Poults Not Seen!

[Wrangler95]

Rode around this afternoon and saw probably 15 hens and not 1 poult!Clay county is where I ride around and turkey hunting is sure not what it was at onetime!In years past the kill was between 600 and 700 per-season to between 100-and 200 these days.

 

[Iglow]

I've yet to see a poult.

 

[MickThompson]

None for me either and I've been out early enough to catch them in the fields

I did get to hear one fire off an handful of gobbles though

 

[Carlos Viagra]

I've seen 5 hens on Catoosa this week- none of them had any poults.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Zero poults with any of them running around my places. Sucks

 

[TheLBLman]

I'm hoping it's still a bit early to be seeing many.
But I admit, "hope" is not much a plan.

 

[deerhunter10]

I saw 11 today with 2 hens first ones I've seen this year. All looked big enough to fly as well.

 

[Boone25/06]

Hens have shown back up on my property after disappearing for a few weeks to nest. Now seeing 9 hens hanging around all day without the first sighting of a poult. Haven't even seen any with hens anywhere this year. Doesn't look good at all. Still plenty of gobblers and hens around though.

 

[Carlos Viagra]

I'm beginning to think maybe the over-population of predators is the problem.

 

[th88]

Ouch. I'm just a few miles below TN state line in MS and my area is off to a really good start. More May/early June poult reports than normal. Looks like we may be set for our third good hatch in a row.

One thing that comes to mind is we missed a lot of the severe weather events/flash flooding a lot Of TN got in May. Can't help but wonder if missing that weather is what saved our hatch.

 

[Jbird22]

Ouch. I'm just a few miles below TN state line in MS and my area is off to a really good start. More May/early June poult reports than normal. Looks like we may be set for our third good hatch in a row.

One thing that comes to mind is we missed a lot of the severe weather events/flash flooding a lot Of TN got in May. Can't help but wonder if missing that weather is what saved our hatch.

I'd say missing that weather played a huge role in what you're seeing. We got some big rains here in South MS and I'm sure our hatch will reflect it, unfortunately.

 

[TN Larry]

Saw two hens today on trail cam and had at least 3 poults with them. Could have been more but all I could see.

 

[deerfever]

Ouch. I'm just a few miles below TN state line in MS and my area is off to a really good start. More May/early June poult reports than normal. Looks like we may be set for our third good hatch in a row.

One thing that comes to mind is we missed a lot of the severe weather events/flash flooding a lot Of TN got in May. Can't help but wonder if missing that weather is what saved our hatch.

Weather is such a big factor involved in poult survival . We had such a wet spring I was worried about our situation. 2022 was dry as could be and we reaped the benefits this season. Good to hear you guys are off to a good start, hopefully people start seeing more in TN. I have not seen any as of yet.

 

[tickweed]

I saw a hen last week had twelve very small ones with her in Madison county.

 

[Wrangler95]

This has been the most rain in May that I can remember here in Clay county,that is great for the ones who have had a great hatch!

 

[knightrider]

here

 

[Crappieaddict]

I saw a hen with two poults yesterday. I was disappointed, but based on these comments, it could be worse. They were already able to fly.

 

[TNTreeman]

I've seen several hens with poults as early as 10 days ago. They didn't appear to have anymore than 2-3 with them but I didn't stick around to see for sure.

 

[drake799]

I seen 6 hens together the other day no poults.

 

[sharpshooter]

Saw 3 different hens at or near North Cumberland WMA last weekend and they all had poults with them.

 

[DeerCamp]

I'm beginning to think maybe the over-population of predators is the problem.

This is a compounding problem as well, because as Turkey's decrease in population, a higher % of remaining turkeys will be killed by predation.

There is something major happening right now, and I have some suspicions that its at least partially related to use of pesticides in agriculture and its impact on available insect food sources for all game birds.

 

[megalomaniac]

We had a decent hatch, but have lost most of our poults already to hawks

The successful hens are down to 2 or 3 poults already.

 

[Wrangler95]

There is sure more going on than what the Wildlife experts know,Im sure its many things combined.Two things I know for sure is nest predators and hawks and owls.These two things are bad enough but maybe other things people have already mentioned!Chicken litter and pesticides are another possibilty!

 

[Bgoodman30]

I am hoping that the counties with cicadas see better results.

 

[trkhunter]

We had a decent hatch, but have lost most of our poults already to hawks

The successful hens are down to 2 or 3 poults already.

still setting in southern Wayne!! hay cutter spotted and went around them 2 days ago

 

[megalomaniac]

still setting in southern Wayne!! hay cutter spotted and went around them 2 days ago

No doubt! Half of the hens are still setting. Hoping the hawks are full by the time little ones pop out in the next few weeks.

For whatever reason, it seems like the earliest poults to hatch and the latest poults to hatch have the best success. One would think those in the middle would have the best success due to prey saturation, but it doesn't seem to work that way on my farms.

 

[MickThompson]

I am hoping that the counties with cicadas see better results.

I had that same hope but the cicadas were gone before the poults really showed up

 

[knightrider]

Crows and black headed buzzards got the five nest i knew of

 

[Wrangler95]

Crows and black headed buzzards got the five nest i knew of

Turkey's dont have much of a chance!

 

[knightrider]

Turkey's dont have much of a chance!

Not at all