Removing those annoying gobblers

[Fritz the Cat]

Cool photo.

 

[lunkerslayer]

See the issue here is less people are hunting these turkeys so you get a hair brain idea let's spend money to fix a problem that can most likely be a landowners problem that the state has to fix. Since the article doesn't give us a logistics to why these areas are over populated we must assume that these areas are not accessible to hunters. This is going to be a recurring issue with our wildlife management in this state where we get areas that are overpopulated because of lack of cooperation with land owners to thin the herds where the people of the state or federal funding needs to be used to solve a problem that is clearly not the publics problem.

 

[bucksnbears]

Yeah I usually read the first 5 words of his posts. By then I can figure out wether he’s posting on an acid trip or not. This calculates out to me reading about 1% of the stuff he posts.

Same here. He seems to love Penis?

I can't stand turkeys. Years ago, I would get quite a few calls asking permission.
Granted everyone a YES.
Haven't had a single call the past 3 years. Seems no one wants to shoot (hunt) the stupid birds anymore.

 

[KDM]

See the issue here is less people are hunting these turkeys so you get a hair brain idea let's spend money to fix a problem that can most likely be a landowners problem that the state has to fix. Since the article doesn't give us a logistics to why these areas are over populated we must assume that these areas are not accessible to hunters. This is going to be a recurring issue with our wildlife management in this state where we get areas that are overpopulated because of lack of cooperation with land owners to thin the herds where the people of the state or federal funding needs to be used to solve a problem that is clearly not the publics problem.

Ok lunker, don't get mad, but you are DEAD WRONG about the hunter access and the problem being the landowners. The reason I know is because I personally know the landowner where this is going on and have shot turkeys EXACTLY where the netting is being thrown over the turkeys in the picture above. The landowner is situated in the breaks and ravines that lead to the missouri river so every winter the turkeys migrate from all around the area to the tree covered ravines for protection and they feed in his haypiles. It happens every year. He lets most folks hunt whenever they ask, but he has upwards of 300-500 turkeys eating in his haypiles each winter AFTER the season closes. How do you deal with that? He uses mostly oat hay and straw which is what grows out there the best and is extremely slippery to handle. When the turkeys cut the strings by scratching for oats, the entire bale falls apart and once the strings are cut, using a claw bucket doesn't help. The straw just slips through, so the bale is a total loss. Each bale is worth about 60 bucks and he loses 75 to 125 bales a year. I've seen the damage first hand. The GnF won't let him handle it himself and there isn't a fence they won't fly over. He's not alone in this situation either. I've shot turkeys on 4 different ranches in his area and they all have the same number of turkeys on their place wrecking bales. I don't know the answer to this, but telling a man he has to lose 5k-7k every year to wild turkeys without letting him try to protect them himself or get compensation would turn my face a bit red! I think the GnF should be using the money they are spending on this project to come up with a way to protect the bales from being destroyed by turkeys and compensating the ranchers for their losses instead of this relocation deal, which in my mind doesn't address the real problem in any way. Something to ponder folks.

 

[db-2]

I used to live in cattle country. Turkey would come to the cattle feed bunks in the winter for food. They were said to carry a disease that would cause cows to abort.
Turkey did not survive well in that country. I think due to a lot of lead poisoning.
It was an unspoken disease by the cattle man. db

 

[lunkerslayer]

Ok lunker, don't get mad, but you are DEAD WRONG about the hunter access and the problem being the landowners. The reason I know is because I personally know the landowner where this is going on and have shot turkeys EXACTLY where the netting is being thrown over the turkeys in the picture above. The landowner is situated in the breaks and ravines that lead to the missouri river so every winter the turkeys migrate from all around the area to the tree covered ravines for protection and they feed in his haypiles. It happens every year. He lets most folks hunt whenever they ask, but he has upwards of 300-500 turkeys eating in his haypiles each winter AFTER the season closes. How do you deal with that? He uses mostly oat hay and straw which is what grows out there the best and is extremely slippery to handle. When the turkeys cut the strings by scratching for oats, the entire bale falls apart and once the strings are cut, using a claw bucket doesn't help. The straw just slips through, so the bale is a total loss. Each bale is worth about 60 bucks and he loses 75 to 125 bales a year. I've seen the damage first hand. The GnF won't let him handle it himself and there isn't a fence they won't fly over. He's not alone in this situation either. I've shot turkeys on 4 different ranches in his area and they all have the same number of turkeys on their place wrecking bales. I don't know the answer to this, but telling a man he has to lose 5k-7k every year to wild turkeys without letting him try to protect them himself or get compensation would turn my face a bit red! I think the GnF should be using the money they are spending on this project to come up with a way to protect the bales from being destroyed by turkeys and compensating the ranchers for their losses instead of this relocation deal, which in my mind doesn't address the real problem in any way. Something to ponder folks.

