Habitat management

[Burtwill]

just a question i am curious about. What management task has caused the quickest and most noticeable impact on your turkey population?

ex. trapping (nest or regular) burning, plots etc. Curious to hear everyone's answer. 

[Greg Massey]

Food Source and undisturbed roosting areas ...  Good nesting habitat ... less pressure is always good ... 

[zelmo1]

Greg is spot on. We have trapped a lot of egg stealers the past few years. In my opinion , it has made a big difference. Z

[Howie g]

Nest raider control / controlled burning / nesting / brooding habitat creation/ planting " turkey " benefited plots ,,,,then last but not least ,, trigger control .

[3bailey3]

I would say the quickest would be burning and then predator control.

[OsceolaDreams]

Trapping and burning

[cuttinAR]

#1 get light to the ground if closed canopy.  Whether that is through thinning or TSI it is critical.  If you burn closed canopy you will not get near the herbaceous response than you will with 30%+ canopy opening.

#2 prescribed fire

#3 wildlife openings managed for turkey broods

#4 trapping nest predators

[Greg Massey]

We have never burned, because that's really not an option for us... We just make sure to supply everything else we need to hold them in our area.

[gatortrax]

I started trapping nest predators here a few years ago when there were only a couple of hens showing up and 1 gobbler. The turkey population has steadily increased and last year, there were 2 hens that raised 14 poults to maturity between the 2 of them.

I feel like trapping has certainly helped.

[ShortMagFan]

In no particular order:
- lots of clover fields. Have expanded a bunch of my fields thru the years and put in several new ones. Have about 20 of 350 acres in open fields. Would like to have more
- some chufa
- burn as much as we can
- I had a mulcher open the understory on about 30 acres that was overgrown. Great deer cover but was not good for turkey. But what we opened has been great for turkey. We keep the understory open with fire
- trapping with a focus on nest predators. For some reason we didn't catch as many this year though
- no mow may. We do not mow until June 1 at the earliest. Our fields are way overgrown by then but it's helped our hatches immensely

[ferocious calls]

Controlling predators can make a difference. How many birds were lost from this bunch. Better yet how many more were saved?

[Dtrkyman]

Give em what they do not have on the property and trap nest raiders!

[bwhana]

#1 = plant lots of white clover (has made more difference than anything we've tried in 12+ years- the more clover, the more turkeys we have in the spring)

#2 = trapping nest raiders (I'm at 19 taken so far on 60 acres)

#3 = controlled burns (our current property owner has never agreed to this or it might be #1)

[nativeks]

Restoration of native grass and introducing fire back onto the property.

[eggshell]

A reminder, fire is not as beneficial in the northern hardwood forest. It matters what part of the country your in and the type habitat you already have. MIxed openings with food, nesting habitat, roosting habitat are my top three. Also, consider what all your neighbors habitat looks like. Turkeys do not just stay in one place. If your neighbor has all big mature woods then you should focus on nesting habitat and brood habitat.