Rafter

Buddy and I were on a lease that had a great turkey population.

He had a good tom roosted, at first light the bird was going off, hammering his hen talk. After a half hour, the tom is still gobbling, up in the tree, my buddy is wondering if he’s ever going to fly down….
From 50 yards behind him he hears “brrrrrrrrt”; somebodies feeder going off ( hog hunting was on year round), followed by “ fop fop fop fop “ as the bird flies right by….

ETA: I live in “town”, but there are a few local blocks of woods that had remnant populations, including the Zoo which has a couple hundred acres of swamp around it and is less than a half mile away.
Not often, but on the rare occasion some wander through. This bunch came by after the hurricane, pretty sure they were looking for some high ground; all the swamps were full of water.

Attached File

East TN has more turkeys than any place I’ve ever been. A literal turkey shoot.

NH laughs at turkeys. They're the equivalent of seagulls where I live.

Turkey pic thread!

DSC_6017_PoultPair by FredMan, on Flickr

Flock by FredMan, on Flickr

Strut 20170403 by FredMan, on Flickr

Edit by FredMan, on Flickr

Frontfield Flock Bunched by FredMan, on Flickr

Gobbler Strut 2022-03-17 by FredMan, on Flickr

Curious Hen by FredMan, on Flickr

This also explains the video.

Or dent the sides of your car pecking at their reflections!

Missouri DNR teamed up with a Wildlife Conservation professor at Mizzou in the Sixties to bring back the American Wild Turkey. He used a cross of domestic turkeys with wild ones - true wild turkeys need a very narrow eco zone to thrive and those areas were being destroyed by cattle grazing and agriculture.

His problem was to keep the intelligence of of the wild ones with the wider eco zone of the domestics. There is nothing stupider than a white domestic Turkey, or stealthier than a wild one.

By 1971 Missouri  was very successfully introducing these beautiful turkeys into the State. Other states starting to do the same, and now in 2022 those Missouri turkeys are nationwide.

They are surviving and flourishing up here in the Great north  Woods in Minnesota and have survived long winters with temps as low -48° F.

Had video on my game cam of two hens with their poults. Couple deer came along and the hens gathered their brood under them and spread their wings out. Made me wonder if deer try to kill the poults or what the reason was for their behavior.

Deer stomp is a thing