Curious to see what you guys think as well..I live in Kentucky around lake Cumberland region, but travel to western Ky/TN every year to hunt with college friends. They have an abundance of crop land in that area, which is all mainly no till row crops, turkey hunting used to be the cats meow there about 5/6 years ago, now my buddies are struggling. Where I live, here in central Kentucky I hear roughly 10 birds every morning off my front porch and turkey numbers are doing good compared to everywhere else. That being said we have some row crops but mainly hay/cow pastures/mature timber. Do you guys see a correlation of low turkey numbers around crop fields?
Crop land vs bird numbers
- Thread starter Kyboy
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catman529
Well-Known Member
Some of the highest turkey numbers I've seen have been around crop fields, but there's also plenty of other good habitat mixed in, not just fields.
That's true and I watch your videos and the places you hunt are the public lands that back up to some crop land. I am not saying crop land around where people like me and you hunt because there is an abundance of mature timber and plenty of thicker places around for nesting.
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
I've been wrong several times. But Usually big ag is a wildlife desert.
I personally think that some of these new chemicals farmers are using to burn these fields down before planting are adversely effecting the turkey population.
Its largely habitat. When grain prices go up fence rows and wood lots come down. as markets expand poor ground comes out of CRP and goes into production. Big fields with scarce habitat also makes life easy for predators.
Herbicides are bad, pesticides are worse but neither are as bad as poor stewardship!
My grandmother was a church of christ (old school) christian. She believed in tithing applied to everything we do, not just cash income.
She left 10% of her garden for nature, she instructed my grandfather to leave 10% of his hay and corn for nature and even would never pick all of the berries from the wild vines. Even she trapped to protect her hens which we do far less now. Her generation lived thru the greatest repopulation of wildlife in history. Our generation grew up on excess and we are now seeing a decline.
Habitat
Stewardship!
Herbicides are bad, pesticides are worse but neither are as bad as poor stewardship!
My grandmother was a church of christ (old school) christian. She believed in tithing applied to everything we do, not just cash income.
She left 10% of her garden for nature, she instructed my grandfather to leave 10% of his hay and corn for nature and even would never pick all of the berries from the wild vines. Even she trapped to protect her hens which we do far less now. Her generation lived thru the greatest repopulation of wildlife in history. Our generation grew up on excess and we are now seeing a decline.
Habitat
Stewardship!
Displaced_Vol
Well-Known Member
I forget the exact quote or where I even heard or read it, but the gist was that over time if a producer put most of his effort into taking care of his soil the crops would take care of themselves. Ie, not just a corn or bean farmer but i farm to take care of my soil. I live in a CREP region (enhanced CRP which didn't necessarily mean more $ for owners, but more importantly more lands qualified). and those are coming out of enrollment pretty rapidly. They did not re-authorize the program a couple years ago and I hate to say it but I think our F&W might have dropped the ball a bit on that one. Now, I also have a pretty conservative bend to my thinking and I understand the Gov probably ought not be in the business of handing out money to everybody for everything. If there is no financial incentive however, these marginally productive pieces of ground are going to go back into production...which is going to mean a huge loss in quality habitat. Don't blame the farmer or land owner, that's their business.
To the OP the simple answer I have is that turkeys, and a lot of other critters, like habitat diversity. Your place just has more of it naturally. So I think you gotta thank the good lord for that one. KY & TH both have some pretty drastic changes in topography and habitat, what makes them so great IMO.
there's my early morning ramblings.
To the OP the simple answer I have is that turkeys, and a lot of other critters, like habitat diversity. Your place just has more of it naturally. So I think you gotta thank the good lord for that one. KY & TH both have some pretty drastic changes in topography and habitat, what makes them so great IMO.
there's my early morning ramblings.
Absolutely in West TN.
Yes, I do too. Back before they started using the no till system, wildlife flourished around crop land. There is no possible way the spray can be good with the mass quantities they put them out at.
I agree. That wouldn't help explaining the massive turkey decline in my area where there is virtually zero row crops though.
Not sure on that, around here anywhere there is not crops they are plentiful.
bbqit
Well-Known Member
Do you have fire ants up there?
this^^ I have noticed when you have good habitat around the crop fields, the fields seem to draw the birds in. If the crop fields are left to grow up, then the turkeys have suffered, from my observation. However, if you change a crop filed to a cow pasture, that seems to be ok with them too. they just need a place to, bug, do their mating ritual and habitat to nest and roost in and they seem to do ok. start taking one or more of those elements out and it can be devastating. A lot of the land used to have all those elements here, but it is changing with the times.
Nope
bbqit
Well-Known Member
Glad to hear. We had quail on the way back until the fire ant came
catman529
Well-Known Member
Converting the fields to CRP doesn't hurt the turkey at all, they will just go to do their strutting and bugging on neighboring pastures. Grown up fields are much better for nesting hens, just not good for hunting.
If the managers would burn 1/3 of those grown up areas every 3 three years the increase in diversity and food would become obvious
catman529
Well-Known Member
Burned fields are good, I wish they'd do more of that around here.
bbqit
Well-Known Member
Ashes fall on other peoples property and they complain. Then there are the stupid ones that lite a field while the wind is blowing toward the highway. Yet I will say, even with the no burn law they put in it never stopped any from burning
MRUTVOL
Well-Known Member
Absolutely..... I have seen a direct correlation with the new agricultural processes and the turkey population declines in my areas. Once this process of coming in and spraying these fields with herbicides and pesticides and making these fields barren wasteland for habitat the birds have either left the area or numbers greatly declined. They come in and spray them either just before season starts or in the beginning of it. What a few years ago were just a few hundred scattered acres of killed fields are now thousands of acres of prime habitat gone. Also the now earlier cutting of hayfields used for nesting has created another hurdle for turkey survival. Hay cutting used to not start til June but now with new fertilization and seed advancements May has become the time in my part of Tennessee. In one 150 acre field 8 nest including 3 sitting hens were destroyed last year. You add in natural causes such as predators and wet weather the turkey population is gonna suffer. Have not seen a poult of turkeys in few years now where it was common to see multiples . There are areas that have good turkey populations but I notice they are in more hilly cattle pastured Type lands with woods mixed in. Had a farmer tell me ten years ago that unless turkeys changed their nesting habits from these big hayfields there were going to be fewer of them and he was right. Problem is not much can be done cause farmers farm to make a living not to satisfy the turkeys.
