I'm not going to pretend to be the biggest turkey guy around... but I'm curious, what kind of nesting sites do they prefer? I'm sure google would tell me, but why ask google when I have resident experts here? :)
-John
I'm not an expert, but I have been involved in more spring gobbler surveys than I can count and have worked with biologists that have done capture and gps tagging and tracking. Here is my take:
Everything is about poults. In the spring, Gobblers root sites are governed by proximity to hens and safety. Hens select root sites that are proximate to both good nesting and brooding cover. Good nesting cover is thick. The same kind of early succession we think of for deer is great for nesting cover, but it does not need to be large blocks. It can be in smaller quantities. Overgrown fields, field edges just inside the woods where light gets in, stream buffers where enough light gets in, are all good for nesting.
Good brooding habitat consists of many of the same things we plant for deer, but arrangement is more important. First, it should be close to the nesting cover. Young poults can't travel that far. If you look at a turkey poult's diet, 90% of it consists of insects. Clover greens up early and is a great attractant for insects and makes great bugging. You don't want grasses that lay down like fescue. Young poults can't travel through it. They move best on bare ground. However, they are very susceptible to avian predators when exposed.
So, I start with clover and then plant something with vertical cover next to it. I use bicolor lespedeza. It grows 6' tall but has plenty of bare ground under it and is a low maintenance perennial. It also produces millions of tiny seeds that both turkey and quail eat. Every time I mention bicolor, I want to caveat it with saying that it is non-native and can be invasive in some habitats. I've used it for well over 10 years with no expansion from the planted stands and have been able to re-convert stands back into crops with no problem. That may not be true in other areas, so check it out before using it.
There are many other options, RR soybeans work well as they will have lots of bare ground under the canopy. Placing these next to clover allows poults to approach the clover under cover, bug in the clover, and get back under cover when threatened.
There is no need to plant to feed adult turkey. They will eat just about anything that doesn't eat them. If you want to hold turkey on your place during the summer months, plant buckwheat. They will bug in it, but they seem to just love buckwheat seeds.
I found nothing that will keep turkey off acorns when they fall. This doesn't mean they won't eat stuff in the fields on occasion but acorns seem to be the favorite in the fall. NWTF has really pushed chufa and if you only care about turkey or ducks, there is nothing wrong with planting it, but there are so many crops we plant that turkey love and also benefit deer that unless you have more acres to plant than you know what to do with, I would not dedicate any acreage to chufa.
Only last thing. Many folks used to believe that turkey needed large blocks of mature forest. We now know that they support lower turkey densities than mixed habitat. Blocks of different age class pines, hardwoods, and fields with some creek bottoms makes outstanding general habitat.
Thanks,
Jack