iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Turkeys have arrived!

Started by sawguy21, March 10, 2021, 05:39:10 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

sawguy21

We are seeing wild turkeys for the first time, apparently they are sneaking over the border from Idaho and western Montana. Residents are enjoying them but getting annoyed too, they are not shy about congregating on the roads. We are also getting over run by quail, hardly ever saw them growing up in this area in the 50's and 60's.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

KEC

sawguy, You just documented them so they are Documented Immigrants, right ?

sprucebunny

There were about 20 in my driveway the other afternoon.

I like how they seem pretty relaxed and hang around together.


 
MS193, MS192 and an 026  Weeding and Thinning. Gilbert Champion sawmill

DonW

i know very little about turkeys, like sg21 says it they are newcomers to the region having come, one way or that other one, from the east, but seem to like the living here - me too - and are prolific. I lost count of their number here today but for the first the toms are strutting, tail feathers in full fan, heads all pulsating red and blue like that, very impressive. Spring hunt is coming too but unfortunately  I am unarmed for the occasion. 
Hjartum yxa, nothing less than breitbeil/bandhacke combo.

Southside

And here I thought this post was a snide remark about tourists showing up.   :D
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

thecfarm

I forgot when they showed up here,15 years ago? Saw them coming this way for years. Than they showed up in my back yard. I have seen as many as forty here.
Kinda of a funny story. We was seeing about 20,quite often. Than one day we saw 2 flocks of 20 at the same time. We did not know we was seeing two different flocks of 20.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Skip

I enjoy seeing and hearing them, but they are destructive ,tear a corn field to pieces :o, till your back yard for you  >:(

DonW

This is no joke. I'll let them clear off old weeds and leaves and spread manure hauled from the stall. I don't have to spread, just pile where wanted, throw seed atop and call the turkeys in. 
Hjartum yxa, nothing less than breitbeil/bandhacke combo.

sawguy21

The farmers are not going to be happy, there is a lot of corn grown in this area. @Southside that is funny but a little early for them.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

SwampDonkey

Yep, been around here since 2013. I see them here quite often. Fresh tracks behind the house in the mud on the road shoulder yesterday. But I saw two flocks on Monday I think, it was not far down the road.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

DonW

Even with turkeys around you don't see such a display often. 

 
Hjartum yxa, nothing less than breitbeil/bandhacke combo.

Chuck White

~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

sawguy21

We are seeing a number of changes in wildlife habitat likely driven by climate change. Antelope have been spotted as far north as Red Deer Alberta and there have been reports of encounters between grizzly and polar bears in the sub arctic and not all are fighting.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

KEC

A couple years ago a bunch of hens and poults came around and visited the garden, picking bugs and dust bathing, no harm done. I credit them for eating garden pests. During nesting season I'll have a lone hen come to the bird feeding station and vaccum sunflower seeds, then head back to her nest. Surely, the damage they do is offset by the insects they eat, especially in the hayfields. Given a choice between shell corn and sunflower seeds they select sunflower first.

SwampDonkey

Quote from: KEC on March 11, 2021, 09:40:57 PM
A couple years ago a bunch of hens and poults came around and visited the garden, picking bugs and dust bathing, no harm done.
Last year it was the pheasants, they ruined the onions and tramped out small beat/carrot seedlings. :D Funny though, never see a turkey or track in the garden yet. And I don't use chemicals on the garden.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Skip

Walked 4 rows in to a neighbors corn field ,looked like a tornado hit  :o .He was most displeased . Granted it was a big flock .

breederman

A few weeks ago we had tracks on the front deck. I put a game cam out but they didn't come back. The snow was deep they were probably hungry and hoovered up dropped bird seed.
Together we got this !

KEC

SD, Many years ago my older brother was driving our Dad's truck on a run to the town dump and he hit and killed a Ring-necked Pheasant. Guess what was for supper. That pheasants crop was stuffed full of grasshoppers. They still stock a few around here, but few survive long; the habitat has become too wooded for them, clean farming.

sawguy21

This area used to be thick with ring necked pheasants, we got a few that committed suicide on the living room window every year. :D Unfortunately urban development has destroyed their habitat.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Chuck White

Back when I was a kid, we had lots of Ring Necks in this area, but no more (for years), mostly due to no grainfields! 

Some people will get some chicks from the farm co-op, or elsewhere and raise them, then in the early Fall, they're required to let them go so people can hunt them, but that's like walking up to a chicken!

They cannot survive in this area anymore!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

woodroe

Turkeys here aren't very discreet during mating season.
We've had a flock of 20 or more around quite a bit and this morning  
took a look out the back door and a Tom and Hen are going at it 20' behind the house.
Quite a sight needless to say.
She is on her belly and he humped her for what must have been 5 minutes.
Nature, just when you thought you had seen it all. 

Skidding firewood with a kubota L3300.

sawguy21

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. ;D
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Magicman

A game warden was driving down the road when he came upon a young redneck boy carrying a wild turkey under his arm.

He stopped and asked the boy, 'Where did you get that turkey?'

The boy replied, 'What turkey?'

The game warden said, 'That turkey you're carrying under your arm.'

The boy looks down and said, 'Well, lookee here, a turkey done roosted under my arm!'

The game warden said, 'Now look, you know turkey season is closed, so whatever you do to that turkey, I'm going to do to you.

If you break his leg, I'm gonna break your leg. If you break his wing, I'll break your arm. Whatever you do to him, I'll do to you. So, what are you gonna do with him?'

The little boy said, 'I guess I'll just kiss his *bare bottom*, and let him go!'
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WV Sawmiller

   A buddy of mine tells the tale of a guy with an out of state plate driving up on a flock of turkeys in rural NW Fla and he jumped out and shot two big gobblers. A guy in a beat up old pick up truck immediately pulled in behind and started cussing  a blue streak, picked up the 2 turkeys and threw them in the back of his truck complaining about people destroying all his livestock and such. The city slicker apologized and said he thought they were wild and offered to pay for the turkeys and pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to the farmer who took it, kept the turkeys, jumped in his truck and drove away. The red-faced city slicker got in his car and drove away thinking he was lucky the guy did not file charges for him killing his tame turkeys. My buddy said there is not a house within 20 miles of the spot. :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

WV Sawmiller

   I got up this morning and, as my typical routine, looked out the bedroom window to the mountainside pasture above my home. I spotted my big Palomino horse, Trigger, key on something and even started walking toward it. It turned out my two big gobblers had returned. This is the 3rd year in a row the two have survived to come visit us this time of year. I grabbed my box call out of the closet and let fly with a few yelps out the open window and they went into full strut prancing around the pasture at the woodline above my old goat barn. I looked closer and spotted 4-5 hens feeding there in the hay I had thrown out for the horse and mule. This time of year the turkeys turn the damp hay over and get the nightcrawlers that gather there and they pick through sprouted seeds in the hay. These two gobblers now each have beards 10"-12" long and are very impressive birds. They did not gobble but sure puffed out big with a beautiful fan  on each. Our spring season opens in a few more weeks and I may go up the hill and try to call and shoot one but it won't hurt my feelings if I get another jake like I did last year. 

   I am not a very good turkey caller and am more likely to call in a fox or bobcat or coyote or have buzzards circling overhead looking for an easy meal off the sick or dying turkey hen than to call in a big gobbler.

   Anyway I am glad to see the boys are back.
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

Thank You Sponsors!