HELP! The Turkey's are coming! THE Turkeys are coming!

[PatMarlin]

We are being invaded...

Living up here for 11 years, and never saw a single one. Then this past fall they have been showing up all over the place. Saw many yesterday drying back home about a mile from here.

!............! Just now as I type this- I heard a big gobble and looked out the window at a 15lb plus looking tom.

I've never hunted turkeys and dreamed of for years. I had been thinking coyotes had cleaned them out, but it looks like they are here in big numbers. The Coyotes are still around.

Can they avoid yotes? What makes them show up all of a sudden?

I'm just as excited about this as getting Checkmaker™ dies done. ... :mrgreen:

:holysheep [smilie=w: [smilie=w: :holysheep

[twotrees]

Yep, until Yotes learn how to fly :holysheep

A Turkel bird can run at 45 MPH and Fly at 55 MPH. They can see like us with 8 Power Bino's on. If they had the same sniffer that a hog has NO ONE would ever shoot one.

We have Yotes and bobcats on our deer lease and still have a good population of turkies, but the birds get a lot more nervous when a cat is around at roost time, than they do with a yote.

Have one and get ya one of them.

( Yep same guy from COPT)

[Hickory]

Shoot them and they will multiply.
If you could tax them, they will disappear.

[longranger]

In CA they are such a pain, it is legal to shoot them with .22 cal air rifles in the "burbs".I have a cousin there and his wife was feeding them and then complained they were crapping all over her truck.I have seen flocks of over 300 in the winter there.They have been sucessfull to say the least.Here in WY they starting to get very good populations and they are pretty easy to hunt.We have both Eastern and Rio Grande's in WY.They eat very good a little tougher than domestic but much better flavor.Go get a Turkey tag and give it whirl,if legal !

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Well, I used to work at Wazzu/WSU/Washington State University, thankfully retiring about 2 years ago.

Saw huge number of "turkeys" there, many of them seeming to hang in and around the "ad" building and other office buildings, and let me tell you the mess the feathered ones, which are often seen around here, make ain't noth'in like the mess left behind the turkeys at Wazzyouie!

No sir, I cleaned up behind those Wazzu turkeys, in one way or another[smilie=b:[smilie=b:, for over thirty years and the wild ones don't even make the same page when it comes to mak'in a mess!

WE can live with the mess made by the feathered type, but the damage/hurt/problems caused by the un-feathered kind is much:groner: MUCH worse!

I tell you, that place is an Obamanation[smilie=l:!!!!!!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[MT Gianni]

We are being invaded...

? What makes them show up all of a sudden?



Feed and habitat. Perhaps the Coyotes have moved in to their traditional habitat. They will follow the "feed" also. Average life in the wild of a game bird is 3 years if someone thinks they are too cute. My opinion is they were put on Earth to be eaten.
They have great eyesight and depending on pressure they can be as hard to hunt as Elk. Good camo, no blue, red or white showing in case there are other hunters around. Make sure that your shoe's soles color match the ground. Use decoys after they have been "trained". The number one cause of accidents while hunting turkeys is supposed to be being shot by other hunters. Set up with your back to a big tree, consider wearing orange to your set up area and minimize movement. It's a ton of fun.

[Rockydog]

A Turkel bird can run at 45 MPH and Fly at 55 MPH. They can see like us with 8 Power Bino's on. If they had the same sniffer that a hog has NO ONE would ever shoot one.


( Yep same guy from COPT)

In addition to the binocular effect they also have a field of vision that extends about 270 degrees when still, IIRC, and can easily turn their head far enough for a 360 degree view. Their vision is also like a humans in that it can distinguish color and reflection. Their hearing gives them the ability to range and locate the source of calls very precisely. RD

[leadeye]

Turkey hunting is a lot of fun Pat, enjoy!

