Turkey Survival Test

[GobbleNut]

Across the northern states, the next few days are expected to be the coldest in twenty five years or more.  We will get a true test of how well turkeys survive in extreme cold.  It will be interesting to see how they do.  I hope that wildlife managers, as well as those of you that keep track of your birds in that country, will be paying attention.

[ddturkeyhunter]

Yes it will be interesting if they will freeze there wattles or Snood at all. It says its -42 where our hunting land is in MN with a 8 MPH wind. Have a large groupe of well over a hundred birds from the surrounding area, on or by our land. Think they might be on neighboreing property by now, they maybe have eaten up our food plots by now. The cold along with the deep snow will hit them hard maybe. Hope not.

[opster246]

Every time I lay one one its back to skin it out, I wonder how in the world they survive any winter - let alone this winter!  Those belly feathers can't be very warm when the wind chill is -50!

[BTH]

Yep and hairy black armpits ......gotta get cold! I would bet they try and find thermal cover like the deer. Thickets, short pines stands etc and group together like big quail.

[RutnNStrutn]

group together like big quail.

Being a firefighter in Florida, I've been out during hurricanes. One night we were fighting a house fire during a hurricane. The homeowner had chickens, ducks and turkeys. They were all out in the yard, huddled together, shoulder to shoulder, sitting down in a wedge shaped formation facing into the wind, turkeys up front, ducks next and chickens last. Darndest thing I ever saw!! But it worked!! They didn't get blown away and after the storm passed through, we drove by in the engine and saw them all out grazing in the yard. 

[FL-Boss]

I always wondered what the turkeys do at night during a bad hurricane. I'm sure during the day they just hunker down. But at night.. I wonder if they still fly up in a hurricane. Part of me thinks they would rather die than sleep on the ground.. but the idea of hanging on in a tall tree with 80+mph winds sounds rough..
I do know we have a few nice hurricanes in 2016 and 2017.. didn't seem to impact them.

[Upfold99]

I always wondered what the turkeys do at night during a bad hurricane. I'm sure during the day they just hunker down. But at night.. I wonder if they still fly up in a hurricane. Part of me thinks they would rather die than sleep on the ground.. but the idea of hanging on in a tall tree with 80+mph winds sounds rough..
I do know we have a few nice hurricanes in 2016 and 2017.. didn't seem to impact them.

Ill let you know this spring hurricane  Michael slammed some of my area. Unbelievable tree damage. Nothing could of been in those trees. I feel like they found a low spot and hunkered down.

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[FL-Boss]

and as for the -40 cold up north right now.. I don't know how any living thing can sustain that. I sure hope they make it..

Also the coldest day all year in Fla - high temp of 52 today ...we are dying down here 

[chadly]

In addition to the cold we have a lot more snow than normal.  I've hunting in SD during some really nasty temps of high's -15.  We saw birds out feeding like any other day.  I'm sure the cold plays a role on them but I think the search for food is harder even harder on them.

[Kylongspur88]

I think if they can get out of the wind and access food they will be fine. Ice worries me more than snow and cold temps.

[paintbrush]

It was -38 at my place this morning and is suppose to get a little bit colder then that tonight. The HIGH today was -18. Turkeys are a lot tougher then some people give them credit for. Suppose to be in the low 30's above zero come Saturday afternoon. That's better then a 70 degree plus change in like 2 days.

[Harty]

-20 temps this am with -60 wind chill in SE Wisconsin. Worse then Antarctica they say. Fortunately it looks to be breaking by this weekend with highs in the 30s and low forties.

[SD_smith]

I think if they can get out of the wind and access food they will be fine. Ice worries me more than snow and cold temps.

Ice is the bigger deal. Last season we had piles of antelope die mainly because we got so much snow early in the winter and we never had those few warmer days like normal to help thaw out a little. The deer and turkeys tend to do better in those circumstances because they will go right up into town and people's farm houses to find food. I doubt this will end up being anything very bad on the population as a whole. Maybe a flock here or there might freeze, but not all. Pray for at least double digits in the next couple weeks. That is why these Merriams out here winter flock up so big into 100+ bird flocks.