Wild Turkeys

[woodyz]

We have had a group/flock of wild turkeys come off of the hill and into our bottom these last few days

I suspect the deer hunting up there has pushed them down or they may just be after water since we are short on rain again

For whatever reason they have chosen to roost in a big Hickory tree about 50 yards from the house.

Tonight when they started calling to each other I took a turkey call and demonstrated how to bring them in while sitting on my back porch

I have always had a thing for watching wild turkey in their natural action. A big old gobbler with his tail up and his wings down against a green field is one of the purtiest sites I know of.

Sure I have killed a turkey or two in my time, fried wild turkey breast after a day hunting is great. But I have watched and let go on 100's if not a thousands.

One of the hunts my Daughter remembers most we were in a ground blind an a flock of about 25 came out into a green field in front of us. They weren't 3' from us some of the time. She asked if she should shoot one (we had tags) but we decided just to watch these instead.

They stayed out there just grazing on the winter wheat for more than an hour.

In fact the deer she shot that afternoon is what finally scared them off of the field

He made so much noise attacking trees in the woods they probably thought an army was coming out.

He came out all full of himself at about 30 yards an she demonstrated what a 7.62x39 round would do to his heart. She went 11 kills for 12 shots with her SKS, mostly heart shots

Oh yeah! She filled her turkey tags too, mostly head shots, just not that day.

[cajunlady87]

Must be an awesome sight, something I've never witnessed. As for eating them, only once in a blue moon. I've bought one turkey in my lifetime and that was too much.

[hunter63]

One of the funniest scenes in my out door travels had to do with a flock of wild turkeys, a decoy and a red tail hawk.

Turkeys were in the field, momma and a bunch of poults....pretty big by fall.

Had a decoy in the field.....turkeys were heading toward it,... but just scratching and pecking like chickens...
All of a sudden they scattered and headed back to the woods...and left the decoy alone......

About then a red tailed hawk swoops in and hits that decoy,.... kinda knocking it sideways, and set it to spinning....
He flew off a ways, landed on a round bale...and just stared at that decoy...looking like "WTH?"

Decoy got scratched a bit...but was still alive...LOL

[woodyz]

That would have been a sight to see for sure

[woodyz]

My best/favorite wild turkey story is from a deer lease in South Texas in the mid 1980's

This lease was about 3000 acre's with a big "flood plain" lowlands surrounded by 50 to 60 foot ridges with deep treed canyons on 3 sides.

The river running through the the property was the only source of "natural" water for miles around.

The river bottom was lined with giant oak and sycamore trees on both sides with well defined "banks" on both sides.

The owner had claimed there were my turkey that year then he had seen in his 60 years on that ranch.

The first afternoon of my 3 day hunt I was in a tower stand covering a bend in the river where the far bank was a 20' high cliff.

About a 1/2 hour before dark I started hearing turkey but I couldn't see any and I couldn't pin down exactly where they were at due to the way sounds echoed in that bend.

All of a sudden turkeys started flying down from that ridge into the trees on my side. I mean it was like a dark cloud for 15 minutes and the sound of them just calling and cooing at each other was deafening.

That year I had 4 deer tags and 2 turkey tags to fill, but it was such a surprise I never even thought about shooting any.

The next morning I hunted the opposite ridge about a 1000 acres from the turkeys and let a guy who had never shot a turkey take that first stand.

I figured with all of the turkey on the place I wouldn't have any problem filling my tags later.

I saw some good bucks and got a nice doe that morning. The owner had mentioned that there were some feral hogs that ran the river. There were plenty of javelina in the Mesquite but I never liked eating them.

So the second afternoon I went upstream from where I had been the first afternoon and found a big oak to climb. Sure enough I hadn't been in the tree 30 minutes until a batch of hogs came under me. I picked out a 200# or so sow and shot her. Except now the rest of the hogs wouldn't leave and had me up the tree.

The spot I had picked was right at the water on my side, about 25 yards of water then a nice grassy area of about 10 yards out of the water with a "hump" I could just see over to a big green field on the other side.

While I was waiting for the hogs to leave I saw this big black area moving across the green field and started hearing turkey talk. Pretty soon they started coming over that hump like a big wave. There were hundreds of adult and juvenile hens and jakes. But besides the numbers the way the adults were herding the juveniles down to and away from the water.

The other thing was the adults were taking turns at "guard duty" on top of the hump.

Sorry I get long winded.

[woodyz]

That same year there were also a large number of quail. They would come to the tripod stands in flocks to take dust baths. It was the first time I had ever watched rooster quail fight like game cocks. No reason why they wouldn't but I had never thought about it or seen it before.

Also I want to point out that due to the large numbers of turkey and quail in that area the yotes multiplied considerably and wiped out the nests that next spring. Nature in balance I guess.

[hunter63]

Put my nephew (about 14) on a deer stand, in the dark, very early one morning....as the sun cam up, the turkeys started falling out of the trees all around him....scared the crap out of him.....

Said, Looked like bowling balls falling all around.....

They don't "fly down, the fall out of the trees....."