What Wildlife Do You See, While in the Woods?

[Gypo Logger]

Lately, I have been watching these wild turkeys I see at least twice a day. There are about 4 hens and 30 baby ones. They now sleep in my log length firewood pile at night. They are fun to watch, being able to get within 100 ft. of them. Are these turkeys territorial? Mature Tom's I haven't seen, do Tom's travel around more, and are they more secretive due to hunting? Wild Grapes, I have seen them eat. What is their diet? The hens seem to flank the babies, as though on gaurd. How do they protect themselves against coyotes, foxes etc? They were in the woods today and are not too alarmed by my presence.
These turkeys, I find interesting, although I hear they are becoming a problem, eating up rural gardens. Are they good to eat?
John

 

[Stumper]

Other than Nekkid women, the most interesting wildlife are the deer, elk, bears and squirrels. I seen the Nekkid womens but I din't look.

 

[NevadaWalrus]

Does a non sighting sighting count? Many moons ago when I was young, I worked fpr a saw company, not chain saws but flat saws for concrete and asphault.

I'd spent the better part of the day in a closed for renevation camp ground in the mountains making cuts in the camp road. The job super showed me where he wanted the cuts and left. So there I was in the middle of the woods by myself. These saws make a lot of noise and probably keep most critters out of sight when running, they also leave a lot of water as the blades are water cooled..

I finished up just before dark and before loading up to leave I headed for the outhouse to dump a load. When I came back I found these huge bear prints in the fresh mud and slop caused from the saw. It was a good thing I'd already dumped my load, never in my life have I moved so fast to load up the equipment and get a moving.

 

[SilverBlue]

Are they good to eat? Only one way to find out! Need to restock the freezer anyways

 

[johnb]

I was blocking out some cherry yesterday and run across a 2,500 lb Charlois bull. Or may be he run across me. We parted company after some alpha male snorting. Ya gotta love Indiana wildlife!

The Hoosier





Curley fries for everyone!!!!

 

[SWI Don]

Gypo, They Fly!!

...not very far as far as I have witnessed but maybee a 1/4 mile or so. I have a friend that had a timber where they released some in the spring. That fall deer hunting was one of the craziest things I'd seen. The turkeys had no idea what to do about the drivers walking through the timber and they had spotted some of the guys posting so they were running from one end of the timber to the other. This got the deer all confused with all of the racket from the turkeys.

After a bit of chaos they started flying over us posters that were sitting back further from the timber. When the first one flew, I thought to myself that that was the biggest pheasant I'd ever seen. After about the second or third I had decided that turkeys really can fly.

A lot of the turkeys around here roost in trees at night. And yes they are good to eat.

Have fun enjoying the neighborhood.

Don

 

[dbabcock]

Yes, turkeys can fly. No, you can't get very close to them.

 

[dbabcock]

Here's a picture I shot just last week of a turkey in flight. I think it's a female.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hey Doug, that's very brilliant, but would you chow down?
John, the One Day Millionaire.
P.S., it's been a good week, all bills paided, wolf from door, trees tapped, bush cruised, dragon slaped, chain ground.
Did you rock out? No, but I'm sure you did.
Gypster

 

[Harley]

There's some nice feathers on that bird Doug.

About two months ago I had a gobbler walk up within ten feet of my bedroom window. They're alot taller than they appear from far away. The gobblers tend to hang out in a different flock until spring, sometimes I will see them gang up with the ladies in the winter. They can make some strange sounds.

I don't usually see turkeys when I cut. But I have seen deer watching me from a couple of hundred yards away. See plenty of rabbits and squirrels usually.

 

[Marky Mark]

Here's a baby elk I stumbled accross this spring in New Mexico, there was no cow around for about 15 minutes.

 

[Marky Mark]

This shot was from a hunt in MT. I passed on this cat, it took about 1 1/2 hours to get the dogs off the ridge.

 

[tony marks]

man i saw a charlois [sharlay] bull completly take over a sale barn one day .
even the heard dogs went home...
and i aint kidding ,,that thing woulda killed anybody he got close enough to...
them oak fences were no deterent to him .. i left ,,but got the word,later. somebody went home and got his elk rifle. ive seen gentle charlois,,but it was obvious why this sucker was being sold.
he was also getting too big,, to cover any normal size cow ,,without breaking her down.rumor was this bull would cover a cow then after,, try to killer if u couldnt get her outa there.didnt see that part ,,but not hard to believe ,,as he was one crazy bull..john u mite be a very lucky man.. still its kinda a shame something with that much fight ,,had to be put down. but believe me there was no choice in the mater.. i left to be on the safe side ,,as if they ever did gettim in the ring ,i felt like he could clear the metal bars or takum dn. and bulls aint my buisiness.

 

[dbabcock]

Sometimes we feed them.

 

[dbabcock]

Glad things are going well, John.

 

[Sapwood]

Gypo, After breeding season ends in the spring (May around here) The Toms hang in bachlor groups while the hens take care of the polts (babies). Since polts cant fly for some time, they overnight on the ground. Its been my experience that all turkey's like to roost in big trees, oaks mostly. You should hear them fly down in the morning...sounds like limbs falling from tree's. They prefer to outrun humans, but fly when startled. Diet consists of bugs, seeds and crops (corn, beans around here). Check their gullet if you ever harvest one, not sure what canadian turkeys eat (hops and grains!). I think they taste better than domestic except for the dark meat. I'm sure that by the end of the summer most of the polts will have been lost to preditors. It's fairly easy to get hunting permission for turkey's around here due to the fact that they will tear up a farm field as fast as its planted. Spring season (April-May) is bearded turkeys only (be careful if you come to the states in spring) but there is a fall season for either sex. Tom's are hard to kill. 12 guage with super full choke inside of 30 yards is a good rule of thumb. Aim for the throat, the shot just bounces off their feathers!

Sap

 

[MasterBlaster]

I had a pet squirrel for 12 years - he was cool - he could do a Mr. T impersonation. He could take a sunflower seed outta my teeth. I got a home theater set-up with a massive subwoofer - he was dead within a week.

BUMMER!

 

[Gypo Logger]

Thanks for all the info on the wild turkeys. They are becoming like pets now, I can get within 30 ft. of them.
How do they survive 10 below weather and deep snow conditions?
John

 

[Sapwood]

Gypo, Most of them go to Florida

Sap

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Sap, does this mean they are migratory, and if so how do they make it back alive if they have to go thru Wash. D.C and Jacksonville Fla? I heard they winter on Daytona Beach, is this true? To my knowledge they cross with seagull, and are then called Sh!t Hawks.
John