Topic: Wild Turkey

[demon78]

Any one have any knowledge of wild turkeys, we were siding  a few minutes ago and we had one walk into the area we were working in and making noises like wheep, wheep, wheep then stopped and looked at us checked the ground out for edibles and kept making the noises and stuck around long enough that my wife could move away and get the camera and get within 10' and take pictures, thought that was strange behavior for a wild critter, after a bit moved off still making noise. No panic on birds part.
Bill the demon.

[bucky katt]

to think about how hard i work to even HEAR one during turkey season makes your story amazing to me Bill. wild turkeys are the smartest, craftiest critters in the woods.

[Frankenkit]

I used to hunt 'em with my dad.  That's really, really weird behaviour for them, though...  

Someone must be feeding it or something.  At this time of year, if it was making a soft sorta peeping sound, it might be a chick of the year (if a male, the tail fan would be uneven- middle feathers way longer than the outer ones OR just no beard and short nubby spurs)  just looking for Ma and the rest of the 'flock'.

A popular fall hunting tactic is to run in, bust a flock, and then set up pretty close to that and call them 'back' using soft clucks. This is my only real basis for that kinda vocalization except that hens seem to talk to each other and themselves a bit.

...but my best guess is that someone's probably feeding it somewhere.

[demon78]

That's what I thought, which is why I posted this, I'm-was startled I kept hearing this wheep, wheep, and it didn't register, and eventually I looked over my sholder saw the turkey said to my wife who'd just come down from the ladder Marn, Marn look behind you slowly ( all quietly of course) and she turned and looked and said it's a female and we watched it for 5-10 minutes until it finally moved off. She took pictures and if I can sort out how to post it I'll post a picture. Kit it was about 2' high so it might have been immature I'm not familiar enough with the critters around here, too many other things to do this year, just heard a shot, hope they didn't waste our friendly turkey.
Bill the demon.

[mrblasty]

When I spotted the thread title I said to myself "Uh-Oh! my old lady must have gone a tear with a couple of pints of wild turkey in her gut and ended up in Ontario somehow."  Glad to see that's not the case.

[bwaller]

Bill, we're in orchard country and see turkeys often, but the only time I heard one was one night after dark late last fall when for some reason this crazy buggar flew smack into my house. The house shook, startled my dog, and dented my siding. It, of course, was deader than a doornail!

I fiqured they would roost in trees at night but this thing had somewhere to go.

[BeSeeingYou]

One problem is that occasionally domestic turkeys (notoriously stupid) escape and breed with wild turkeys dumbing down the offspring.  Could be the case if any turkey farms are in the general area.  There was one last summer in the west metro area that hung around a busy outer suburban intersection.  There was a wooded area close by where it must have hung out.  Anyway it got to be such a traffic hazard as it wandered around the cars stopped at the light that the local authorities had to "take him out". 

[Inigo Montoya]

Like blasty I thought this was gonna be about wild turkey the whiskey!

[bucky katt]

Like blasty I thought this was gonna be about wild turkey the whiskey!

+1 wild turkey is my favourite cold remedy! it might not help the cold symptoms but at least i dont give a damn about it after i've had 8 or 10 ounces of wild turkey 101

[Frankencake]

to think about how hard i work to even HEAR one during turkey season makes your story amazing to me Bill. wild turkeys are the smartest, craftiest critters in the woods.

Wild Turkeys are the Vietcong of the animal kingdom.

[bucky katt]

to think about how hard i work to even HEAR one during turkey season makes your story amazing to me Bill. wild turkeys are the smartest, craftiest critters in the woods.

Wild Turkeys are the Vietcong of the animal kingdom.

lol youre not the first person to tell me that 

[Frankenkit]

the buggers can hear you blink.  I'm convinced it's not that they're that bright, but that they just take off running (and flying, and crashing sideways into trees) at the slightest provocation.

Successful hunters have reason to be proud.

[bucky katt]

the only wild turkey i've ever killed was with a pickup truck when i was working at a rifle range on FT Jackson.

[nokrome]

to think about how hard i work to even HEAR one during turkey season makes your story amazing to me Bill. wild turkeys are the smartest, craftiest critters in the woods.

Wild Turkeys are the Vietcong of the animal kingdom.

  Turkeycong

[Trevor from Warragul]

Had a glass of Wild Turkey and Coke tonight.  Mmmm.  All my problems just seemed to melt away!

[74cb750]

There are 2 gaggles? of turkeys around my house. They are noisy and
are dangerous as sometimes when driving fast around sharp corners
THERE they are wandering the roadway.

Maybe I should slow down. 

[Rocking-M]

we have turkey gangs around here too! I've been cutting timber and have them land in the tree, run to the truck
grab the shotgun and turkey dinner on the way. I've called them up and almost been run over several times.
Really not all that hard to hunt though you've got to be camo'ed to get them in real close.

[Pinhead]

Pfff the turkeys back home must be the dumbed-down species; they walk across the yard all of the time. Sitting on the front porch with a .22LR in arm and we could get as many as we want. Best thing is, the .22 doesn't make enough noise to scare them away after the first shot. Give them 3 days and they'll always be back. There are 2 flocks, each with 50 or more birds.

[Frankenkit]

wow.  Makes me feel like we're hunting an endangered species up in WI.  You can call *all day* and not see one, especially if it's windy.

[754]

I had about 6 or 8 run across the road in front of me Sunday night, near the Wa/BC border..

..never seen that many at once..