capital forest turkeys

[Wacenturion]

ghost hunter....I smell a new license plate...wacent.  GSTHNTR ...I prefer  DAMBIRD...LOL

5MINBRD....after the last one I took....lol.   Yeah...been a few DAMBIRDs too.

[yelp]

Nice...rub it in...SUPRMAN.. or your newest creation..GOBFTHR.  one year I had a 25DABRD...

[ICEMAN]

How about NOBRD08,     or NOBRDAGN? 

[coastalghost]

Heres one that I found a few years back...my biggest tom ever. Neared the 24.lb mark and had 1.5 inch spurs.  He was the most vocal bird I have ever witnessed...drumming etc.  Since then I have tried to find them to no avail.  Last spring I tried and found some fresh droppings but never heard a peep.  I do think they are on the constant move and finding a roosting area is very tough compared to rio's or merriams.  You really have to do quite a bit of prescouting.  Think the yotes are tough on em too.

Coyotes do not pose a problem to adult birds.....I've seen a gobbler face off an eventually chase off a coyote.  Also seen hens play with them....fly off 40 yards or so and when the coyote goes for her again...flys in other direction for 40 yards or so.  A game the coyote eventually tires off. 
An old friend of mine from the midwest, a turkey biologist, once told me....if a predator takes an adult turkey....there was something wrong with it.  An over simplication....but you get the drift.

Well....Ive seen coyotes laying in wait for turkeys walking the logging roads. Called em in with turkey call.  That doesnt mean they predate them though.   Found fresh piles of feathers and wings in the woods....bobcat, cougar, ?  How bout the young? 

[ICEMAN]

I have had two dogs sneak up on me as I was working my call turkey hunting....

[Wacenturion]

Heres one that I found a few years back...my biggest tom ever. Neared the 24.lb mark and had 1.5 inch spurs.  He was the most vocal bird I have ever witnessed...drumming etc.  Since then I have tried to find them to no avail.  Last spring I tried and found some fresh droppings but never heard a peep.  I do think they are on the constant move and finding a roosting area is very tough compared to rio's or merriams.  You really have to do quite a bit of prescouting.  Think the yotes are tough on em too.

Coyotes do not pose a problem to adult birds.....I've seen a gobbler face off an eventually chase off a coyote.  Also seen hens play with them....fly off 40 yards or so and when the coyote goes for her again...flys in other direction for 40 yards or so.  A game the coyote eventually tires off. 
An old friend of mine from the midwest, a turkey biologist, once told me....if a predator takes an adult turkey....there was something wrong with it.  An over simplication....but you get the drift.

Well....Ive seen coyotes laying in wait for turkeys walking the logging roads. Called em in with turkey call.  That doesnt mean they predate them though.   Found fresh piles of feathers and wings in the woods....bobcat, cougar, ?  How bout the young? 

Predators will take turkeys.......risk is greatest from egg in the nest stage through the first two weeks after hatching before they can fly enough to roost in lower limbs with the hen.  After that point their chance of survival goes up.  Obviously adult turkeys are taken by predators, but not easily........insignificant population loss at the adult stage.

[Turkeyman]

Wacenturion is right i have seen turkeys play with dogs they get a few but not many. Skunks, Raccoon's, Opossum , are hard on eggs. Weather and bobcats, hawks, coyote, the first couple weeks of there lives. When they can fly up in the tree there survival rate goes way up.

[NWTFhunter]

Tell your bio friend he is mistaken !  Yotes do take adult turkeys !  The number isnt high, but they do get em esp hens nesting.

One of the biggest predators is squirels !!   They knock the hell out of eggs.

[Wacenturion]

Tell your bio friend he is mistaken !  Yotes do take adult turkeys !  The number isnt high, but they do get em esp hens nesting.

One of the biggest predators is squirels !!   They knock the hell out of eggs.

What I said was..........

"An old friend of mine from the midwest, a turkey biologist, once told me....if a predator takes an adult turkey....there was something wrong with it.  An over simplification....but you get the drift."

Did you read where I said....that statement is an over simplification.  That means somewhat of an exaggeration..... for the most part coyotes don't take enough adult turkeys to be of concern.  I also referenced egg stage to roosting after two weeks in another post as the most vulnerable for turkeys....never said predators didn't take eggs.

and.....that reply I gave was in regards to the following.......

"Since then I have tried to find them to no avail.  Last spring I tried and found some fresh droppings but never heard a peep.  I do think they are on the constant move and finding a roosting area is very tough compared to rio's or merriams.  You really have to do quite a bit of prescouting.  Think the yotes are tough on em too."


He was asking about easterns in the Capital Forest.  The biologist quote I used was from the midwest in regards to easterns also. 
I see you are in the SE....Rio country...........coyotes are probably going to be somewhat more successful working on that subspecies since they, like Merriams flock in large numbers.  However.....still not a significant problem for Rio or Merriam populations either.  But I can assure you....easterns, especially in western Washington are a tough bird to take, irregardless of your life form. 

[coastalghost]

Aside from the predator issues.  I have often thought that the Merriams specie may have been a good and or better alternative for W. Washington.  Obviously, we are a bit more mountainous than typical eastern turkey habitat.   Have there been any releases of Merriams? 

[Wacenturion]

Back in the 70's there were a few Merriam's released in western Washington......Scatter Creek area for one......never did well.  Wrong type of habitat for Merriam's as well as precip ranges (too high).  Merriams expansion from Klickitat stopped pretty much where you hit western Wa. habitat
Western Washington eastern areas are not more mountainous than typical eastern habitat.  They were not released in the Cascades, rather areas from Mason County south to Vancouver.....typical western Washington flat lands or hills....i.e. Black Hills, Doty Hills, Willapa Hills etc.

[yelp]

Easterns are a better fit for Western WA.  They seem to take the precip better than other subspecies.  There once was a idea floating around....  to get some florida "Osceola" strain and release around Port Angeles area...were temps were a little more "tropical" ...I think we need to concentrate efforts to manage what we have. 

[NWTFhunter]

Yelp, that would be interesting for sure !  I dont know that Osceola's would fare well on the wet side?

[yelp]

I doubt it would happen but a grand slam in washington state would be cool!  The washington slam however is a hard one to get..in itself.

[coastalghost]

Would you say the Easterns are thriving?     If not...what is the limiting factor. Must be those midwest coyotes    I have heard of merriams as far as Washougal..just heresay, but makes sense along the Columbia River.