Anybody working any feeders?

[fishunt247]

Just wondering if anybody is working any turkey feeders this winter. In Yakima Co. there hasn't really been enough snow to warrant putting feed in the feeder that my family usually does. I'm watching the snow in Kittitas because I know of a guy who has a feeder up here as well. But this snow is melting awful fast. The birds shouldn't need any help, so far, it doesn't look like. But with the snow mess in the northeast, is anybody doing anything for the birds?

[PA BEN]

Snow doesn't seem to harm the birds. I've seen some hard winters, and you would think it would have killed them off. But turkey's will eat anything, they fly up in to tree's and find food. They'll do fine up north.

[fishunt247]

I just know an extended period of time with deep powder snow with no base can kill off some birds. The winter of 96-97 killed A LOT of birds in the Goldendale/Klickitat area. It was sad to find all the carcasses in March and April. I read somewhere that they can live on average 6 days in a tree without flying down. Who knows? Helping them get through the winter unscathed never hurts though.

[NWTFhunter]

Winter feeding is discouraged by most state biologists. Turkeys are resiliant birds, despite a large winter kill turkey numbers can quickly rebound with a good spring hatch.
The thing with winter feeding is that you are only effecting a very small number of birds, and if you have a large flock of winter turkey the amount of feed required to actually sustain them is very large.  More $ than most people are willing to spend.  What does this do if you stop mid stream due to a financial issue.  Well, if you cant afford to buy more food and have attracted a mid sized flock of say 40 birds and stop these birds now have to find a new source of food. And if the weather becomes worse and prevents birds from traveling, and finding an easy food source which they have now become accustom to, these birds will die.
This kind of thing has happend time and time again.  There have been ranches that have started feeding a small flock of turkey, which over a few short years can become a very large flock of birds, several hundred if not more.  This is taxing and annoying to the owners of the land and they often give up their efforts.  There has been ranchers that have hundreds of birds show up in the fall that have threatened the fish and game that if they dont do something they will kill them as they are just tired of huge flocks of birds.  But in this case who is somewhat at fault ?  About 6 years ago there was a ranch that held over 500 birds that the NWTF had to take fast action to save birds because they would be erraticated because they had become a nuicense.
I have heard it many many times a land owner will say.. A couple of years ago we started feeding them because we liked seeing them. And now there are just sooooo many birds in our yard or barn that we are sick of them.
Now these are the guys you know you wont have any problem getting permission to hunt their land.....

I used to have a very detailed symposium that gave all the gathered research on survival...
Turkey can survive being roosted for close to 3 weeks.
Turkey can survive temps as low as -15 for 7 days before beginning to use fat reserves.
Deep powder snow is what prevents turkey from finding food sources. It prevents them from scratching.
A crust is actually good over deep snow as it traps falling seeds on the surface that are easily eaten.
A hen despite having less fat than a tom will usually live longer with out food than the tom.
The only reason turkey are not in Ak is because they are a non native species, and ADFG will not allow release of turkey there.
I will see if I can find that information, or request another copy to share

Ok, I will shut up for now..

[fishunt247]

Good info. The feeder in Yakima Co. is not near any private land, is not a private feeder (state I guess), and the feed we put in there is provided to us by a WDFW biologist. These birds, unlike the birds up north, will NEVER reach the size to become a nuisance due to where they are located, deprivation, etc. And there isn't anyone around for them to annoy either.
Really all the birds that were transplanted into Yakima Co havent done great. Some flocks have done better than others, but none have exploded.

[boneaddict]

No need to shut up NWTF.  GOOD INFO.   They were taking a beating in the NE corner.  Should do better now.

[NWTFhunter]

Thanks guys.. When it comes to turkey I can get on a roll.....LOL
I read anything I can get my hands on when it comes to turkey.  I have stacks and stacks of Turkey Caller, that I can read time and time again.

[shorthair-on-point]

That is some good info. Thanks

[PA BEN]

When the turkey's started to show up in numbers around Chewelah, people started feeding them in the winter. They would sit in there house, drink coffee and look at the pretty birds. Just a few at first, then a few more, then 100's. They roost on your TV antenna and break it off, they roost on your deck. And yes turkey *censored* everywhere. I knew a guy who fed them until his wife slipped on turkey *censored* in the drive way and broke her ankle. It use to be, "can I hunt the turkey's on your land", "no way", "we love to see the birds." "If you kill them there will be no turkey's." Now, "it's come and kill as many of the SOB's you can", they call the game dept. because there's to many turkeys at my house. The game dept. tells them to stop feeding them. They'll go away.
Also, turkey's will stay and move to food sources. They will keep the snow beat down, but if you feed them, you lock them in an area where the snow gets deep. If you stop feeding them, they are stuck in the deep snow and aways from the next food source. BTW, the winter of 93-94 and the winter of 96-97 didn't hurt the birds in the Collvile valley at all. And the snow stayed deep from Nov. to March.

[Gobble]

Good info, Thanks for sharing.

[Big10gauge]

I've had them sitting on my chimney pipe before, That's the easy way to have smoked turkey,  They can be really destructive, but I still enjoy watching them.

[fishunt247]

In Yakima Co, there are only a couple spots where there are actually houses in turkey country. But its really odd how different the birds are in the Goldendale area vs up northeast, despite both being merriams. Granted in Goldendale there aren't near the amount of birds, but they don't visit the fields in droves like they seem to up north. And they don't seem to be around houses too much (though around like Centerville they are). Maybe there are less houses in the Goldendale area too, I'm not sure. Too bad those birds can't be transplanted from up north like we used to do in the Yakima Chp of the NWTF. A lot of other places could use the boost of new blood. Anybody know if any chapters are transplanting birds still?

[bowhunter/taxidermest]

some good friends are, they have been for a long time they are more like pets though to them cuase they come everyday at the same time its kinda bad, but its only a small flock of about seven to ten birds. the long beards never mange to make it to long living and liking the pet life it seems but it dosent matter cuase i know where they are going they seem to seperate from the hens and young and never make there way back.....but i have sucesses every year i have gone, so i shouldnt be complaing,

[PA BEN]

The birds in Yakima Co came from the Colville area through the trap and transport program w/ the NWTF.

[fishunt247]

Yeah I know, I was on three of those plants that I remember, maybe more. I know I was on some of the Tampico, Rattlesnake, and Teanaway plants. My dad was the chp. president of the Yakima chp, which is who did those plants. I was just wondering if anybody was doing that anymore?