How smart can they be?

[deerbasshunter3]

Let me start off by saying that this is not intended to start a debate about decoys.

After several years of studying and really putting a lot into deer hunting, I have become a pretty good deer hunter. One thing I have come to realize is that as smart as deer are, they are not, by any means, mythical creatures, so to speak. I think we tend to put them up on a higher pedestal than maybe they should be. Now, there is no denying that a deer can smell, hear, and sense things much better than us humans, but they are, after all, just animals.

I can't help but see turkey in the same way. They can see real well, and hear real well, but how smart can they really be? I mean if you think about it, some people put out decoys that do not even move. Shouldn't that set off an alarm to a turkey that something isn't right? I mean, if you walked into a building and there were some people standing around, but not moving at all, wouldn't you start to think something isn't right?

[drenalinld]

Not smart at all. Great eyesight. Good hearing just not able to tell real calling from some bad imitation. No reasoning ability. Survival instincts are hyper alert.

[guesswho]

if you walked into a building and there were some people standing around, but not moving at all, wouldn't you start to think something isn't right?

No, I'd just freeze and not move.  I'd be afraid I'd set of a bomb or something. 

Lot of hunters give a turkey's brain way to much credit.  Their eye's and ears are what keeps them alive.  Turkeys react to what they see and hear, they don't think about.  I've seen hog wire outsmart them.  I've watched them walk back and forth trying to get through it.  But let something scare them they immediately react and go up and over.  Sometimes I feel bad for shooting a critter like a turkey that's not very smart, but that only lasts for a second or two. 

[mgm1955]

Survivors not rocket scientists!

[Tail Feathers]

Something has wanted to eat them every day of their life, even in the egg.
They aren't so much smart as the are st good at not being killed and eaten.

[Spurs]

Best way I have heard it put, "Turkey ain't smart, they just live with one foot on the panic button".

[Kevin6Q]

They are not smart but paranoid as (expletive deleted) about sudden changes in the environment. They see or hear something odd and they are gone. It is what keeps them alive. Why the blast from a 3 1/2" shell doesn't scatter then like you'd think it should is beyond me but my guess is loud booms and a flopping flock mate doesn't resemble a fox or other predator they managed to survive before humans began using guns.

[WildTigerTrout]

Unlike deer, turkeys do not have a curious bone in their body. If anything looks out of place they are gone and I mean right now. They spend their entire life scared to death. They take no chances. IMO their eyesight is far better than any deer especially when it comes to movement.

[deerbasshunter3]

Coming from a long line of sure 'nuff turkey hunters, we've always considered them to be the smartest critters in the woods. I personally couldn't respect a so called true turkey hunter who thought them to be stupid. Then again, we've always made it a point to hunt truly wild turkeys and not the "pets". To each there own though.

I was not trying to say that I think turkeys are stupid. All I was getting at is that it baffles me as to how a turkey can see and hear so well, and sometimes be so elusive, but doesn't have a problem coming into decoys that aren't even moving.

If a turkey spend its life scared to death of any change around them, why doesn't another turkey that isn't moving, and does not move while they are walking around it, scare the live bird?

I guess maybe it is the same principal as a buck during the rut. It is so love struck that it tends to throw caution to the wind just to mate.

[RutnNStrutn]

if you walked into a building and there were some people standing around, but not moving at all, wouldn't you start to think something isn't right?

No, I'd just freeze and not move.  I'd be afraid I'd set of a bomb or something.

Lot of hunters give a turkey's brain way to much credit.  Their eye's and ears are what keeps them alive.  Turkeys react to what they see and hear, they don't think about.

Yep!! That would be like a guy walking up to a mannequin, and saying, "Heeeeyyyyyyy baby!!! Wanna get a drink?"
Hmm, then again, I've seen a lot of guys in bars that wouldn't be above doing that. 
But seriously, obviously critters don't have the intellect to reason. It's more instinct, reaction and going into survival mode.

[K9Doc]

Best way I have heard it put, "Turkey ain't smart, they just live with one foot on the panic button".

This is true. Very true. However, I have hunted
Gobblers in heavily pressure areas that
You just Wont likely kill in a traditional
Manner or with a "Cheap A-- Decoy"

Use a stuffer with movement or different
Calls like Jake yelps have helped me bag
Several tough Old Spurred Birds tho!!!!

[spaightlabs]

Let me start off by saying that this is not intended to start a debate about decoys.

After several years of studying and really putting a lot into deer hunting, I have become a pretty good deer hunter. One thing I have come to realize is that as smart as deer are, they are not, by any means, mythical creatures, so to speak. I think we tend to put them up on a higher pedestal than maybe they should be. Now, there is no denying that a deer can smell, hear, and sense things much better than us humans, but they are, after all, just animals.

I can't help but see turkey in the same way. They can see real well, and hear real well, but how smart can they really be? I mean if you think about it, some people put out decoys that do not even move. Shouldn't that set off an alarm to a turkey that something isn't right? I mean, if you walked into a building and there were some people standing around, but not moving at all, wouldn't you start to think something isn't right?

I live in Colorado.  We have lots of buildings with people sitting around and not moving - marijuana dispensaries. 

[mudhen]

Hmmmm...maybe the breeding season has something to do with something??....

Decoys not moving?  I've seen live hens stand still for 20+ mins...

I hope someone tells the birds how dumb they are!!!




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[zelmo1]

  Not dumb, they are wary. Almost everything in the woods will eat either their eggs, young or the biguns. Their survival instinct is keen. Their eyesight and hearing is acute. Just because we fool them once in a while doesn't mean they don't know we are there. I don't think they have any higher reasoning than a rock but they know their woods and are survivors. Al Baker

[M Sharpe]

Hogs are a lot smarter than turkeys!!
Lot of the old timers said anyone could kill a lovelorn gobbler in the spring!