Being as you have experienced the great turkey debacle first hand, your incite really does put things into a better perspective. Being that these birds are in close proximity to a farmers livestock they are essentially protected from natural predators like the coyote. Will this federal grant be a waste of time only with more research will we know that answer, I believe it is because it's not like these birds are going to stop laying eggs to replace the ones that got removed. Like you said this is not an easy solution when you have regulations that keep the landowners from doing what must be done and that is to cull the flock then donate the meat to a local shelter.

 

[NDSportsman]

Cool photo.

Apparently we're allowed to bait turkeys........

 

[Rowdie]

The problem with turkey hunting is they are considered big game, and require tags. One time when asking to hunt turnkeys the land owner asked, how many can you shoot, and we said 2 each. His response was.."PER DAY?" Shooting 4 turkeys out of that flock did nothing to them, probably didn't even scare them away.

 

[lunkerslayer]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/turkey-population-decline/?amp
Maybe other states can come get some of ours

 

[Allen]

Turkeys are an interesting bird, headache, opportunity, and dinner all rolled into one.

Back in the 80s there just weren't many turkeys around where I grew up on Fort Berthold. It was something special when you did run across a flock. Hell, I am pretty sure they didn't even offer any tags in that area back then. Along came NDGF and they had a program meant to spread the turkey opportunities into new areas, or at least back into areas they hadn't been seen in for decades. Sometimes it turned out to be a nuisance for the landowner, other times/places it seemed to work just fine.

When I bought my current place, turkeys would come and go, but I didn't really see much in the way of a persistent presence. Somehow, between the 40 acres around my house, and another neighbor with 40 acres, and a roughly 40 acre parcel across the road, we now have nearly 100 birds. Last year there were roughly 12 birds taken by hunters and it doesn't seem like the numbers are going to go down this year even with the harsh winter. Which makes me wonder if/when we are going to ever see turkeys become just another gamebird with no tag required?

It's safe to say the turkeys now outnumber the pheasants at my place.

 

[Rowdie]

Turkeys = BIG pheasants

 

[Zogman]

Turkeys = BIG pheasants

Ugly pheasants. Up the bag limit to 3 in Allen's unit.

 

[Rowdie]

I used to shoot them like pheasants. Clean them basically the same. Those turkey breasts can be diced up and used in any chicken recipi without anyone knowing the difference

 

[svnmag]

If I were King of the GF I'd work out some deal with the Appalachians. They sure could use some stupid birds for kids, etc. Any flock outside Lake Alice, Darling et al would be netted and shipped with some benefit. IMO this could eventually lead to more challenging hunts on refuges with the correct pressure applied.

Florida has a peacock problem. My only peacock problem: If I lived in FL my worry with peacock would be a power outage to the freezer via privacy fence, bait pile and pellet. A 29grn CB will not penetrate a privacy fence as a ricochet should one occur shooting INTO THE GROUND.

 

[bucksnbears]

Interpretation to the above post please?

 

[lunkerslayer]

https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/why-do-turkeys-gobble-at-owls/

 

[Twitch]

We’ll be wearing whites to hunt turkeys this year

 

[Allen]

We’ll be wearing whites to hunt turkeys this year

They have already been strutting through my driveway. I may just shoot one out the kitchen window.

 

[lunkerslayer]

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/t...cle_f05f62d4-b721-11ee-9d82-3f1070ab6fc3.html
Someone will always, if given a chance to find an easier softer way to destroy natural resource like wild turkeys.

 

[svnmag]

^^^^You think this is a bad idea?...