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Turkeys

Started by WV Sawmiller, March 01, 2018, 06:28:32 PM

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WV Sawmiller

   All our wet weather is washing up plenty of worms and the turkeys are feasting on them. We have a flock that comes down almost every day. Today they came twice. As far as I can tell these are all hens and maybe a few jakes mixed in. There are no big gobblers in the bunch yet - they are still off in bachelor groups but will be chasing hens pretty soon especially if we get a few more warm days.

 They are hard to count when there are very many of them because they are
always running around, lining up, heads up, heads down, behind stumps, etc. I counted at least 27 in this bunch. There could be more.


They spotted our movement in the house here and lined up to leave. See how they are all facing the same direction. 

Turkeys on the hillside in the pasture just before sunset. Yellow object is the horse further up the hill. The mule is with him

Zoomed in a little closer.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

coxy

are turkeys are gobbling a little here already 

WV Sawmiller

   I have not heard them gobble yet but they probably did last week when we had a break in the rain for 1-2 days and temps got up in the high 70's. They will be shaking the hollers as soon as/if it quits raining.

   I was on our local COE lake fishing a few years back and we had a thunderstorm coming and every time we'd get a clap of thunder that would shock them into gobbling and it sounded like there was one up every holler (Hollow or draw between two ridges to any less edymucated readers).
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Kwill

I haven't seen any this winter. Normally see a group of them picking in the field. Back a few years ago it was nothing to see a big group of 50-100 of them. There was rumors the conservation netted them and traded them for rattle snakes.
Built my own hydraulic splitter
Built my own outdoor wood stove
Built my own log arch
built my own bandsaw sawmill
Built my own atv log arch.
Built my own FEL grapple

WV Sawmiller

Kwill,

  I thought only WV hillbillies were that gullible. :D I've been hearing that same tail tale about our DNR here trading turkeys for rattlesnakes for nearly 28 years since we first moved here. The tales even include the rattlesnakes being parachuted into remote areas. I haven't figured out how they would strap him in so he could still release himself when he landed. ???
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

starmac

I doubt it happened, but sure wouldn't put it past our government to try it, or even spend a million bucks a piece for a self releasing parachute.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

Kwill

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on March 01, 2018, 09:36:11 PM
Kwill,

 I thought only WV hillbillies were that gullible. :D I've been hearing that same tail tale about our DNR here trading turkeys for rattlesnakes for nearly 28 years since we first moved here. The tales even include the rattlesnakes being parachuted into remote areas. I haven't figured out how they would strap him in so he could still release himself when he landed. ???
My grandma was from west virginia. Deepwater wv actually. Something sure happened to our  turkeys. Don't see hardly any anymore.
Built my own hydraulic splitter
Built my own outdoor wood stove
Built my own log arch
built my own bandsaw sawmill
Built my own atv log arch.
Built my own FEL grapple

WV Sawmiller

   Google seems to think Deep Water WV is about 66 miles away. Shows it over between Fayetteville and Charleston.

    The last 2 years we have had pretty mild winters and good mast crops and the turkeys seem to be doing real well. I like to hunt them but am not very good at it. Most of them I killed I ambushed or lucked up on them. Very few came to my calling. I get more foxes and bobcats and such coming thinking I am a sick or dying turkey hen. Not a real confidence builder but its fun to be out in the woods with them and see the creative ways they outwit me. :D
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Kwill

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on March 01, 2018, 11:00:19 PM
  Google seems to think Deep Water WV is about 66 miles away. Shows it over between Fayetteville and Charleston.

    
That sounds right. I've been there 3 times visiting relatives when I was younger. I think there was a town called Montgomery close by. And I remember her talking about some place called swiss.
Built my own hydraulic splitter
Built my own outdoor wood stove
Built my own log arch
built my own bandsaw sawmill
Built my own atv log arch.
Built my own FEL grapple

WV Sawmiller

  Yep, map shows Montgomery just a few miles away on the route to Charleston. Swiss looks to be about 15 miles away as if you were heading toward's Fayetteville. 

