Turkeys

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Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • October 6, 2010 at 9:37 pm #42025
    Andy Carson
    Moderator

    There is about 2 dozen wild turkeys in the broadcast oat field right now. I am pretty sure they are eating the seed on the surface, which I have no problem with. I don’t think they eat sprouts do they? The oats have been up a while, but I don’t want them to eat my newly sprouted rye and vetch…

    October 6, 2010 at 11:28 pm #62552
    goodcompanion
    Participant

    I had turkeys in my barley this year. Damage to my livelihood was light, but it was still irritating to see them parked there gnawing on the crop. I called the fish and game wardens and they gave me free rein to shoot a few. Easiest way to make the rest go away, they said.

    I don’t know about them eating your sprouts, now. I just know I’d rather eat them than watch them eat the least valuable of my stuff. I wouldn’t be able to sit tight and watch them eating broadcast seed off the surface.

    But back to my barley story for a second–the turkeys must have known my bloodthirsty frame of mind somehow and made themselves scarce before I could outfit myself with the right firearm. So, maybe if you just think really hard about killing turkeys that will be enough to give them a bad vibe.

    October 7, 2010 at 12:07 am #62556
    Tim Harrigan
    Participant

    Turkey pressure is pretty light around here, I don’t know how hard they will graze, if at all. I know Canada geese will take it right down to the ground.

    October 7, 2010 at 12:21 am #62554
    dominiquer60
    Moderator

    I had the same problem with our barnyard chickens eating broadcasted oats in the house garden. The dog was a temp fix, then I added 150′ of poultry net to keep them out, doubting that they would make their way to the end of the net. Then the next night deer came and ate some of the two beds of storage beets in the same garden, again dog was a temp fix at dusk chasing them away, then I surrounded the entire garden with double poultry net and a couple strands of 6′ high white electric tape and a couple of terror eyes that keep birds out of corn. It has worked the last two nights, plan C will be to tie the dog out all night. Fire arms would be difficult because of the close proximity of the two houses. Good Luck with your turkeys, if you have poultry net it mat keep them out if you set it up to block their access some, it may stop them or slow them down.

    Erika

    October 7, 2010 at 1:15 pm #62559
    Andy Carson
    Moderator

    I wondered about this and was watching them pretty closely. My thought was that they would probably prefer the unsprouted grain to graze. After several weeks and lots of rain, I don’t think the grain left on the surface is going to amount to anything… It is funny (and scary) that when researching wild turkey feeding habits (and deer as well) how many articles discuss planting “food plots” to attract them. These food plots are pretty close to what I’m doing! It sounds like the turkeys can do damage later (even if they aren’t doing much now), so I should not let them get established. Interestingly, I scared the deer of earlier this year by shooting in the ground and running around with my dogs. I haven’t seen much of them since and am hoping this sort of activity is sufficient for turkeys too. We’ll see.

    October 7, 2010 at 2:41 pm #62555
    dominiquer60
    Moderator

    My limited experience is that if you can nip them in the bud right away and don’t let them (deer. turkey, etc) make any habit of browsing your crop, than you have a better chance at making your efforts worth while, no deer again last night.

    Erika

    October 11, 2010 at 2:44 pm #62558
    Andy Carson
    Moderator

    Just a little note on how this is going. Turkeys seem to run away when you are there and simply come back when you leave. Scarecrows are working really well right now. We’ll see how long it lasts…

    October 11, 2010 at 6:01 pm #62557
    Tim Harrigan
    Participant

    I have used scarecrows before and they work well but you have to move them around every couple of days. If you don’t they catch on pretty quick.

    October 11, 2010 at 6:27 pm #62553
    grey
    Participant

    The crows and the geese here prefer the freshly-sprouted grains. They carefully pluck the emerging foliage from the soil to eat it and the attached lobes of the seed. I would not be the least bit surprised if the turkey find the sprouted grains more tender and succulent than those that are still hard kernels.

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