Wild turkeys outside my window

[Mitchell Andrus]

Outside the kitchen window this morning. We've got a bunch (flock?) of 'em that roam through the place 2 or 3 times a day. Sometimes I'll open the shop door and there they are, right in the driveway. There are 7 hens and 9 chicks which are getting big. The chicks chase the crows - on the ground anyway... funny to watch them defend their turf.

A few of them:

[Dan Hintz]

Throw some corn out there for 'em, make 'em feel at home (and fatten those puppies up for November!).

[Zach England]

Please send me one. Thank you.

[Rob Wachala Jr]

Be careful a turkey is one mean bird. When I was younger my friend lived on a farm. His father had turkeys and those birds would come after us with a vengeance.

[Scott Velie]

I also have wild turkeys that hang out in my yard (western PA).
The wild ones are smart (as opposed to factory farm bread). They are great fun to watch. Next time your in the yard try very slowly moving closer to them. You will find that they (very slowly) will keep the same distance from you no matter how slow you try to get closer

[Mitchell Andrus]

I also have wild turkeys that hang out in my yard (western PA).
The wild ones are smart (as opposed to factory farm bread). They are great fun to watch. Next time your in the yard try very slowly moving closer to them. You will find that they (very slowly) will keep the same distance from you no matter how slow you try to get closer

Active sonar.... One ping only.
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[Zach England]

Can you shoot them?

[Mike Cruz]

Mitchell, I have Wild Turkey, too. But it is in my glass...:D

Actually, yeah, we have 'em here, too. We've seen them in our pastures, up by the barn, on our trails in the woods. But the best experience I had with them is when I was mowing and a mother was squalking like a mad man at me. I stopped the mower and looked down to find a chick...all fuzzy and striped. Cute as a button. I gently picked it up and moved it to safety, hopped back on my mower and started it back up. Two more jumped up. This kept happening until I got all 8 or 9 (can't remember how many...this was about 5 or so years ago) out of the lawn.

Great view, Mitchell. Thanks for sharing the pics.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Can you shoot them?

Yes, I can. No, I won't.
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[Gordon Harner]

You lived in NJ for a while. Do you remember when the feds brought wild turkeys up from somewhere in the south to stock the Great Swamp? I was told that in the north turkeys do not live in swamps, but on high ground. The wacky birds were walking around in the center of Basking Ridge.

[Mitchell Andrus]

You lived in NJ for a while. Do you remember when the feds brought wild turkeys up from somewhere in the south to stock the Great Swamp? I was told that in the north turkeys do not live in swamps, but on high ground. The wacky birds were walking around in the center of Basking Ridge.

I lived in Scotch Plains until 1983 before moving to Stirling. My aunt and uncle owned the Great Swamp Greenhouses house right at the Swamp's edge from the mid 50's to about '78 and fought the jetport tooth and nail. I do remember all of the antics of those days. The turkeys used to come by and get corn at my aunt's back door. Denis and Litty Hado still live 2 doors down.

in 1968, citizens persuaded Congress to declare 3,660 acres of the Refuge a National Wilderness Area, the first so designated within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The designation of a wilderness area meant that, among other things, motorized vehicles could not be operated anywhere within the boundaries, thus forever precluding the area from becoming a jetport!

The 'swamp' has 3 artificial water tables and until about the mid 50's was high and dry farmland. You can still see plow rows on Google Earth. I used to ride on a combine cutting corn about where the Environmental Center is now.

Ah, the good old days... when spotted salamanders were considered bait and box turtles could be kept as pets.

I used to ride horses through the Swamp on trails made from asbestos shingle debris.
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[Zach England]

Yes, I can. No, I won't.
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Does that mean I am not getting a turkey in the mail?

[Joe Chritz]

You wouldn't think so but to shoot one fairly during season isn't nearly as easy as it looks.

I have hunted a lot of things and turkeys are definitely one of the more challenging.

They start to flock up around this time (at least in MI) so it is time you will start seeing flocks of 20-50 birds around.

I am of the opinion that the DNRE here doesn't do a lot right but the re-introduction of the turkey is one of their major success stories.

Joe

[Bryan Morgan]

Be careful a turkey is one mean bird. When I was younger my friend lived on a farm. His father had turkeys and those birds would come after us with a vengeance.

Turkeys and peacocks... mean suckers. My neighbor had them when I was a kid too...

[Mitchell Andrus]

Does that mean I am not getting a turkey in the mail?

Where would I stick the stamp????? HUH? 'Ja think of THAT??? They're covered in feathers!

Sheesh.... city folk. Prolly never even seend one close up.
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[Zach England]

Where would I stick the stamp????? HUH? 'Ja think of THAT??? They're covered in feathers!

Sheesh.... city folk. Prolly never even seend one close up.
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I dunno...I have gotten baby chicks in the mail. They were alive, too.

[Mike Cruz]

Hey, I want a turkey, too! Hey, Mitchell, maybe you could combine the shipping on a turkey and goat...

As for the stamp... it goes in the upper right hand corner, silly. ;)

[Belinda Barfield]

They start to flock up around this time (at least in MI) so it is time you will start seeing flocks of 20-50 birds around.
Joe

I must live in the city because it's just the people here that flock up, and they do it all the time! :p

Mitchell, I hear if you put salt on a bird's tail you can catch it. If you can catch one maybe you could stick a stamp to the bottom of one foot and send it on to Zach. I'm guessing those feathers are going to be heck on the mail sorter though.

