were observed before, although I suppose some of the distant turkeys include them.  Generally speaking, late summer flocks are segregated into groups of hens, jakes, and mature gobblers, although they might mingle a bit in a field-feeding situation like this. 

Assuming your previous assessment included the nine jakes referenced, and also assuming that the distant turkeys are mostly or all hens (hard to tell for sure), that would indicate you have a minimum of 30 turkeys in the area,...and probably more if there are other hens with poults around.  Looks to me like you have a bright future ahead!   

[Cut N Run]

You just can't have too many turkeys!  Congratulations on creating a great food source.
I set out feed daily as a way to give back (I don't hunt around the house).  It is great to sit, relax, and watch the flock dynamics go on.  Enjoy & good for you!

Jim