Wild Turkeys

[sadiebug]

We are home in Iowa for the weekend at our house. Since we haven't been living here fulltime we have not been feeding the birds nor do we have chickens anymore so the wildlife has not been coming into the yard. We arrived home today from the store to see four hen turkeys in the yard looking for food. Of course the camera's in Wisconsin. My husband went back to the store and got some shell corn so we will seed what we can intice back into the yard. On a winters day it would not be unusual to have deer and flocks of turkeys even though we live in the middle of town.

[Seajay]

BE CAREFUL ..... you can wind up with a yard full of wildlife just waiting for supper every day.........

Hug a Vet....

[TXiceman]

It is fun to watch wild turkeys, especially a to that is strutting his stuff.

Ken

[Romeo]

We live in a residential area, however, not too far from wooded areas. One morning while getting ready for work I looked out the upstairs, back window and saw a flock of 17 wild turkeys walking acorss the back yard. Until then I had never seen a wild turkey.. didn't even know there were any in this part of the country (Spokane, Washington). However, I am quite familiar with Wild Turkey... my favorite, but it comes in a bottle.

We have also had a moose in the back yard, racoon, a leetle cute rabbit, and this winter tons of deer wandering through the yard, between the houses and up the street.

No reason to to live in the woods, plenty of wild life here in town.

[1ciderdog]

We live between Grants Pass, Oregon and Crescent City, CA and are very rural. We have been here about ten years and for the last two years we have had wild turkey. Last year about eight or so and this year 14 or 15. Almost impossible to count since they blend together real well and don't stop moving. We buy cracked corn and spread it around. The wild turkeys come in the morning and then late afternoon. If the corn is not out they come real close to the house and appear to be looking at us through the window as though saying "where's the corn?". Very intertaining to watch. We take off for 5 or 6 week trip and they are on there own but it doesn't take them long to figure out when we are home. This week big old Toms are really strutting and showing off feathers. Their neck and head change colors significantly during some periods of time whe they get excited or stressed. We also have deer, black bear, fox and many other forest animals.

[akadeadeye]

Few sights are more exciting than seeing a flock of wild turkeys. We have a ranch in Central Texas. We were riding around the fence one afternoon and happened upon the flock in these photos. Turns out there were 39 turkeys. They walked up to within about 20 yards of us. Most were hens but there were a number of young jakes too. We watched them for 30 minutes before they flew, one at a time, across the fence.

Don

[sadiebug]

One Christmas I bought my husband a wildlife feeder that had a timer. They got pretty use to that then the city put an ordinance on feeding deer in town due to car/deer accidents. Even when the batteries went they still came down to feed on the bird seed and the chicken feed. I raised chickens with our lab. She's not allowed to go after anything with feathers so the turkeys come right to the house even when she's out. Shovel to the head and stars.

[IC2]

Turkeys at our feeders have become pests scaring the rest of the critters away - birds and a few squirrels. If you would like a few, the flock in the woods behind our house is between 40 and 50

Here are a few from yesterday

[rops]

There are now more wild turkeys in the USA than when it was settled. Wild Turkeys almost became extinct due to fowl pox carried by domesticated chickens. The Fish and Game Commission crossed domestic turkeys that were immune to fowl pox with the wild ones and now the wild Turkey's are all over the USA in huge numbers. In parts of the south I have seen flocks of over a hundred at a time.

rops

[akadeadeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IC2 Turkeys at our feeders have become pests scaring the rest of the critters away - birds and a few squirrels. If you would like a few, the flock in the woods behind our house is between 40 and 50 Here are a few from yesterday

Looks too cold to come there to get them. Do you deliver?

Don

[Ray,IN]

I know I'll get yelled at for this. No-one is doing wildlife a favor by providing artificial feeding. In fact it is exactly the opposite.

[1ciderdog]

I tend to agree but we are not over feeding and the critters are not dependant on our cracked corn as the primary source nutrition. Kind of like hanging up humming bird or other bird feeders. There are times when the wild animals do need a hand out but only rarely where we live.

[IC2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akadeadeye Looks too cold to come there to get them. Do you deliver? Don

Sweater weather, -2 as I respond. It was only -15 last night. Good early spring RVing ------that is if I can get the 5er out of my driveway

[bsinmich]

We live in a Condo complex with 182 units and have suddenly gotten 10 turkeys that love our place. At first they were interesting. We put wood chips around our trees at a cost of $17,000 and hope tey last 2 years. The turkeys have cut that down to 1 year with their scratching and scattering the chips all over. We are looking for ways to eliminate them but since we are in the city we can't shoot them. My wife is an old farm girl and could clean one if they ever get close enough to wring their neck.