Wild Turkeys

[Mark M]

I saw this fellow this spring. Got about 5 feet from him. He was as interested in me as I was in him.

http://www.pbase.com/image/13827205

[Calswoodcuts]

Hey Mark,

   How long till season? - and what do you supose he was doin so close to you? Your not enticing him with some sort of food item are you?
   We have had a hard winter here in pa and I have been spreading some corn out for the turkeys and Deer but I'll have to stop by the end of the month cause its the law as we have to 1 month before seasons start.  OH, and by the way its still winter!

[Tom]

Welcome to the forum, Calswoodcuts
Bet you got a bunch of turkeys in Pa.

[Calswoodcuts]

     Yea,   We have lots-- actually I wish that the game commission would allow us to harvest more than on for each season (fall and spring) There are enough for that!  I have enjoyed this activity for  more than 30 years! I even got the oppertunity to get a gobbler in MO. and several in NY.  I have also enjoyed plenty of turkey on the table if you know what I mean!
  

[Tom]

The only thing I don't like about birds is the scalding.  whee--ieuu !  That stinks.    It brings back memories of Grandmom scalding chickens on the back stoop Saturday afternoon. :-/

[Mark M]

Tom I think the turkeys are more down around Washington  ;)

Cal I've never hunted for turkeys and don't have any idea when the season opens. Below is one possible explanation for him getting close.

We were at the zoo and there were these 2 birds just hanging around. They kept trying to get close to one of the bird houses where this fellow was locked up. It was fun getting to see them in action and would have really been neat if the big guy could have got loose.

[whitepe]

We saw several turkeys on Noble's farm during
our visit this spring.  Some had feathers and some
looked like Noble and I.   :D

[ohsoloco]

Welcome aboard, Calswoodcuts!   It's nice to see another turkey from PA  :D  

Mark, what kind of camera do you use?  I have an HP digital camera that I received as a present a few years ago.  It takes 4 AA batteries, and I can only snap off a couple pics before the batteries die  >:(   A friend of mine suggested a camera with the rechargeable (NiCad?) battery.  

[Mark M]

Hi Ohso

These were shot with my Canon 1D, I also have a D-30 and a Sony CD-1000 that uses little 3 in CD. That's the one I used for the sawmill pictures. I really like the CD drive because you can put a lot of pictures on a disk, about 300 hi-rez (2mp+) or about 1100 low res. The 1-D is a 4 mp camera and will shoot 8 frames a second and is great for action. Both the Canon cameras use interchangable lens. I shot close to 10,000 pictures in the last 12 months and really have a ball not having to buy film or processing, both of which always limited the number of pictures I took.

Depending on how much you want to spend you might look at the Sony CD cameras as they are very good. Here is a good site for camera info. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/

As for batteries, try to fing one that uses lithium batteries. They don't have the memory problem so you don't have to wait until they are dead before recharging.

Mark

[Bibbyman]

While we were sawing out oak fencing lumber, son Chris was out turkey hunting.  Two came in but the bigger one got away so he blasted this one.  Don't know the details as he went to check it in and brag to his buddies.  It's his second and last for this season.

[burlman]

HEy guys that turkey hunting sounds like a real challenge. Our local government just started a program here in southwest Quebec to reintroduce the wild turkey to our area. They have already released 300 across parts of our rural township. We have to wait 5 years though till we can hunt them. I saw my first one the other day, on the land that I'm buying to build a new house ,that was pretty exciting.  can hardly wait, a little different menu from the venision that is overrunning our territory....burlman...

[Bibbyman]

Turkey were reintroduced in our area 20-30 years ago. They are real common to abundant now. They have extended the seasons, added fall hunts, raised the limits and have more hunters than ever before but the flocks are still growing.

On the down side, we have seen a real decline in snakes and ground nesting birds since the turkey population has reached this density.  In our area, the bobwhite quail is all but gone.  

Year-round geese are becoming a real problem now.

[Tom]

Do you reckon that one has to do with the other?  Our Quail population is deminishing too but I've noticed more foxes, coons and ferral cats.  People who come from town and dump cats in the woods should have the book thrown at them.  They know they shouldn't do it because you can never catch them.   They must come in the Dark of the night.

The cats, coons, foxes and stuff have to eat something, I guess.  It's just a shame it has to be quail eggs and young quail. :-/

Our rabbit population is going up though.  Go figure. I would think the foxes would rather have a rabbit.

I heard turkey in the swamp again the other day.  Once hunted out, I think they are coming back. There are some landowners about 10 miles away that are encouraging them.

[Bibbyman]

One avid hunter friend says that turkey are scavenger birds and will eat anything of opportunity.  A quail nest is just a good morning snack for an old hen or gobbler.  I don't think many quail live past their first year so in a couple of years, they're gone.  I've seen tame turkeys work over snakes until all that is left is a rib cage.

We too have had a resurgence of rabbits.  I think one thing that has helped is the sawmill log piles, lumber stacks, and slab piles giving them cover.  We've also cut brush and timber and pushed the limbs in the ditches and such.  In short, more cover.