Do we give em too much credit??

[mtns2hunt]

They are a great  creature and have provided me with hours of fun. I think we should get a petition going to hybrenize them so that they can smell. Imagine the challenge!

[Mossyguy]

I think we should get a petition going to hybrenize them so that they can smell. Imagine the challenge!

Please no...I'd like to keep what hair I have left!

[LaLongbeard]

Brain size? I know quite a few humans that have a brain several times larger than a walnut and they aren't very brite. If you hunt them long enough you will see instances of learned behavior. Killing a few suicidal two year olds is different than dealing with an older Gobbler that has been pressured. Multiple studies have shown Gobblers to quit gobbling when pressure increases, they can learn. Going completely silent then circling a callers location and standing there searching every inch till they spot you? That's not instinct he's  not looking for coyotes or bobcats.

[StruttinGobbler3]

As said before, brain size doesn't necessarily correlate to intelligence. However, a turkey is a pretty simple minded creature. He has an innate sense to eat, sleep, fight, breed, and survive. That survival sense is absolutely the most keen and developed of all of them. Just about everything in the woods likes to eat turkey. By nature that makes them extremely paranoid and cautious. Then you add their incredible eyesight and hearing, plus an uncanny ability to pinpoint the source of sound. Also, they are extremely difficult to pattern, as they seldom do the exact same thing twice. I attribute that to the simple mindedness of the bird; I don't think he knows what he will do next. Add up all these factors, along with their naturally wary nature, and you have a bird that's pretty dang tough to kill. They definitely have the mental capacity to remember bad or scary experiences, and they change their behavior accordingly. They're extremely adaptable to change, including hunting pressure. This is why 3+ year old gobblers get increasingly harder and harder to kill. It's not that they're a "wise old bird", and they don't get smarter with age. It's just that the ones who live longer have a larger number of dangerous experiences, which has conditioned them over time to behave in a certain way. Yes, people often exaggerate a turkeys intelligence, and look at them as almost supernatural, which is incorrect. However, most underestimate a gobblers natural senses and instinct, and how well they remember and condition themselves to unpleasant experiences.


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[turkey_slayer]

Turkeys are stupid. Great eyesight and they're hearing is amazing the way they pinpoint sound. But watch them around decoys, reapers, fences. They watch their buddy get his head blown off yet stick around or come right back into the same "hen". Tens of thousands get fooled every year by some that their calling will make you cringe and sound nothing like a real hen. If not for being paranoid they'd be extinct.

[Tom007]

X 10. I think they are extremely wary, especially the older pressured Toms. Their eyesight is unmatched. They have humbled me more times than I can remember. As stated in an earlier post, if turkeys had a deers sense of smell, we wouldn't have many proud pictures posted on our forum.....be safe.....

[Moneyball11]

Idk why but this thread has me thinking about Jurassic Park. Clever girl....


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[Tom007]

OMG, I will have nightmares now...lol

[Turkeytider]

Idk why but this thread has me thinking about Jurassic Park. Clever girl....


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Well, they are indeed rather primitive looking.

[moonshine]

They have INSTINCT, not INTELLIGENCE.  There is a vast difference, but when you get busted it makes you question both; not only the Turkey's but your own!

[Tom007]

Amen, well said. Bottom line, we can't live without em....

[obro]

I had a guy tell me they are not much for thinking but outstanding on reacting . Their senses are very keen . Their eyesight is very good and their ability to know exactly where a sound comes from amazes me .  On top of that their are things trying to eat them everyday so they are always on the look out for something not right . But if if have every seen one keep trying to walk thru a fence or gobble at a truck door slamming you scratch your head .

[Swenny]

Evolution, thank god they can't smell!!

Amen to that!!!  That thought crosses my mind every spring when I'm trying to bag a gobbler.  And I've thought about the reason behind that during those quiet moments in the turkey woods, because if they had any kind of sniffer they'd be damn near impossible to hunt. 

It must be there's only so much space in that little noggin, and once all you add in spectacular visual processing ability along with auditory processing there just isn't any room to spare for smell processing?

[greencop01]

Talk about evolution, their brain may be only the size of a half a walnut but they make monkeys out of us  hunters many, many times a spring.   

[Turkeytider]

I had a guy tell me they are not much for thinking but outstanding on reacting . Their senses are very keen . Their eyesight is very good and their ability to know exactly where a sound comes from amazes me .  On top of that their are things trying to eat them everyday so they are always on the look out for something not right . But if if have every seen one keep trying to walk thru a fence or gobble at a truck door slamming you scratch your head .

That pretty much sums it up.