Wonder Why?

[Prospector]

Picking some brains/ looking for different views; I hunt in an area with many large hayfields- they are fertilized and cultivated to produce hay. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know these are awesome draws for spring turkey. Green shoots to eat, as it grows grasshoppers by the ton, open areas in the sun to strutt, etc. I made a decision to hunts sans decoys several seasons ago and still enjoy a degree of success hunting the woods between and throughout these fields. Over the last 3 seasons I have noticed a definitive lack of use of these fields. Last year was perhaps an an anamoly as the fields were left fallow, but they were mowed last fall and have ‘greened’ up already this spring after fertilizer… I have always had lazy “ hunters” who use the openings to ride thru and the turkeys usually become somewhat scarce later but it has gone from some use to almost none. Wondering why? Doesn’t really bother me too much as far as hunting; it’s just something I noticed. It’s obvious the birds are/have adapted to something. I theorized that it could be a result of an increasing raptor population. Any theories? Just a wondering myself…

[Dtrkyman]

Good question, I hunt an area in Missouri where there is an excellent property that has a fair amount of birds, it is surrounded by beautiful pasture and you basically never see a bird in it either.

Early in the spring I think there are no insects yet but it is coming up nicely yet still no birds. Turkeys all over the nearby ag fields that are just dirt at this point, but in the midwest I have always had better luck in dirt than green!

Must be the type of grass in those pastures I assume? I believe they are a cool season grass and turkey prefer warm season grasses but I am not sure.

The Raptor theory would make sense but the birds are in other fields regularly.

[Roost 1]

Are they spraying these fields with some kind of pesticide?

[Vintage]

Is one of the Neighbors putting in food plots?

[Prospector]

As far as I know both grass and fertilizer the same. In the past checking dead gobbler crops found them full of a vetch like plant that comes on early spring under the sprouting grass. Fields are still full of this. IDK. However, the turkeys still use fields but not anything like the past. They also seem to use a certain field more than others or should I say the turkeys in one area use the field in this area more than I see other places. It kinda dispels the “lazy hunter/drivers” theory bc that particular field has entrances that allow them to just drive straight thru without stop or turn around. I call it the “Indy 500” field due to this. If I get a chance, I’ll ask the caretaker’s if they’ve changed something in the fertilizer. Since the gobblers are less visible and exposed it has cut down on the hunting or at least the tire tracks.

[misfire]

My son lives in an area that has turkeys, and not one of them will hang in a green field. Where he lives, all fields are fertilized with chicken litter.

[Timmer]

This is very interesting. I'm sure we have all had those experiences where what seems "perfect" to us has few birds, and some other place that you wouldn't think would be good has tons of birds. I think topography plays a greater part than many of us realize, as well as the overall variety of food and woods in their travel/living zone.

[Prospector]

So an update or observations on my present inquiry. As you may know I had the good fortune to take a gobbler yesterday down in a lowland area. When I checked his “crop” ( what I have always called the holding area between his breast; pre gizzard) I found water oak/red oak acorns. A handful easily. Obviously from last fall. Anyway I alway knew that acorns were a tremendous food source for turkey but I guess I never thought of them carrying over until the spring; guess they don’t “spoil”. Also, kinda reinforces what I’ve always known about the myth that a strutting gobbler don’t eat. Anyway, maybe residual acorns are contributing to the turkeys not using the hay fields as much.I also including a pic of wing feathers bc I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them broomed off as much from strutting.

[runngun]

I would definitely be concerned with landowners/farmers using "chicken litter" to fertilize the fields. I am aware of a location near me that held turkeys, has for the past 35 years. The landowner leased the farming rights to a guy who used chicken litter. This was done just 4 years ago, turkeys declined in a big way. My Buddy killed a Longbeard last year that did not look healthy, peeled back the skin and feathers and exposed the nastiest "Puss" yellow stinking goo. Took him to a Turkey Biologist for the state, and soon as he saw him he said those 2 scary words, "Avian POX!!! No more turkeys live on this property.