OA-
   Last year at my place in SR country NY had a hen with 2 young ones all late Summer at my corn feeders. They were still small in the Fall so dont know it they made it through Winter.- doubt it- too little.
  She was a mature looking Hen and they were a very late hatch. She either found a Tom way late or bred and hatched a second time around after loosing the first.
   Have seen late young before but had never gave too much thought bout them having a 'second hatch' if the first failed.
  Unfortunately if the young dont reach a decent size by Winter their survival is very questionable. That kind of activity would really help their numbers in a calmer climate though.

On Tuesday I saw two hens with about 16 to 20 little ones. They were about the size of a small pigeon. Was relly surprised to see that many. The weather in soutwest PA has been extremly wet this spring

    Well  most fields have had their first cut and I hate to say am seeing way toooo many hens in Ct and in NY with no young ones.
  Hope its just my poor luck and more are out there but seeing is believing and it looks like one of 'those' Springs just happened.

Pictures of One Eye this morning. His beard is looking great this summer.

ORIGINAL: retired guy

    Well  most fields have had their first cut and I hate to say am seeing way toooo many hens in Ct and in NY with no young ones.
Hope its just my poor luck and more are out there but seeing is believing and it looks like one of 'those' Springs just happened.

 
Things vary from state to state and even area to area within each state but here is what I am finding in turkey numbers for this area.
 
We do turkey surveys, where we keep track of all daylight miles traveled and turkeys seen (in categories of hens without poults, with poults, poults, gobblers and unknowns) every day we are out. We have been doing them my entire career and I have the records for my district from many years back. We then submit a report to the Biologists at the end of each month for June, July and August.
 
The number of turkeys and poults I saw in June of this year was pretty much normal as an average year. I have had a few years when I saw more and many years when I saw fewer with this year being pretty much average. I will say though that it appears many of the hatches might have been a little later than normal this year. I usually see the most total and per mile traveled in July and August.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn   

ORIGINAL: retired guy

RSB-
THANKS thats good news and is very appreciated.
Coupla questions, does my theory on 'second hatches' hold water and is the area you check Northern or Southern.
I only ask cause the Northern NY area I go to really got drowned this year and it did here in Ct too. If your Southern It would be interesting to see what your counterparts in the North are seeing.
Not being argumentative or doubtfull in any way here- just trying to get a picture. Saw a hen today in a neighborhood with bird feeders and she had half dozen young with her. Thats about the first I'v seen in a while.

The wet weather isn’t as critical during the nesting season as it is once the eggs have hatched.
 
If a hen loses a nest she will try again up to about three attempts that can extend all the way into August. But, if a hen loses her poults once they have hatched she is done for the year. So the wet weather during the nesting season isn’t as much a problem as it is to have a period of wet cold weather after the eggs have hatched and before the poults are fully feathered. When poults are small if they get wet and cold the hen has to brood them to warm them up or they will die of hypothermia and sometimes within a matter of minutes. When you get a couple weeks of harsh weather after the eggs have hatched you will generally see hens with smaller broods because she has lost some to both hypothermia and predation or other accidents like being hit on the roads. (I have seen several hit on the roads this year including a couple hens that likely had poults. I even stopped traffic, with the overhead lights, three times so far this year to allow hens and poults to cross)
 
I am in Elk County and cover part of both Elk and McKean Counties which are in the northern part of Pennsylvania.
 
Our Biologists monitor, largely through the WCO field reports, the turkey population trends for each county and WMU in the state each year then use that data when making modifications to the following year’s seasons and bag limits.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

Hello....I know the season is long over gut I just discovered the Hunting threads......
I live in The southern tip of Allegheny County in SW pa. Our problem here is the coyotes are on the increase and very few people are wacking them. Probably in part to no rifles allowed. I have also been seeing a lot more fox. (we have less stray cats though------LOL) I was able to work gobblers every time I went afield except one time, and I got out 10 mornings. Our spring season needs to be a few weeks sooner, BUT that would compete with trout season opener. Our gobblers are hened up the first week. I was told by PSGC that they believe we run on a ten year cycle. We have large numbers, then 5 years later the numbers bottom out,before they go on the increase again.   If I look back 15 years ago I was able to wack one in the spring and one in the fall every year for 6 years straight. Then for the next 9 years it was tough to get one in to shooting range.
  This year I walked up on a big old boy, took a 25 yard shot, but he managed to duck out of the way. He went 25 lb. with a 12" beard. I was able to resurrect myself a week later. I worked a tom from first light, but he had his girls with him and eventually walked away. However, I found 2 toms, 2 hens and 12 polts in a field. I RAN up a creek bed and circled them. Two sets of yelps and 15 minutes his head popped up at 20 yards. he saw me and was angling away. Gave one more set of yelps, he made his last gobble at 25 yards and fell. Impressive beard at 12"....1" spurs...BUT only 15 lbs.  I guess he screwed his weight off....LOL
  I saw the most amazing sight last week. I heard a bird roost as I sat outside. I got the binocs and found a large tom with 3 polts under his wings. He had a 12" beard......hope to see him next year....

