megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Still in winter flocks, haven't even started breaking up into spring subflocks around my TN farms from what my dad has been seeing this week. Seem to be a little behind schedule.
Where are the turkey's
- Thread starter THE DUKE
- Start date
I went and listened last weekend the first two I heard you could hear the hens all around them. I heard one later that morning a good hour and half or more after daylight gobbling as he was walking. They should bust up soon and some probably are at this point. It will not be long!
Union Co. Boy
Well-Known Member
Normally see them close to home here and on the drive to work. They have been consistently visible for the the past nineteen years in these particular areas. I haven't seen a single bird since December. I am hearing this from about six of my friends regarding their go-to areas as well. I don't know what's going on, but it's definitely not what I'm used to seeing. I am not saying they won't show up, but I'm kind of worried. One of my farms was silent as a tomb last season also.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Could be just bad luck you've missed seeing the big flock... could also be that they are gone. The latter is more likely. Turkeys are hurting in most places with marginal habitat and have been overharvested beyond the point where reproduction can keep up. Just because you only killed two, doesn't mean your neighbor and friends didn't kill 16 next to you.
A good example... the winter flock a mile down the road from one of my farms had 6 toms and 9 jakes in it last year. That big flock has only had 6 toms and 6 new jakes this winter. We took 1 tom last spring. Something happened to the other 8 males between last winter and this winter. Maybe they just committed suicide, but I suspect it is more likely the 8 missing birds were killed as they dispersed last spring.... and between the 35 hens in that flock, they only managed to produce 6 jakes this past spring.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Exactly.
I almost laugh every time I hear a hunter saying something to the effect he only kills one here & there, spreads his kills out, not that he shouldn't be spreading his kills, but we don't know what's being killed around us.
It's bad on the east end of the state, not seeing or hearing any and all the guys I hunt with are saying the same! Big decline in Turkey I think in part to the coons, and other predictors, no one hunts coons anymore, and if they do with the in line of Yankees and Floridians and all other states. It's getting hard to hunt anywhere!
Saw about a dozen this morning when I took the terrorist beagle for a walk.
Saw a lone tom on Saturday afternoon on the way home from work and saw two different toms this morning around 9 driving through the area where I hunt. Seems flock breakup has happened around here. Hickman County.
