Predators and quiet birds?

[mgm1955]

Save a turkey, kill them coyotes when you can

[drenalinld]

I shoot every coyote in range with whatever weapon I have. Vocal birds are more closely related to population density and competition than to predator population in my opinion. I do believe it has some effect though. Birds with hens just don't need to gobble.

[dejake]

Yotes don't do that much damage.  More birds are lost to racoons than anything else (eggs).

[guesswho]

Yotes don't do that much damage.  More birds are lost to racoons than anything else (eggs).

I tend to agree.  Coons, skunks, hawks etc. are rough on the population.  I still kill every yote I get a chance to though.   Look at a yotes front foot compared to a bobcat.  Pretty easy to see who's better equipped to hunt and kill.  Not  saying yotes don't. 

As far as silent birds caused by predation.  I don't buy into it much.  Sure if a gobbler or hen sees a coyote or other predator their probably going to be silent for a short time, but then their going to go back to being turkeys, who are vocal critters at times.

[Ozark870Hunter]

http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,56165.0/topicseen.html
Shot a yote this year while calling to a tom. Glad MO is allowing coyote's to be taken during turkey season again.
The birds on and around our property seem to be pretty quiet this year and we are seeing more yotes
and bobcats than ever before. I plan on taking up trapping to help out.

[THattaway]

Op asked for thoughts. Here's mine.
These type discussions always boil down to folks who don't believe any kind of pressure affect turkeys and those that do.

Turkeys are conditioned to response just like most all animals. You kick the crap outta the family dog when you get home from work everyday and pretty soon the family dog stops meeting you at the front yard when you get home. We had all sorts of animals when I was a kid. The goats would bully the turkeys off scratch feed so I'd sling a rock or two at the billy to run him off. After a while I could simply swing my arm in motion (without a rock) and old billy would haul butt to the far end of the pasture to hide in the woods. May be a stretch for some but a billy goat has a brain about 10-15 times bigger than a turkey.

I kill a yote or two every spring coming to my calls. No doubt in my mind what they intend to do with the turkey they expect to find. Hard for me to believe they would respond if they haven't already had a taste somewhere beforehand. When I see bobcat tracks on a tract of land more often than not the turkey hunting will be dead as a hammer. May not be what other's experience but that's what I've noticed over the years here in upstate SC.

And hunting pressure, well, where I hunt on public land (National forest) I'd say turkeys see far more hunters in the month of April than they do other predators. You can judge how I feel about hunting pressure having a silencing effect on some turkeys. And before some knucklehead begins to tell me it's just my not being able to call etc., I've killed a limit of 5 here in said public land (and a little private land in the past) each of the last 20 years.

[Honolua]

TTT sounds like More guys need to trap

[jims]

I called in a giant boar black bear a couple years ago here in Colo while turkey calling.   I had to wave my arms so the bear didn't run me over....it was a bit spooky!  You never know what will show up!

[Timmer]

I have historically avoided shooting the coyotes given that I try to have respect for all wildlife and I have a hard time shooting things that I don't eat or have another use for, and there is always the hope that I can strike up the bird again.   That being said, every time a coyote has come to my calling the turkey took off never to come back.  At some point I want to protect my hunt.  I'm leaning towards pulling the trigger from now on and eliminating the problem.

[Double B]

Good call Timmer.  We are starting to see a lot more bobcats recently where I hunt.   I read through this thread and agree with thoughts about egg predation.   Coyote get some too, but I really think the bobcats have a hay day with poults and bigger birds too.  We have no season on bobcats in Indiana,  so right now it seems to be a growing  cat population and a shrinking bird population.   I talked to a high up DNR employee about this issue at a recent forestry meeting and made a pitch for a season.  Indiana turkey population has peaked according to DNR and obviously the bobcats are increasing. Are Bobcats a known big time turkey problem for you all that have a bunch of them?

[owlhoot]

In north missouri I believe the bobcats add to the problem, had a 40 acre or so woodlot next to pastures and an old feedlot that always had turkeys for over 10 years we had been hunting it. The bobcats made their home there and very soon no more turkey were seen in or around the place.
Now i am not saying they killed a bunch but the turkeys moved on.

[Gobble!]

Yotes don't do that much damage.  More birds are lost to racoons than anything else (eggs).

I tend to agree.  Coons, skunks, hawks etc. are rough on the population.  I still kill every yote I get a chance to though.   Look at a yotes front foot compared to a bobcat.  Pretty easy to see who's better equipped to hunt and kill.  Not  saying yotes don't. 

As far as silent birds caused by predation.  I don't buy into it much.  Sure if a gobbler or hen sees a coyote or other predator their probably going to be silent for a short time, but then their going to go back to being turkeys, who are vocal critters at times.

x2

[Texforce]

I am definitely in agreement that turkeys don't, and will not tolerate a bobcat in the same area. I am of the opinion that they just relocate to a safer place. I have seen this first hand on an awesome piece of land in the TX Panhandle. No bobcats, nor signs of bobcats = Lots and lots of turkeys......A bobcat shows up = turkeys disappear......Remove bobcat = Turkeys return. Just my 2 cents.   Good Huntin'

[LaLongbeard]

In  the areas I hunt  crows ,coons ,skunks are the top egg predators. Bobcats and to a lesser degree coyotes for adults mostly hens. I shoot every nest/turkey predator I can. Bobcats are especially bad during nesting time once they start killing hens they can ruin a years hatch killing hens on the nest. Ive had coyotes come charging in on a gobbler I was working this usually shuts him up for a while if not the rest of the day but he was right back in the same area gobbling the next morning.They deal with predators everyday its part of life. 

[jims]

Where I hunt here in Colo there are coyotes, bobcats, mtn lions, and bears....lots of predators!  In fact, 4 years ago I called in a chocolate phased black bear.  I had to wave my arms and yell to keep him from running me over.  He was close enough I could see foam in his mouth!  The turkeys here are super quiet.  They likely get eaten if they make much noise!  They sometimes gobble around an hour before daylight on the roost and don't make a squeak once they hit the ground.  It's a challenge trying to find gobblers in country with trees when they don't make noise.  I pretty much look for scratch marks and sign because they are so quiet.