I saw a hen yesterday with six poults that were only a couple days old so there are still a few hatching and likely still a few sitting on eggs.
 R.S. Bodenhorn

ORIGINAL: RSB

ORIGINAL: retired guy

RSB-
THANKS thats good news and is very appreciated.
Coupla questions, does my theory on 'second hatches' hold water and is the area you check Northern or Southern.
I only ask cause the Northern NY area I go to really got drowned this year and it did here in Ct too. If your Southern It would be interesting to see what your counterparts in the North are seeing.
Not being argumentative or doubtfull in any way here- just trying to get a picture. Saw a hen today in a neighborhood with bird feeders and she had half dozen young with her. Thats about the first I'v seen in a while.

The wet weather isn’t as critical during the nesting season as it is once the eggs have hatched.
 
If a hen loses a nest she will try again up to about three attempts that can extend all the way into August. But, if a hen loses her poults once they have hatched she is done for the year. So the wet weather during the nesting season isn’t as much a problem as it is to have a period of wet cold weather after the eggs have hatched and before the poults are fully feathered. When poults are small if they get wet and cold the hen has to brood them to warm them up or they will die of hypothermia and sometimes within a matter of minutes. When you get a couple weeks of harsh weather after the eggs have hatched you will generally see hens with smaller broods because she has lost some to both hypothermia and predation or other accidents like being hit on the roads. (I have seen several hit on the roads this year including a couple hens that likely had poults. I even stopped traffic, with the overhead lights, three times so far this year to allow hens and poults to cross)
 
I am in Elk County and cover part of both Elk and McKean Counties which are in the northern part of Pennsylvania.
 
Our Biologists monitor, largely through the WCO field reports, the turkey population trends for each county and WMU in the state each year then use that data when making modifications to the following year’s seasons and bag limits.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

Interesting info. Can a hen loose a clutch, be bread again then loose that clutch and be bread once more? Just curious. Or is it that once the hen looses the clutch she can only be bread one more time, sometimes taking up to 3 attemps? Not sure if I understood that correctly.

WOW--excellent viewpoint bout the second nesting actually helping the population in a lousy early Spring.
   Here dopy me was thinking they were just tryin to bet by- Nature certainly is interesting.

Two more hens yesterday ---no young ones.
   Getting sick and tired of it- only saw young that one time several days ago all spring.
  Didnt shoot a Tom this year cause of it- stopped hunting upon seeing what was up in the woods ( few birds) and probably wont hunt them this fall around here if this keeps up- gotta letem bounce back.
   Hafta check on another part of the State where I can get a permit , hope like heck they had better conditions.

   Agree OA- not discouraged at all. Just like to 'manage' my area a bit cause I'm bout the only Turkey guy there and I really enjoy and respect Game.
     Truely believe it aint bout how many ya kill.That said ya gotta score now and then or it aint huntin.  
    Sometimes the hens and young are out following food sources elsewhere and can be missed.

WOW_ now those are late-
    Been seeing a hen or two since the last cuttings but no big hatches just 1-3 chicks and generally with a coupla hens close by.
  Actually kinda happy bout it cause some did manage to get it done this spring.

Startin ta feel good bout the fall season- Wife saw 7 out back tonight by the lake walkin the Lab. Thats the biggest bunch in a long time hereabouts.

ORIGINAL: RSB

It wasn’t one of my highest ever years for turkey sightings but it wasn’t too bad either when you look at the facts of comparison with the past.
 
Every year WCOs keep count of all turkey sightings in their districts through the months of June, July and August. We also record all daylight miles traveled in out districts. That information gets recorded and the number of turkeys per mile index is established.
 
This is the number of turkeys per mile I have seen each year (June through August) in my district over the past ten years.
 
Year……………..turkeys per mile
 
2002……………….0.010
2003……………….0.024
2004……………….0.032
2005……………….0.032
2006……………….0.074
2007……………….0.013
2008……………….0.044
2009……………….0.061
2010……………….0.078
2011……………….0.050
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

just over a 1/16 of turkey PSM ? Are these stats from the window of your vechicle ?