Thanksgiving gone, Turkeys out of hiding

[Dave Anderson NH]

The title of the post strictly speaking is not true. We have turkeys around here all of the year and usually 15-20 roost in the copse of trees to the right of our house. This morning was unusual in that appears that two separate flocks have combined. I counted 41 in the back yard a few moments ago but couldn't fit them all into the pictures. Oh well!

[Jim Koepke]

This makes me think of one Thanksgiving when Candy and I were driving up and down the west coast looking for our retirement home.

We stayed in a campground in an area known as "The Lost Coast" in Northern California. It was a very windy night, the rain was horizontal on the Mattole Rd. out of Ferndale, CA.

It was pretty calm in the morning. As we were driving out of the campground, a flock of turkeys was crossing the road. After I let them past, Candy said, "you should have run over one of the turkeys so we could have it for dinner." My response was, "you need to tell me that before I let them pass."

I don't think I would have wanted a road kill turkey for dinner anyway.

jtk

[Alan Lightstone]

I don't think I would have wanted a road kill turkey for dinner anyway.

jtk
Well, we just confirmed that Jim is not a redneck. :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

It's amazing where turkeys can be found! Late one night we flew into the Spokane, WA airport and checked into a hotel on the airport grounds. The next morning we departed for home early driving about 2 miles east on I-90 and then turned off onto US-195. Shortly after getting onto US-195, I spotted a dozen turkeys grazing on the roadside. I suspect that they were eating grain blown out of trucks and trailers hauling grain to nearby elevators. This, I'm sure, was within the Spokane city limits.

[Rob Luter]

I have the same situation where I live. My lots abut 40 acres of woods that are adjacent to a creek, a big expanse of high grass bottom land, and hundreds of tilled acres. Prime turkey habitat. The turkeys feast on soybeans, corn, and those naturally occurring food sources. We have a healthy flock. They enjoy the area under my bird feeder too. It's amazing how conditioned they've become to my wife and I. We walk out on the deck and often times they just look at us for a second and them keep doing what turkeys do. I could dispatch one with a rock if I wanted. Not that I would.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Wild turkey meat, as opposed to Wild Turkey the beverage, is not the same flavor as the domesticated bird. I do not like the taste of the wild variety though it is edible. As far as I'm concerned it isn't worth hunting during our twice annual turkey seasons. Turkeys around here are unfazed by cars or people most of the time. They just came back into the yard now as my wife came in from the barn. They looked at her, decided to ignore her, and continued grazing after deciding she wasn't a threat.

[George Yetka]

Wild turkey meat, as opposed to Wild Turkey the beverage, is not the same flavor as the domesticated bird. I do not like the taste of the wild variety though it is edible. As far as I'm concerned it isn't worth hunting during our twice annual turkey seasons. Turkeys around here are unfazed by cars or people most of the time. They just came back into the yard now as my wife came in from the barn. They looked at her, decided to ignore her, and continued grazing after deciding she wasn't a threat.

Capture them, feed them corn for 2 years, and then eat them

[Stan Calow]

We visited Yellowstone in August. We were on a tour and stopped on a side road to watch a mama grizzly and her cubs, probably within 75 yards of the road. A whole line of cars that she ignored. Our guide said that some of the bears had learned to stay close to humans and roads because it reduced the likelihood of other predators (in this case male bears) from attacking the cubs. Maybe the very intelligent turkeys have learned the same thing.

[Frederick Skelly]

That’s really cool Dave!

[Ron Citerone]

Thanks for sharing Dave!

[Steve Demuth]

They are not always so stand-offish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4g0HZG6Rc

[Rob Luter]

Wild turkey meat, as opposed to Wild Turkey the beverage, is not the same flavor as the domesticated bird. I do not like the taste of the wild variety though it is edible. As far as I'm concerned it isn't worth hunting during our twice annual turkey seasons. Turkeys around here are unfazed by cars or people most of the time. They just came back into the yard now as my wife came in from the barn. They looked at her, decided to ignore her, and continued grazing after deciding she wasn't a threat.

Brine them and then do them in a smoker or a Kamado grille. It ain’t a butterball, but it’s really tasty.

[Alex Zeller]

We don't have a lot around the house at the moment. Usually deer hunting season makes them a little more cautious. But normally we have about 20 who live under the two bird feeders. When I realized that with them that close to the house the tick population dropped to zero. So now I throw a bit of cracked corn on the ground. Some of the males would coming running like tame pets when they would see me with a bucket in my hand. That's too tame so now I fill the feeders after dark. It's kind of a shame because I was able to teach the small birds to land on my hand while I filled the feeders before switching to filling them at night.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

One fall on the last weekend when the USFS campgrounds were open, some friends, my wife and I hauled our campers to Selway Falls campground on the Selway River here in Idaho. General deer and archery elk seasons were in full swing. One afternoon we drove from the campground to the falls and then down river past the Fenn Ranger station. The ranger station is used as a central staging area during the fire season here. There are signs on the road on both sides of the ranger station stating no gun fire or hunting for the next mile to protect the firefighters that might be camped or practicing in the area on either side of the ranger station. We saw over 40 turkeys and 20+ mule deer within that 1 mile area. We saw no turkeys or deer elsewhere that day during our drive. Coincidence? I think not.