da' Ranged turkey's!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

This morning I saw a nice sized jake on Hwy 169 just west of Virginia, near Mtn. Iron.

Really surprised to see them this far north... it was pretty cool!

Any one else see them up north this far? I've seen some in Brule, WI before, but up on the Iron Range seems much farther north than I figured they'd make it.

[Borch]

Man that is up there!

I've seen them north of Moose Lake and in the walker area. But that's not quite that far north.

[tacklejunkie]

Are you sure it was a wild one?

[SandPoint]

Thats funny you say that, I was talking to one of our neighbors up at the cabin last week and they saw a tom around the Makinen area. Could be people trying to release them though?

[BRULEDRIFTER]

It was definitely a wild turkey. It looked just like the ones we hunt down south. Could have been released, I guess. But by whom and why???

I almost hit the thing as it crossed the highyway, so it wasn't like I saw it from a distance. Definitely was a jake, with a 2 inch, or so, beard.

[thatoneguy]

There are quite a few of them between Walker and Bemidji, so the Range isn't a huge leap, I guess.

[Muskie456]

There is definately private stocking that goes on. People will buy 10 to 20 eggs hatch them and release them. People want turkeys out there.

[surewood]

We are seeing more and more in our area down here. Little more then an hour south of you.

[Borch]

Non wild turkeys rarely survive more than a week or so in the wild. They just don't have the instincts to avoid predators and feed effectively in the wild. The MN DNR learned this early on in their attempt to re-establish turkeys in the state. Once they started capturing wild turkeys and relocating them the population increase to what we have today.

[DonBo]

Borch is right on. It is also illegal to release pen raised turkeys, they can carry diseases that wild ones have no defenses for. If you see or hear of someone releasing turkeys into the wild, please turn them in.