First Tom on the Property

[356]

After six years of slow habitat work, the turkey are returning. Last year I had several pictures of a hens, but no Toms or poults. This season I have seen couple of hens and have several more pictures of them on the property. The other morning I heard some gobbles in the distance. This morning I had the first picture of a Tom on this part of the property. The old timers said the turkey left about 20 years ago, so this is encouraging. WIth the removal of 82 predators, hopefully I’ll see some poults this spring!

 

[blueKYstream]

Nice work on removing all those predators! I'm sure you'll have a bump next year in poult survival for sure.

 

[BrushyPines]

Man that has to feel good!

 

[Mtyhunter]

That's awesome to see!
Been leasing a property (800 acres) in central Ok for about 8 yrs now. Had more turkeys than I've ever seen before, and it was great. Pigs moved in heavy after the 2nd year, coyotes got fat and happy with all the pig carcasses, and 3 yrs later, no turkeys. Put the corn feeders away, hunted and trapped the pigs/coyotes for 3 years, and finally had 4 jakes and 2 hens show up. I'm not an expert in regards to turkeys, as it always interfered with baseball season, but I'm learning the hard way, and picking up some good tips from this forum. (learning to coon hunt effectively is next on my list to help the turkeys)
It doesn't take much to lose the turkey population, and it takes a ton of work to get them back!