[Zach England]

put turkey in flat rate box

[Mitchell Andrus]

I dunno...I have gotten baby chicks in the mail. They were alive, too.

I know.... AIR MAIL!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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[Dan Hintz]

It's not like it would cost much... the bird does most of the air travel itself. Now getting it to land in the correct mailbox may be a bit of a problem...

[Terry Beadle]

I am a member of a hunting club on leased land. There's a couple of flocks of turkeys on the property. One group is about 30 birds and the other is about a dozen. They are smart. The only show them selves in non-turkey season !

They have great eye sight and are not color blind like deer. They can spot you even if you don't move and are in full camo. I have tried to hunt them during season and they never show up where they usually do during deer sesaon.

I must say they are pretty and interesting. Makes for an exiting hunt when the deer don't show but here comes a line of turkeys eating bugs and watching me right back. Several years ago one of my hunting buddies got one and cooked him up. Good tasting but then my buds a great griller. I think he can cook an ole shoe and make it taste good.

I like to find their discarded feathers or a pile of them where a bobcat has scored big. Hang one small feather on your rifle and it will let you know the wind direction easily. Nature is beautiful....some times tasty !

[ray hampton]

buy a metal flask and fill it with wild turkey, mail to Utah
what is a goat?
vodka ?

[Belinda Barfield]

buy a metal flask and fill it with wild turkey, mail to Utah
what is a goat?
vodka ?

Now why on earth would he ship the flask to Utah when I live in Georgia? ;)

What is a goat . . . I'll let Mitchell weigh in on that one, he being the King of all things goatish.

Fresh turkey, barbecued goat, Wild Turkey, and vodka. Are y'all sure you ain't rednecks? Cause really, just throw in some sweet taters and we got dinner. (oh and dressing . . . not stuffing!)

[Mitchell Andrus]

buy a metal flask and fill it with wild turkey, mail to Utah
what is a goat?
vodka ?

Goat - the Swiss army knife of the animal kingdom.

lawn mower
weed eater (literally)
car wax buffer
turkey herder

Goats don't drink vodka.
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[Zach England]

buy a metal flask and fill it with wild turkey, mail to Utah
what is a goat?
vodka ?

You can buy wild turkey here...just not on sunday or holidays.

[Matt Meiser]

You wouldn't think so but to shoot one fairly during season isn't nearly as easy as it looks.

I dunno, I came pretty close to getting one with a Ford Taurus on some back road between Beaverton and Mt. Pleasant a few years ago.

[Tony Joyce]

Outside the kitchen window this morning. We've got a bunch (flock?) of 'em that roam through the place 2 or 3 times a day. Sometimes I'll open the shop door and there they are, right in the driveway. There are 7 hens and 9 chicks which are getting big. The chicks chase the crows - on the ground anyway... funny to watch them defend their turf.

A few of them:

158647

This is the field behind my shop early this spring. This time of year I only see Rafter, Gang, Posse(yes I looked it up) of 4-5 at a time. They are fun to watch!

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=127641&d=1252624454

[ray hampton]

You can buy wild turkey here...just not on sunday or holidays.



Kentucky bourbon in Utah, that surprise me---well not really

[ray hampton]

Now why on earth would he ship the flask to Utah when I live in Georgia? ;)

What is a goat . . . I'll let Mitchell weigh in on that one, he being the King of all things goatish.

Fresh turkey, barbecued goat, Wild Turkey, and vodka. Are y'all sure you ain't rednecks? Cause really, just throw in some sweet taters and we got dinner. (oh and dressing . . . not stuffing!)


I taste vodka and scotch ,vodka taste like sickness ,scotch taste like bacon, I eat bacon ,not drink it ,neither one is a redneck drink

[Jim Becker]

We get them on occasion, too, although not regularly like we used to...a big development nearby interrupted their local travel patterns. The flock is typically 20-25 birds, including 1-3 big males. Magnificent creatures.

I used to have a group of 5 young males that would enjoy sunflower seeds just outside my shop windows. Really kewel to watch from only about 5 feet away.

[Lance Norris]

Be careful when driving and you see them along side the road. Heres what one did to the windshield of my tractor... he landed in my lap. I didnt wreck, I think what saved me was I saw him(actually her) coming...

I dont like turkeys...

[Dan Hintz]

A bird hit me on the way to work today, too (though it wasn't a huge turkey!). All I saw was a flash of yellow as it swooped down and tried to turn at the last second... popped it at 70+, and I think it mostly hit my upper A-pillar. Your post reminded me of it, I should go check for damage.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Nothin funnier than seeing about 15 of them up in a spruce tree. They can fly a short distance. A neighbor of mine used to complain that they would be on his roof looking in the skylights. They would crap all over the glass. It didn't help that he'd feed them every day either.

[Harold Burrell]

Yes, I can. No, I won't.
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Could you at least add, "Wish I could"...for me...please???

It would make me feel better.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Could you at least add, "Wish I could"...for me...please???

It would make me feel better.

I do my hunting at the supermarket. No waders needed.
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[Bill Cunningham]

Wild turkey tastes the same as domestic turkey, except they are leaner.. This one was about 17lbs