DNR wants help tracking wild turkey population

[indybrad]

DNR: Turkey Brood Reporting

 

[Cameramonkey]

I've got half a bottle. Who do I tell?

 

[padawan]

I've got half a bottle. Who do I tell?

I see what you did there.

 

[BigMoose]

Those damn turkeys are everywhere. I see them on the side of 37 down south.

 

[ghitch75]

there are every where down here......wish we had back all the other game birds before them....

 

[mom45]

I have a few here but not as many as we saw in past years. I'd love to see pheasant again. It's been a long time since I've seen one.

 

[Max Volume]

I recently received a survey in the mail.

 

[mkgr22]

I brought this thread up after receiving a report by email:

uly Observations Only Summary (note these totals could change later as some late observations come in)
Total turkeys observed in July was 2,700; 687 hens, 1,586 poults, 270 gobblers, & 157 unknown.
68% of the hens were with poults (227 broods); the average brood size was 9 birds (2 Hens + 7 poults on average per brood).
The Production Index (PI) is calculated as the total poults/total hens observed. The preliminary July 2016 Production Index = 2.3, which is slightly less than the 2.9 reported for July 2015.

Given the amount of precipitation so far this summer, a lower PI would be expected.

Thanks again for your cooperation and look forward to seeing what the August reports bring. I’ll try to get the summer summary out to all participants by late September.


Steven E. Backs
Wildlife Research Biologist
Statewide Project Leader (Wild Turkey & Ruffed Grouse Project; Wild Pig Elimination Effort)
Mitchell Office Manager, MAFWA Ad Hoc Feral Swine Committee Chair/ National Wild Pig Task Force Represntative.

 

[yetti462]

The bobcat are hammering the turkey by me. We are 5-6 years overdue for a season. Backs has been in favor of a season for awhile. From what I understand there is a pissing match going on internally in the IDNR.

 

[JimH]

The bobcat are hammering the turkey by me. We are 5-6 years overdue for a season. Backs has been in favor of a season for awhile. From what I understand there is a pissing match going on internally in the IDNR.

I would say raccoons raiding nest are far a bigger problem than bobcats,although they undoubtably kill turkeys.The thing is that bobcats will never be thick,even in their densest populated areas,when compared to coyotes and especially coons.An area that holds 2-3 bobcats may also hold 30-40 coons.That's a lot of nest raiders!I'm a coon hunter and lots of times don't kill the coon because there is no money in it,plus the more coon,the more I get to hear the dogs.I've decided this year that I am going to do a lot more thinning1

 

[yetti462]

I would say raccoons raiding nest are far a bigger problem than bobcats,although they undoubtably kill turkeys.The thing is that bobcats will never be thick,even in their densest populated areas,when compared to coyotes and especially coons.An area that holds 2-3 bobcats may also hold 30-40 coons.That's a lot of nest raiders!I'm a coon hunter and lots of times don't kill the coon because there is no money in it,plus the more coon,the more I get to hear the dogs.I've decided this year that I am going to do a lot more thinning1

Coons are hard on nests, and we have plenty of coons in my area. I trap and call the vermin, and coon hunters pound them in my area. I saw my first bobcat on my farm 8 years ago and ever since noticed the population of timber chickens dwindle. This spring I had a bobcat stalk a turkey through corn stubble. My county (Lawrence) and my in-laws county of residence (orange) are a couple of the highest populated counties with bobcat. In-laws saw and heard very few turkey... This year calling predators I called in more bobbies than yote or fox. It sucks to look at the cat through crosshairs and not touch the trigger.

 

[mom45]

I see adult hens and toms but have yet to see a poult on our property this year. I've seen some in other areas with poults following them in fairly large groups.

We have fox that visit regularly and are seen on the trail cameras almost daily along with coons and possums. I assume those are what are getting the babies, but the adult turkeys seem to be visit daily in the same numbers. I lost one tom to a neighbor that hunts. I saw him posting the picture on FB after he shot it, and my group of daily visitors was down one tom so I'm sure it was one I was watching.

 

[two70]

I would say raccoons raiding nest are far a bigger problem than bobcats,although they undoubtably kill turkeys.The thing is that bobcats will never be thick,even in their densest populated areas,when compared to coyotes and especially coons.An area that holds 2-3 bobcats may also hold 30-40 coons.That's a lot of nest raiders!I'm a coon hunter and lots of times don't kill the coon because there is no money in it,plus the more coon,the more I get to hear the dogs.I've decided this year that I am going to do a lot more thinning1

Since Turkeys were reintroduced they have dealt with nest predation by coons and the population grew quickly and steadily. Now that bobcats are firmly established, turkey populations have been declining in my area. Coon and coyote populations tend to be boom and bust with that last several years being bust for both where I hunt. Meanwhile the bobcat population continues to explode. I typically get trail cam photos of 4-6 different bobcats a year in one location and have gotten as many as 8 different cats on a deer carcass in a single week before.

 

[mom45]

FINALLY!!! I was just checking out the cards from my cameras...finally have babies visiting.