   Fayetteville is where we had the world's longest single arch bridge till somebody built a longer one a few years ago. They have Bridge Day about 3rd Saturday of October every year and shut off 2 lanes of Hwy 19 and let people jump off and parachute, hang glide and bungee jump over/into the river below. Draw a big and international crowd. My landlord in Norway FIL had come over to jump off the bridge. My mother raised a smarter child than that.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Kwill

Yeah I've been across that bridge. Have you been to Hawks nest state park?
Built my own hydraulic splitter
Built my own outdoor wood stove
Built my own log arch
built my own bandsaw sawmill
Built my own atv log arch.
Built my own FEL grapple

Kwill

 

 got this while in west Virginia.
Built my own hydraulic splitter
Built my own outdoor wood stove
Built my own log arch
built my own bandsaw sawmill
Built my own atv log arch.
Built my own FEL grapple

Kwill

Hard to tell from the pic but it was the 13 annual in 1983
Built my own hydraulic splitter
Built my own outdoor wood stove
Built my own log arch
built my own bandsaw sawmill
Built my own atv log arch.
Built my own FEL grapple

starmac

For some strange reason, turkeys are the only game meat I like that I have never had the urge to kill, and I have had plenty of oppurtunities. I can spend hours watching them though.

One year when I was camped down in the capitans cutting firewood (starving) a huge flock of turkeys would come off the mountain right by my camp every morning just as the sun was coming up. for some reason I just liked watching them.
One evening late I was cruising a new area that I was going to cut and was a half mile or so from my pickup when it got full dark onme, walking through the woods probably daydreaming, I walked under a roost tree and scared the flock off the tree, I about had to change my shorts, it took a minute to figure out a couple of dozen apache helicopters had not just took flight.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

thecfarm

Turkeys have only been around here for 10-15 years.
I saw them for years about 45 minutes to an hour from me for years. Seem like most times I saw them they was in a single line,10-20 to a flock. Than I saw one about 10 minutes from me one year. The next year they was in my fields. I saw them in my fields with chicks. I grabbed the camera and went down to take a picture of them. I wanted to get close to them,so I tried to walk up closer. All at once they flew off and landed in the trees at the edge of the field,abou 500 feet away. I had no idea they could fly. I always saw them driving and thought they walked and could only fly a little ways. ::)
I have never saw one in a tree roosting. I have never even see where they do roost. I would think their would be some droppings in that area.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

WV Sawmiller

Kwill,

   I don't think I have been to Hawks Nest State Park but my photographer wife has been several times. We also occasionally go to Badcock State where the old mill is. She even has pictures of the mill in a snow storm.

Starmac,

   Been there, done that. Mess around waiting till dark deer hunting then walk out under a roost and turkeys just explode out of there. Did you ever go back the next morning after you'd spooked a bunch? There will be turkeys putting and clucking seems like for miles as they get back together. I worked a project up in western PA and drove past a dead turkey hanging in the fork of a tall poplar tree. I always figured he got spooked and flew out at night and crashed into the fork breaking his neck.

cfarm,

   Not long after we moved up here we rounded a bend in the mountain road and it was full of young turnkeys not much bigger than a bobwhite quail. I yelled at wife to stop and I jumped out and ran into them thinking I was going to catch several. They exploded all around me and flew off and when I got back in the truck the wife and kids were all laughing at me as apparently they all knew they could fly at that stage but I did not.
Quote from: starmac on March 01, 2018, 09:46:28 PM
I doubt it happened, but sure wouldn't put it past our government to try it, or even spend a million bucks a piece for a self releasing parachute.
Yeah, I can see some genius scientist designing a a parachute that releases as soon as it reaches sea level then dropping rattlesnakes all over the remote WV mountains (Where elevations are always 2,000' or more)

Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

SwampDonkey

Probably a lot like grouse, the chicks can fly almost as soon as they get dried off from hatching. Well, maybe not that quick, but I see little chicks fly quite soon after the nesting time. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

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WV Sawmiller

   Well, these just came by for their breakfast and just scratched and fed their way over the ridge in the woodline.

