turkey sightings

Coming home from funeral yesterday I came across these two standing along the road. No near farms so was surprised. Coyote food for sure.

They used to let them go around here for 'turkey shoots' under controlled conditions- never did it but a friend did a number of times- We always wondered if they were capable of repro in the wild if they wandered- dont see why not.

Any kinda turkey sighting around here lately would be a blessing- WOW are the numbers down.
 Perhaps somebody out there can give some insight on the ebb and flow of such things- are they on some kinda normal population cycle like Grouse??
    Not even thinking bout predation cause thats on going-- just cyclitic???

ORIGINAL: coldfront

just a question, but would you need a license to shoot one of those?

 
Nope they are not wildlife. They are domestic animals though so if someone claims they own them the court might require you to pay for them, though I highly doubt that would be the case.
 
I number of years ago we had a herd of cows free ranging on the game lands. There were like fifty or so of them and they were really destroying the game lands. The owner was blind, his sons claimed they were not their cows and the court ruled we could not hold the blind owner responsible.
 
One day a group of guys got together and had a cow hunt. They killed about a dozen cows, loaded them up and headed for a butcher shop. If they had not driven their trucks all over the game lands loading up the dead cows we probably wouldn’t have gotten involved but ultimately the State Police did get involved once the two brothers thought they stood to gain financially from the dead cows. We changed them with driving on the game lands and the State Police charged them with theft of the cows.
 
The court handled it well and make the shooters pay something like a hundred dollars per dead cow but they got to keep the meat. Then since the two brothers had now claimed ownership the court ruled that they obviously did own the cows and ordered them to have them all removed from the game lands within a short period of time or they would be fined for each day there was still a cow on the game lands. The court further ruled that any cattle outside of their property and on the game lands after the set date could be killed and disposed of by the Game Commission.
 
Thus a large on going problem came to a successful conclusion.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn
 
 

ORIGINAL: retired guy

Any kinda turkey sighting around here lately would be a blessing- WOW are the numbers down.
Perhaps somebody out there can give some insight on the ebb and flow of such things- are they on some kinda normal population cycle like Grouse??
   Not even thinking bout predation cause thats on going-- just cyclitic???

 
Turkey populations can be influenced by winter conditions but the thing that influences normal population declines more than anything else will be a couple back to back wet springs.
 
Turkey poults are very susceptible to hypothermia from just walking through cold wet grass. If the hen cannot brood them all often enough some of them will simply die from the exposure. So, if you have a couple springs with prolonged periods of cold, wet weather you can lose a high percentage of the years turkey production. Since turkeys are not a species that typically lives more than a couple years in the wild if you have a couple bad springs in a short period of years it can be very damaging to the turkey populations and take years for it to recover.
 
Of course predation and hunting loses also factor into the total picture but generally it is either the winter or spring conditions that really create the biggest influence in the turkey populations unless you have a disease issue.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn 
 
 

There are several color variations of wild turkeys including albino but the true albino turkey is very rare. Over the years I have seen a couple silver/gray wild birds but have never seen a true albino. Where I worked we once had a guy bring in a all white one he bought from a farmer to enter into a wild turkey contest that paid by weight. He fooled a few guys but not enough to get paid.

I've seen a few hens through the years that had a lot of white in tails and wings but the are the first to get eaten by something,they stick out bad in the woods.

ORIGINAL: Big Tuna

If the PGC didn't stock coyotes the turkeys would have been ok.They thought they would just eat deer! After a lot looking at those turkey pic,I've think there a couple of eastern albino's,by the look of there body size I'd say they might be state records in weight,nice birds.True butterballs.

 
You are not being serious or actually believe someone stocked coyotes do you?
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

That cow thing is interesting. My neighbor has some Angus beeves, that might just "accidently" wander into my yard some night

I saw 6 tonight on a bare hillside south of Jefferson on RT43

6????

Turkeys, cows, or Coyotes?

Not sure-but there was 6
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turkey

There's turkies all over the place by my house. As usual, right up until the season starts.

There goes the flock that hangs around my house...Amish just moved in next door to me...

You still have snow?  Come on Spring..:)

Those amish are buying up farms and homes all around me.
There was a boy shot in the head two years ago..said they were coon hunting...not! Shooting turkeys out of the roost they were.
Biggest outlaws out there.

Not the Amish,good people,good workers,good at HR there helping the PGC keeping the herd in check,good at keeping any fish they catch.Good people.