Scouting for turkeys

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fins wrote:</div>
I’m done here.

Good bye

Let me know when you find Bigfoot

well…….that wasnt very nice Gim!!!!!!

grubson wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fins wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
Walleyesforme/ Fins
You’re wrong, a lot of people want them there. Myself included. It’s a great edition to the area. We have a great time at turkey camp up north and are relatively successful. You can’t say that about the deer hunting anymore.
Id love to learn more about when, where, and how many turkeys have been transplanted into northern mn. I honestly do not know. You seem to know, let’s here it. They’ve definitely made there way north at a fast pace. We see them all the way up 53 to the Ash River trail.
Do you feel the same way about whitetail? Remember they’re not native to Northern mn either.
How about pheasants? They’re the most adored and protected invasive specie ever.

The most protected invasive species would have to be the turkey. Short season and you can only shoot one? I’m done here. My opinion or the opinion of the good majority of northern Minnesota obviously doesn’t matter on a thread like this.

Your opinion absolutely matters, so does EVERYONE’S.
You can’t possibly be speaking for the majority of northern mn. You’re just being ignorant and arrogant if you think you are. You didn’t even attempt to answer my questions. You make statements as facts but have no facts.
As soon as someone disagrees with you, you either get nasty or whine and leave. Probably why you were booted in the first place. Grow up.

No I just have more constructive things to do than argue with someone about some stupid bird. I got nothing against the people that hunt them the only thing I wish is they’d kill more.

Has the coyote population been going down?
I guess roosting in trees helps them evade the yotes.

Hoping to be a good MN spring

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jwellsy wrote:

Has the coyote population been going down?
I guess roosting in trees helps them evade the yotes.

My son was out Saturday morning scouting and saw 2 coyotes. He didn’t bring a gun with. He did see 5 toms as well so should be a good season.

jwellsy wrote:

Has the coyote population been going down?
I guess roosting in trees helps them evade the yotes.

But they are way easier to shoot out of a tree.

fins wrote:

But they are way easier to shoot out of a tree.

Ha, I have tried to shoot pheasants out of trees before and it never worked well. A turkey? LOL

No I just have more constructive things to do than argue with someone about some stupid bird. I got nothing against the people that hunt them the only thing I wish is they’d kill more.
[/quote]

Right, constructive things like argue about bears? I saw that you tried in the bear thread. Stop trolling and you may stop getting your feelings hurt.

No I just have more constructive things to do than argue with someone about some stupid bird. I got nothing against the people that hunt them the only thing I wish is they’d kill more.
[/quote]

You seem to argue with every one on about every topic possible. And when your argument isn’t working then you begin to insult them.
Just step back and ask your self why ? What’s the point. Does it make you more superior. For the majority, they just ignore anything you write because of that.
We hashed our issue out but I notice your still on the same track for no real reason.

Went on a few turkey drives this weekend again and didnt see any. Deer everywhere though.

big_g wrote:

They were reintroduced in the 1970’s by the DNR… and yes, the NWTF did raise and release thousands through the 1990’s to present day. The definitely are not “invasive”… like the Ring Neck Pheasant, which was brought from Asia to the Americas.

I have never heard this part about raising and releasing turkey’s in MN and not sure I believe it. The turkeys released in MN were wild birds captured from MO with rocket nets and exchanged for ruffled grouse. The general stance of wildlife biologists is that turkeys incubated and raised by man don’t make it in the wild. The only exception to this is a population of birds in Michigan. I’ve heard this several times over the years from people. They will have a story that the neighbor bought some turkey chicks, raised them for a few months and then let em run free, and now there’s a bunch of wild turkeys in the neighborhood. A very dubious claim. Pen reared birds are too dumb to evade predators and survive in the wild.

crawdaddy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
They were reintroduced in the 1970’s by the DNR… and yes, the NWTF did raise and release thousands through the 1990’s to present day. The definitely are not “invasive”… like the Ring Neck Pheasant, which was brought from Asia to the Americas.

I have never heard this part about raising and releasing turkey’s in MN and not sure I believe it. The turkeys released in MN were wild birds captured from MO with rocket nets and exchanged for ruffled grouse. The general stance of wildlife biologists is that turkeys incubated and raised by man don’t make it in the wild. The only exception to this is a population of birds in Michigan. I’ve heard this several times over the years from people. They will have a story that the neighbor bought some turkey chicks, raised them for a few months and then let em run free, and now there’s a bunch of wild turkeys in the neighborhood. A very dubious claim. Pen reared birds are too dumb to evade predators and survive in the wild.