Donkey,

   Yeah birds are neat. I've watched baby quail turn over under a leaf and hide when too small to fly.

   I have watched mother quail, killdeer, hen turkeys, ostriches, and even a big Ibis of some kind in Mongolia run around crying and doing a broken wing act to try to draw me away from their nest or young that were still too young to fly. Nature at work is truly a wonder. 

   Its also fun to watch a mockingbird or blue jay chasing other birds, dogs, cats and people away from their nest or watch jays and crows attack hawks, owls or eagles. As I kid we saw mockingbirds chasing and pulling tail feathers out of crows all the time. The crows are bigger and stronger but not fast enough to catch the smaller, more agile birds.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Woodcutter_Mo

 Here just the last couple weeks I've been seeing quite a few turkeys. There are 2 flocks I see and there are usually up to a couple dozen in each of what looks like mostly hens in each.  
I have to watch for them as they like to burst out and fly low across the road as I'm driving through, I figure I could probably catch one if i roll my window down and one might glide right in. I've grabbed a live wild turkey before though and I don't think trying to wrestle one in the cab of my truck while driving would be too smart :D.  

I'll try to get a pic of the flock the next time I see them. :)
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WV Sawmiller

Woodcutter,

   Many people around here have run wild turkeys into a fence and caught one - just one. I never knew of anybody who tried to catch another. 

   Sort of like my uncle who blinded a half grown bobcat with his car lights on a dirt road one night and sneaked around and caught it. He never tried to catch another one. 
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

starmac

Them itty bitty turkeys can not only fly, they can run faster than a guy thinks they can with them short legs.
I watched a turkey nest for a couple of weeks in a brushpile. I had intentions of catching one or two as soon as they hatched, but one morning all there was left was a whole bunch of feathers, yotes had found her.

We (the family) has a ranch in the mountains up in Northern New Mexico, and turkeys will fly from one mountain across the valley to the other, it is probably at least a mile and a half. That is the farthest I have ever seen or even heard of them flying.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

WV Sawmiller

   I guess how far they fly depends largely on their elevation when they started. They mostly glide - jump up and fly a few strokes or jump off a limb, flop a few licks then lock their wings. Quail do largely the same thing. 

   Many years ago we had a Fall season and my son roosted "3 big gobblers" according to him on a ridge. He could almost show me the exact tree they were in on an aerial photo we had from the US survey folks. I got up the next morning and sneaked up under the tree till till I heard one cluck. I sat down till it got daylight and ambushed it off the roost. It fell then locked its wings and glided a good 350 yards or more down the valley then fell dead within 30' of my neighbors well/pump house. Fortunately it followed the curve of the draw or I'd never have found it. 
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

braucher

The hens are loud now in the AM hear a few gobblers

warren46

I live in Union County North Carolina near Charlotte.  Our home butts up to a large wooded area with a field on the other side.  I have not seen a turkey in the 10 years we have lived here until yesterday when a hen took flight just off of my walking trail though the woods.

I suspect if there is one turkey there will be more around somewhere.  I do hope so.
Warren E. Johnson
Timber Harvester 36HTE25, John Deere 300b backhoe/loader.

WV Sawmiller

  Glad you spotted the turkey hen. Good luck on seeing more of them.

   My flock is still coming in. Wife took picture a few days ago and definitely identified at least one was a jake with a small beard. They sometimes fly in from the hillside across the road (my neighbor's pasture) and land in the yard then run the fenceline till they find and open area at or under the gate they can pass through. If we push them they will fly but they prefer to run.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

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