releasing/relocating turkeys

[micdundee]

Has anyone on here ever had anything to do with relocating wild turkeys or releasing some chicks? My uncle is interested in trying to get a population on the family farm. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[KDM]

Careful what you wish for. Turkeys are MURDER on pheasant/grouse/partridge/duck and just about every other bird eggs and young. Not to mention any other small creature they can tear apart and consume on the ground or in the trees. If you like to hunt any upland birds in the fall, having turkeys around is NOT going to help their population. Something to think about before letting them loose on your property.

 

[campchef]

I inquired with Fish & Game several years ago and was informed that for them to participate would require approval from all farmers/ranchers within a (if I remember right) 5 mile radius my property.

 

[dean nelson]

How many big trees do you have. If your lacking in big old limby trees they will move on fairly quickly. If you have good roosting trees then it can be fairly successful I just don't know of anybody you can partner with to do it.

 

[Allen]

You can buy wild turkey chicks online and have them shipped to you. Not sure if the state requires a permit though, or if it's really even advised to do so for so many reasons.

I've wanted turkeys on my place as well ever since I've lived here. They come and go as they see fit in the spring, but tend to not hang around much during the summer months. My ex dusted one in the backyard about 4 years ago.

I think the big tree requirement is not to be understated. I lost a couple of my big dead cottonwoods to wind a couple years ago and the number of turkey visitors really went down after that. They would roost in the cottonwoods at night.

 

[raider]

Careful what you wish for. Turkeys are MURDER on pheasant/grouse/partridge/duck and just about every other bird eggs and young. Not to mention any other small creature they can tear apart and consume on the ground or in the trees. If you like to hunt any upland birds in the fall, having turkeys around is NOT going to help their population. Something to think about before letting them loose on your property.

they are the noxious weed of wildlife, much like wild hogs and asian carp...

 

[LBrandt]

They pretty much come and go as they please. The 5 mile thing is maybe pretty close.

 

[Retired Educator]

Has anyone on here ever had anything to do with relocating wild turkeys or releasing some chicks? My uncle is interested in trying to get a population on the family farm. Any help would be appreciated.

Wild turkeys are cute and interesting until you get too many. They co damage when your flock gets bigger than a few. If you have any neighbors who feed livestock in the winter they are not going to be happy when the turkeys move to their farm. Turkeys can be worse than deer in that fences don't keep them out of the feed. Turkeys fly right over fences.

Fot a terrible idea but think it through carefully and consider all your neighbors.

 

[Migrator Man]

Just go Minot and raid the turkey traps in town.... good luck let me how it goes

 

[huntorride365]

I helped the CO out here trap and release about 12 years ago. One place on the Grand River that didn't have any got them. Of course about the same time they started really recovering everywhere. They have ups and downs but if they've got cover they will do well. If you can trap some adults and release them that would be your best option if they can survive where you're at. Chicks of any type bird typically just end up being coyote lunch if they don't have a momma showing them the ropes.

 

[Ristorapper]

Careful what you wish for. Turkeys are MURDER on pheasant/grouse/partridge/duck and just about every other bird eggs and young. Not to mention any other small creature they can tear apart and consume on the ground or in the trees. If you like to hunt any upland birds in the fall, having turkeys around is NOT going to help their population. Something to think about before letting them loose on your property.

Those exact same words came to mind before i ever scrolled down to the first reply on this post. They make a mess on the silage pile; that of which the cattle won't touch. Think this one through. Brother in laws flock got so big and problematic he had them removed.

 

[Marksman]

Has anyone on here ever had anything to do with relocating wild turkeys or releasing some chicks? My uncle is interested in trying to get a population on the family farm. Any help would be appreciated.

Yup I did it in the kenmare area. Did put out sunflowers and corn put them out from the deslacs refuge south to carpio that was I believe in 1990 didn’t have too much complaints. See quite a few just smaller groups
they need older trees and coulees. They don’t wonder far from shelter coyotes are tough on the young birds even after a few days thensmall ones do jump up to be off the ground

 

[( deleted account )]

I didn’t know they would eat eggs or destroy other upland.
A long time ago I raised some incubated wild turkeys, plus a few “found”turkey eggs from travels afield. I kept them environmentally well protected till they were about the size of a domestic chicken, then let them go in a bigger pen. Man, we’re they STUPID! When it rained, they’d just stand there in the rain some with their beaks open looking up at the falling rain despite plenty of overhead cover, and either drown or get soaked and probably get pneumonia or hypothermic and die. Dunno if the dead ones were the bought wild turkeys eggs or the eggs found in the wild ones, but the mortality without mom teaching them was astounding! Some never seemed to even learn how to eat, though I tried all the usual tricks for bugs, grain, you name it. They were just STUPID without parental instruction. Was far worse than pheasants, chuckars, quail or Guinea hens, all of which did well.

Yes, they sure raise hell on Ranchers hay stacks. Not what they eat, but what they tear up - hay flying everywhere.....poop all over. A good rancher friend maintains that you can scare them away all you want but they immediately come back. He says you HAVE to kill one or two by smacking them with a varmint bullet (i loaded a lot of 55 grain fast .243’s for him for varmints and turkeys) and then they seemed to learn and would stay away for a few weeks, then come back and needed to center of mass blow one or two up again. He didn’t dislike them so much once he learned how to keep them away. Kill one or two by exploding them in the flock with their buddies and the rest seem to learn from it, like elephants in Africa and maybe grizzlies in USA! Biologically interesting animal learning behavior.

 

[remm]

Bout 25 or so years ago my grandpa and dad had this same bright idea to try to raise and release wild turkeys. Got them as chicks and raised them in grandpa's old chicken coop until they were big enough to let out. Them dumb bastards never ended up leaving the yard/shelter belt. They'd sit up on the power lines coming into the farm and shit on the front steps/sidewalk/driveway. Needless to say they were only around for about a year until grandma got sick of the shit everywhere. I think I was just old enough to shoot my 20ga at the time, it was pretty fun sneaking through the shelterbelt and taking care of the problem.
You may need to consider a late night release in shelterbelts outside of that 5 mile radius from your farm or you will be pissed.

 

[micdundee]

thanks for all the information guys! All good to know and I'll pass it on.