Spring gobbler dispersal?

[bmc]

I'm getting the itch and called a landowner who let me hunt last spring. He said he had a group of 12 tom's by his house most of the winter and now there's only 4 of them that are coming in regularly. I'm assuming they're starting to break up and find their own territories.

He said he saw a bunch of turkeys last fall, but hasn't seen any hens all winter.

I'm wondering how far the tom's will disperse from this area. This is in Wadena County. I'd say the woods/fields ration is close to 50/50.

Any thoughts?

Brian

[DonBo]

They'll move a long way from their wintering areas to their spring breeding territories. I'd be surprised if that's happening yet. They're still in winter survival mode around the metro area. Mostly they're in the cattle feedlots right now.

There's a big flock of well over a hundred birds about a mile from where I hunt. I'm certain some of these birds will be on my turf once the snow is mostly gone. They'll move a lot farther than that if they need too to find food in the winter.

[Cheetah]

At my aunt and uncle's house in the Black Hills they have a lot of turkeys that come to their bird feeders. Before hunting season starts they start to disperse just like you describe. What I usually notice is that the flocks in the area each have a handful of gobblers instead of one big winter gobbler flock. So I think if your friend has a similar large number of turkeys in the area, you'll find a few of those dozen gobblers with each flock of hens. Maybe only a couple dominant birds per flock of hens, and then the lesser gobblers will try to go between the flocks to steal hens.

Has your friend seen any hens at his house? Maybe the winter hen flock has spent the winter on another property. If he is friendly with the neighbors it might be worth while to make some phone calls to try to figure out where the other groups have been roosting and feeding during the winter.

[bmc]

He hasn't seen any hens all winter, but said there were lots of them around last fall. I'm thinking they can't be too far away.

The toms have been hanging w/ his cattle and also eating out of his bird feeder.

The people I stay with won't be home till mid April, so then I'll get some scouting reports.

Brian

[sticknstring]

Saw a flock of a dozen or so birds behind the house over the weekend. Havne't seen them since last spring so something is happening!

[gurkster]

Yeah - I saw a few singles over the weekend. So maybe they are starting to break up some now.