[Buckshot]

..............When my brother lived in Bonners Ferry, ID I went up for a visit. His house was on a loop that took off of the main road, meandered around through the trees a good bit, and then returned to the main road further along. Most lots were of 2 or more acres. The forested areas around had been thinned quite a bit (they were otherwise primeval). We were out in his side yard fiddling with the BBQ and I heard some turkey gobbles.

He said that there were tons of them around and they made a hellacious mess of stuff. I went out through the gate into the front yard and there must have been a couple dozen of them fooling around on both shoulders of the road. He was building a spec house over on the other side of the river and we went over there to see what he'd accomplished so far. While there another large flock of turkeys passed though the area. I suppose if you got'em you got'em :-)

..............Buckshot

[PatMarlin]

BruceB may have some friends come up to get some. I was thinking maybe my Savage long range FVSS Stainless in .223 and a head shot... :mrgreen:

http://www.patmarlins.com/sav1.jpg

[MT Gianni]

Rifles were Legal in eastern MT a few years back. Heads move, go for a nonexpanding bullet and side shot, breaking both wings at the body joint.

[DLCTEX]

I shoot turkeys with a rifle and aim for the upper back area. I remove the breast meat and take the thighs and drumsticks leaving the stinky stomach cavity unopened.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

I have a nice .22 cal. air rifle.

Would like to trip a turkey out the back window of the shop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Makes less noise then the 45/70.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[Houndog]

I use a 222 and try for head or neck shots. and lots of my friends use the 22 Hornet. They are getting so plentiful around here we consider them in the same class as Pigeons! ( rats with wings) It's nothing to see a flock with 50-75 in it.

[PatMarlin]

I hope they get like that here!

[StarMetal]

Right out of my pc room window, these were behind my tractor shed.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg51/starmetal47/TurkeyShed1.jpg

[JIMinPHX]

They can sometimes be a bit aggressive in large groups. I was deer hunting out near the PA border several years ago when I got run over by a bunch of them. I was stalking a buck & totally focused on what he was doing when I got spooked by the grumbling noise that was behind me. I turned my head just in time to duck for cover as the crowd of feathered Mack trucks overran my position. Some of those critters felt like they weighed a lot more than 15 pounds.

One thing that you need to remember when you hunt them is that their feathers are a lot tougher than many people realize. A lot of guys are surprised to find that bird shot will often bounce off of them if they take a head on shot to the body. You either need to head shoot them or else get them from behind & shoot "up the feathers". I prefer head shots. I also prefer hunting them with a .22LR where legal. They are pretty dumb birds. If you're any good with a call, you can usually call them in pretty close.

[9.3X62AL]

Pat--

In California, turkeys are classed as "resident game birds", and shotguns w/birdshot #2 or smaller--air rifles .20 caliber and larger--archery tackle--and muzzle-loading shotguns are the permitted tools. There were quite a few in the San Bernardino Mountains from the 1980s until early this decade. The theory has been that coyote multiplication since fur prices hit the cellar have wiped out the birds locally via nest disturbance and pilferage. Dunno for sure, but that's what a local DFG warden believes. The local birds were Merriam's turkeys. I called some and got "gobble-backs" pretty routinely, but never put a bead on one. The way that poachers work the deer and bobcats in SBNF, I suspect that jacklighters shot them out of roost trees--in addition to the coyotes raiding nest sites.

There are tons of birds along the Central Coast, esp. on private tracts. TONS. The wild turkey is one of few California game bird species I haven't yet harvested, and I very much want to do so.

[DLCTEX]

Our turkey flocks often run into a hundred or more. In 1990 the Game dept, trapped 458 about half a mile from my house and moved them elsewhere. I saw a flock 2 miles from my house a month later with at least as many birds in it. The numbers went down for a while, but have come back strong in the past few years.

[Freightman]

My sister has a place at Howardwick, TX the birds run up and down the street in the winter in flocks of 100 +. The city will not let you hunt them though. The kill zone on a turkey is no bigger than a silver dollar so shoot straight.
http://lewand.tripod.com/turkeytargets.html

[PatMarlin]

I posted this over on another thread, but I thought I would put it here as well.

