I quit

[coconut]

Turkey population where I hunt has become so low I am putting the gun up. Going to concentrate on improving what I can. Probably just working for the neighbors but I can’t in good conscious continue to be part of the problem. So far I have planted 60 acres of durana clover. I’m going to burn some pine plantations after nesting and plant 6 to 8 acres in chuffa. Going to look into purchasing some elevated turkey feeders. Will it help? I don’t know but I gotta try something.

[Gar Commander]

what state are you seeing this in?

[coconut]

Alabama, black belt area.

[coconut]

Open to any suggestions that you have used or seen work.

[hookedspur]

Work in the nest predation problems

[Fieldturkey]

Is it your property specifically or the entire region?

[coconut]

I own it and it’s about 500 acres. I also have a long term lease on about 900 acres.

[coconut]

Something I asked myself is am I growing more than I am killing? My answer was no so I decided to quit shooting them. I have hunted them for 40+ years but now I want to help them as much as I can and I am not waiting on the game and fish folks.

[BeardBuster]

I hear you loud and clear. The population decline is a major concern.
Surely, though, you are growing more than you are killing.


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[Fieldturkey]

Well I can tell you that nothing attracts turkeys like chufa.

[quavodus]

I hear you loud and clear. The population decline is a major concern.
Surely, though, you are growing more than you are killing.


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I agree, you got to be growing more than what your killing. The population in the areas I hunt is lower than it was several years ago but, I never kill more than 1 or 2 a season anyway. Also there's not many other hunters around my area either.

[MFL205]

You have a great opportunity here, you can manage 1400 acres specifically for turkeys, and have a ton of fun doing it.
- Trap/Hunt Nest Predators
- Plant Chufa
- Creat Nesting Habitat
If you have larger tracts of land around you, I may even contact the owners and tell them what you are doing, they may get on board as well.
Also, contact your local NWTF chapter, they can/will provide you with seed and other resources as well.

[Southern Sportsman]

I don’t think feeders are a good idea or recommended by biologists. They may hold a few turkeys in the area, but artificially concentrating turkeys in a feeder size area can make it a windfall for predators. Plus the risk of disease transmission. And I’ve heard a lot of speculation about aflatoxin poisoning from corn, though I don’t know how common that is. Habitat improvement is always great, but I don’t think a feeder will save the lives of any turkeys or help the population.

But I commend your dedication to helping turkeys.

[Hobbes_mobile]

I suspect that more folks put effort into attracting turkeys than producing turkeys.

[crenshawco]

What kind of habitat are you working with coconut? What kind of habitat improvements have you made specifically for turkeys? Are you doing any trapping, especially nest predators? I also hunt the blackbelt and several tracts just south and our populations are flourishing. That seems to be the general consensus for most hunters around here too. We've had several great hatches in the past 2-3 years

[coconut]

Tract has large lake with 2 creeks. It consists of about a third mature hardwoods 30-50 year old , pine stands of different ages with some recent cutover and about 60 acres of durana clover. I have a base of brown top millet that comes up in the summer. For winter I over seed with wheat. I routinely mow the clover and spray for weeds. I use control fire when I can and thin the pines very heavily. I try to keep roads mowed throughout the summer and often disc strips in some of the fields for the turkeys. Neighbors on 3 sides hunt turkeys out of blinds and must be retired because they seem to hunt every day. Kinda my setup.
I really don’t think it matters how many I raise because I think they will just wander to the neighbors and get shot but I going to try to incorporate more things turkeys like and hope for the best. The turkey hunters around my area outnumber the turkeys by a lot and there are a lot of really good hunters in the area. It takes about 2 weeks for them to kill out almost every mature gobbler. Then the woods fall silent until the last of the season when the jakes start gobbling a little more. I used to ride up the roads and look in the back of fields and see several groups of turkeys in a day. I would be hard pressed to find 1 turkey on a full tank of gas now.

[Blackduck]

Thanks for growing them turkeys for us!

Seriously, thanks for doing the work. I'm in a similar situation on one piece. I used to be the only one hunting them around there and there were plenty. Now every farm either has someone sitting in a blind or pounding the property lines with a crow/owl call. I did some habitat improvement work the past two years and it has already started to pay off by holding more birds on us, instead of them using both sides. Good luck.

[LAturkey]

I don’t know about Alabama but here in LA you can get a restocking application and if you meet the requirements they will release wild birds to help with repopulation.

[SwampDrummin]

Neighbors hunting turkeys out of blinds on three sides means neighbors hunting over scratch.

Plant enough food on your property that they don’t want to leave. During the critical run up to the season feed em. You can set your watch to an early season baited turkey.

[soiltester]

Well I can tell you that nothing attracts turkeys like chufa.

Sandy and decent drained will grow chufa the best
If it's waterlogged, may be best to save your effort!!

[Dtrkyman]

Contact a local forester and game and fish, see what kind of habitat programs you can qualify for? If the neighbors are poaching call the local warden!

Listen to or read everything you can from Michael Chamberlain and Lovett Williams. Chamberlain has turkey Tuesday on social media.

My opinion is manage the habitat first, focusing on nesting cover. Prescribed fire is crucial for turkey, fire timing is really important!!!

Good water source is often overlooked, creeks on the property?

[coconut]

Plenty of creeks and 22 acre lake. Neighbors aren’t poaching they have there pop up blinds on there property. They show up every morning and put there decoys out and prepare to sit all morning back in the afternoon . I only have 500 acres on the property that I own. Knowing what I know about turkeys it is foolish to think a turkey will stay on that small of area. I can do every practice perfectly and the neighbors will just end up shooting them.
Still going to keep doing best management for wild turkeys for awhile but I am getting tired of doing all the work and spending my money while others reap the reward.
I solved the deer problem with a high fence but since turkeys fly I don’t think I can solve this problem.
In the past a person had to have skill at calling and some wood manship. Now all they need is a pop up blind, two decoys and a good internet connection so they can watch toc toc videos until the turkey shows up.

[Dtrkyman]

I thought it was you stating they hunted over scratch, was someone else.

I would set up some kind of meeting with all the neighbors and explain your plans, every turkey hunter wants more turkeys!

Birds will surely wander, however the more quality habitat you have the better, and it will attract and hold more birds.

I managed a piece years ago that the outfitter pounded on for a few years, 1000 acres, lot of birds but you could tell the difference. We left it alone completely for two years and then hunted it sparingly, place was amazing, it was however the prime piece of ground in the area, surrounded mostly by fields so neighbors did not have a large impact.

[Blackduck]

My two family pieces are about 300 acres each. They hold turkeys now. You should be able to hold turkeys on 500 acres if it is good habitat. Most of my birds seem to "claim" an area of 20-50 acres. Sometimes multiple birds use that "area", sometimes just one, but there area numerous "territories" that each have a tom or toms. Some of those territories straddle the border and get popped on the neighbors. Some of them are entirely on my piece. The better the habitat, the more turkeys present, the smaller the "territories" become.

[Roy]

I wonder what it would be like to kick back in a blind with a brew. Tempting lol