I’m not sure what has happened regarding turkey in the past. Maybe they’re completely different, but people pen raise and release pheasants all the time. If it works for pheasants, why not for turkeys?

crawdaddy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
They were reintroduced in the 1970’s by the DNR… and yes, the NWTF did raise and release thousands through the 1990’s to present day. The definitely are not “invasive”… like the Ring Neck Pheasant, which was brought from Asia to the Americas.

I have never heard this part about raising and releasing turkey’s in MN and not sure I believe it. The turkeys released in MN were wild birds captured from MO with rocket nets and exchanged for ruffled grouse. The general stance of wildlife biologists is that turkeys incubated and raised by man don’t make it in the wild. The only exception to this is a population of birds in Michigan. I’ve heard this several times over the years from people. They will have a story that the neighbor bought some turkey chicks, raised them for a few months and then let em run free, and now there’s a bunch of wild turkeys in the neighborhood. A very dubious claim. Pen reared birds are too dumb to evade predators and survive in the wild.

I’d be curious to see their records on where they release their birds. Just a quick search shows they have big events where they release turkeys. The ones around here definitely act a little different than say what a normal turkey should act, I’d think anyway. There’s definitely several flocks that seem to just appear out of nowhere and they just hang out on the side of the road all summer like they are lost. Lots of them get hit by cars. There were one of those weird groups of birds by where I work last summer and a few guys did major damage to their vehicles hitting them. They disappeared once it started snowing but last summer 9 out of 10 times I’d go to town there was a dozen turkeys standing on the side of the road in the exact same spot and this is a major highway. I do know for a fact that they can survive in the wild after being pen raised because our neighbors had one get out and we’d see it all the time grouse hunting and it pops up on trail cameras once in a while. Again not putting anyone down or trying to offend anyone. Just some of the suspicions and observations I see with the turkeys up here.

I’m not sure what has happened regarding turkey in the past. Maybe they’re completely different, but people pen raise and release pheasants all the time. If it works for pheasants, why not for turkeys?
[/quote]

Pen raised pheasant survival rates are very close to 0%. They are pretty much released to be shot that season, as most don’t last a year in the wild.

FinickyFish wrote:

I’m not sure what has happened regarding turkey in the past. Maybe they’re completely different, but people pen raise and release pheasants all the time. If it works for pheasants, why not for turkeys?

Pen raised pheasant survival rates are very close to 0%. They are pretty much released to be shot that season, as most don’t last a year in the wild.
[/quote] Yep. Even wild pheasants the average age of a pheasant is something like 3 months which sounds ridiculous, but from what I have seen/read it seems to be true. They just dont survive due to predation, poor nesting, winters, etc.

Dear Fins,

I’d be curious to see their records on where they release their birds. Just a quick search shows they have big events where they release turkeys. The ones around here definitely act a little different than say what a normal turkey should act, I’d think anyway. There’s definitely several flocks that seem to just appear out of nowhere and they just hang out on the side of the road all summer like they are lost. Lots of them get hit by cars. There were one of those weird groups of birds by where I work last summer and a few guys did major damage to their vehicles hitting them. They disappeared once it started snowing but last summer 9 out of 10 times I’d go to town there was a dozen turkeys standing on the side of the road in the exact same spot and this is a major highway. I do know for a fact that they can survive in the wild after being pen raised because our neighbors had one get out and we’d see it all the time grouse hunting and it pops up on trail cameras once in a while. Again not putting anyone down or trying to offend anyone. Just some of the suspicions and observations I see with the turkeys up here.
[/quote]

This the best I could find.

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I maybe used the wrong verbiage… I don’t know that they “raised” them, but they definitely “released” thousands over the years. I was at a few ceremonies.

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

CaptainMusky wrote:

They just dont survive due to predation, poor nesting, winters, etc.

Wild pheasants by nature have a very short lifespan. You are correct, most roosters hatched in June die by hunting season’s end so that puts their average lifespan between 4-6 months long. But since it only takes 1 rooster to keep the population going, hens are what you need, not roosters.

big_g wrote:

I maybe used the wrong verbiage… I don’t know that they “raised” them, but they definitely “released” thousands over the years. I was at a few ceremonies.

Yup I got ya. The birds they released were undoubtedly wild caught birds transplanted to other parts of the state. In general hatchery animals and many fish don’t seem to last very long in the wild. (For the fish part I’m mainly referring to salmonids I’ve read studies on in the pacific NW).

This was a wild turn in the thread. I like it

Back in the 70’s I used to turkey hunt a huge ridge system just across the river from Cape Gerardo Mo in Illinois. We always called it Peanut Ridge. Anyway, Peanut Ridge is where they net trapped hundreds of turkey for transplanting all over the Midwest. At the time it made me mad they were poaching our territory so much.

During the heat of the day we’d go snagging below a spillway for huge gar.