My Discovery

[P. Beyer]

So I've had a small farm in Ballard County leased for a few years mainly for deer and the Bass Hole on it. We do a bit of work to improve things for the deer and on the pond. Its been devoid of Turkey, as I discovered last season and was confirmed by neighbors etc.

Well today I went fishing and decided to drive and check our cameras,.......Well As I rounded a bend I saw two adult Hen Turkey milling about in a picked cornfeild.[:)][:)][:)]

First confirmed Turkey in my two years there and many more years according to neighbors. Question is, What next?

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear

[Multidigits]

P.B.--You'll find turkeys move around a bunch. They have a wider range than do deer. Most likely you'll have turkeys on the farm from now on, but there's no guarantee of that unless you hold them with bait. Then you couldn't hunt there, so that may not be wise. And you may have hens but no gobblers, but it's likely that the turkeys have expanded their range and are now on that tract to stay. Go early, and listen for gobbles.

[GSP]

Good chance they have expanded to your farm. Your best hope is they nest and raise brood there. You are working on deer habitat, so clover in the spring and winter wheat in the fall. They need a bugging area for poults too. Good luck

[P. Beyer]

Thanks guys, I'm more forward looking into the next 3-5+ years, Sure would nice to have Turkey on the farm. Multi, You mentioned bait, Reckon if I just kept the area "baited" which I already do for deer as in Mineral & Feed blocks, cocaine sites, etc....... If in a few years I could reap the rewards?

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear

[Multidigits]

When I first bought the farm I have now, we had hen turkeys nest in one of the grown up fields, but never saw or heard any toms in the first two years. We started feeding for deer, and soon started seeing turkeys at the feeders--hens and toms. Did this for a full year and then took the feed off in Feb. each year and have had excellant turkey hunting ever since. They now seem to like the area with or without the feed, and have established strut zones, and dusting areas which weren't there in the first year.

[P. Beyer]

Again, Thanks.... I got it, It's kinda like "build it & they will come"

Wonder why there was such an absence of Birds before?

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear

[GSP]

Weed fields are a good source for all your critters. Turkeys like nesting there and your deer will bed fawns there. All your small game will thank you. After the nesting times, you can strip mow and establish a good bugging area.

[ceohunter]

I had some buddies plant chufa on a farm w/out turkeys and "they built it...and they did come"

[warden310]

Out walking on a favorite hunting place of mine today and found a hen laying an egg. It was a little after 11am, and she had slipped off to her nest. They must be breeding!

The earliest poults I've ever seen was May 20. Figure 2 weeks to lay, 4 weeks to set and hatch, she would have breed sometime in early April.

[Al]

What is a bugging area?

[Multidigits]

A place where they catch bugs.

[Hammer]

good deal, glad u have some turkey action. I've seen turkeys on my place in every season but Spring when it's time to hunt them.

[Al]

How do you create a bugging area? Would it simply be an occasionaly mowed field?

[dgc4]

P.B.
My family moved to a farm in Ballard County when I was very young. That was 18 years ago. We never saw the first sign of turkey for 14 years. Then about four years ago my dad saw a hen in one of our fields. It was the spring also. And never again have we seen a turkey or sign of one. The only turkeys that I have ever seen in ballard seem to be in the bottoms or near mayfield creek. My home is not all that far from mayfield creek, but i have seen several turkeys around mayfield creek. Go to the states web page and look at ballard's harvest for the past 7 or 8 years. The first years were dismal to say the least, but the numbers are picking up.