So, over the course of the past few years, I've been privileged to hunt in one of the top gobbler-producing counties in the state. Honest to god, this place was rotten with turkeys. Was. 15 years ago, it was nothing to take an early morning scouting drive and see literally hundreds of birds. Fast forward to today, when a full day of hunting and driving between hunting areas yields six turkeys spotted from the road and one in the woods. 20+ birds gobbling has dwindled to two. Why? One factor is that this particular county had always been closed to fall hen season... But seriously, do fall hen hunters really do that much damage? I think not. Habitat loss: Marcellus shale natural gas drilling has decimated some of the most prime turkey habitat in my little black book of turkey hunting. Not just the well sites, but the roads and gas lines leading into and across the areas. It's really taken a toll on the available roost sites. Predation: Unlike deer, humans are not the apex predator of turkeys. Poults get picked-off by fox, coyote, hawks, etc.. Eggs get raided by the aforementioned, with the additional usual suspects: coons, possum, dogs. Now here's where a little research led me to something new: Did you know that crows are nest raiders? I didn't. Raptors are, and I had an inkling that they may be. That's your hawks and such. But crows? I never knew that. Now i'm gonna have to start annihilating crows.
Yep, crows will eat anything and everything....Have you never noticed how crows will follow around hens in the spring, or turkey in general....I ALWAYS see crows close by in the trees when turkey are around, likely scoping them out for nests. We can only crow hunt in the winter with calls, but it is fun. Dekes and a caller usually produce about a dozen birds a day by hitting up different spots.
I never knew that either. Another big problem around here is with all of the dairy farmers trying to up their head of cattle, they also have to put more land into production. This means no more tall grass fields full of grasshoppers and what not, which is was the young ones really thrive on around here...
Fran this is something i learned this season as well. I was in blind with my son and observed a crow following a Hen on a quad trail. It was three feet behind her all the time. When she would step off the trail into the weeds, it would jump up and down trying to get a peek to see if she had a nest in there.
Definitely. We had a fairly hard winter here, and it's interesting to compare the two properties I hunt. On one hand, we provided some supplemental feed at our home here for the turkeys, deer, and various wildlife. This spring, the turkey sign is still strong. Looking at our cabin a mere 15 minutes away in the more mountainous region (with little natural food sources other than browse), there was a big winter kill (actually a neighboring club member found a bunch of dead turkeys and deer this winter). Quick, Interesting note on the gas well situation. You're in an area that's a few years ahead of where I live exploration wise, but it's coming. Do you feel this has made a MAJOR impact? How well is the wildlife responding after the site is reclaimed? How good are they at reclaiming the sites?