A buddy of BruceB and Curmudgeon Bill's is coming up with his family to hunt turkeys next week. I'm gonna take a run out with them and wanted to use my Knight K2000.

Thing is I only have #8 lead shot on hand. I patterned the Knight one time with the #8 and the best results then were (by volume) 120grs of #8 and 90grs of Triple 7/#11 CCI cap using the Star method of 2 cards over the powder, and 1 over the shot. This was plain punched card board.

At 35 yards I counted 112 pellets in a 10" circle.

How effective is that gonna be on a Gobbler in 35?

[JIMinPHX]

Houndog,
I see that you are from Kingsport. It's been a few years since I've been out that way. Do you still have an I-talian restaurant called "Giuseppe's" in that town? The food there used to be pretty good. It used to be my stopover point when I flew into Tri-Cities & then drove out to Rogersville.

[waksupi]

Pat, a single shot in the head of a turkey will kill it.

[Mk42gunner]

Pat,

While #8 shot seems awfully light for the purpose, if it will penetrate both sides of a coke can it will probably do the job. All you need to do is get a pellet in the brain, or break the neck to get one.

Robert

[PatMarlin]

It puts out a fairly dense pattern and should work. I guess we will see, or maybe I can get someone to pick me up some #6.

Coke can is a good idea. I'll shoot some up here today. Darn cold, nasty, snowy rainy whether this week. It's coming down right now. I thought spring was here.

[Dale53]

I live in SW Ohio and turkeys are making a come back, big time around here.

I was/am a fan of Townsend Whelen. He suggested a .22 Hornet with a cast bullet (my 225415 would be ideal) and a shot at the "butt of the wing" for an instant kill. Turkeys can be harder to kill than you think. Around here, there are two schools of thought:

1 - Use fine shot, a tight choke, and aim for the head and neck
2 - Use coarse shot and aim at the bird.

Ohio doesn't permit hunting turkeys with rifles or pistols, so I haven't whipped up any enthusiasm for hunting them. My preference would be "first" a handgun, then "second" and .22 Hornet with a cast bullet but-t-t

Dale53

[PatMarlin]

Here's another option...

I have my Howa in .223 with a Luepy 1.5x5 scope currently on it. No camo obviously.


http://www.patmarlins.com/Howa1.jpg


Could probably easily get a butt wing shot with this one. May have some 22 cal lead cast up somewhere for it.

[PatMarlin]

Well I'm disappointed.

The turkeys thoroughly made a turkey out of me... :groner:

BruceB's co workers Dusty and Donny and Dusty's darling little son and daughter came up night before last, and we set their travel trailer up. Just that day it was snowy, windy and cold but by the after noon sun came out and melted it all away by the time they showed up. Dusty also brought me up a bag of #5 shot and some rounds for my 20ga bless his heart. I decided to load up my Knight TK2000.

We all camo'd up and set out early the next morning to where I had seen some birds the week before. Dusty started in with his calls and no one was answering. We called several different areas and no luck.

He figured it may have been to early and cold , so we went to town and had a nice brunch. On the way back we stopped in an area some local folks I know put us on, but same thing there. Not a gobble to be seen nor heard... :roll:

Absolutely gorgeous day though. We headed back and took naps whilst the kids ran with my dogs up and down the mountain sides. I was bushed from not getting much sleep the night before so I stayed while they went out and did some more calling. They found some deer, but no birds.

Was a great visit though and sure would like to hunt with those guys again. They went on to Covello this morning for a try there. I wish I could have followed them, but I had to head back in the shop and get to work.

[wallenba]

They can avoid them all right. They spend night off the ground, dominant tom flies down first in the morning to check things out. They can hear better than us, and see 10 times better with a field of view about 340 degrees. They can't smell as good as we can but they really don't need it. Hard buggers to surprise. Get used to sitting still in full camo.