Some good prospects for spring!

[muskiemanAD]

Checked the cameras and was pleasantly surprised to see all the birds and sign. Last few years numbers of birds have been down, hit hard by hunters and coyotes. Looks like they are making a comeback! Now I just need to get drawn for Season A...

[DonBo]

Now you got me all excited!

[Gordie]

Now you got me all excited!

What he said.

I have been seeing alot of birds lately

[hugonian1]

Good stuff!

Some nice beards there.

[ANYFISH2]

Nice group of toms. good luck in the spring!

In fear of hijacking your thread, I have a question for anyone. How much impact will this HARD, Crusted snow have on the birds?

A few picked fields that held tons of birds in late Dec. now have very few. I fear they may not be able to scratch though the hard snow to get to the food, the woods are very much the same here. I fear as we enter late winter the birds will be in very poor shape.

[DonBo]

Nice group of toms. good luck in the spring!

In fear of hijacking your thread, I have a question for anyone. How much impact will this HARD, Crusted snow have on the birds?

A few picked fields that held tons of birds in late Dec. now have very few. I fear they may not be able to scratch though the hard snow to get to the food, the woods are very much the same here. I fear as we enter late winter the birds will be in very poor shape.

I'm not going to pretend to be a biologist and know it all, but I believe turkeys have such a varied diet,that the snow conditions - for now - are not going to be very hard on them. Birds that live anywhere near cattle have an unlimited supply of food right through the winter. They also eat tree buds, same as grouse, along with weed seeds which always seem to be available. Here in the metro I see them in crab appple trees and back yard bird feeders. Lots of people feed the deer through the winter and turkeys will be right there with them. So for now, I don't believe there's any concern. Turkeys have proven to be very adaptable.

[muskiemanAD]

Anyfish, I don't believe that the harsh winters hurt the Turkeys that bad. They seem to est whatever. I believe that the Coyotes due quite a bit of preying on them. We were over run with yotes a few years back and found quite a few carcasses around. Those yotes were pretty smart, we watched them a few times. One or two would hide in the treeline off the field they would eat in the morning while a few more would pop out and semi chase them towards the waiting ones.... Them yotes were relentless in hunting those birds...

[Scott M]