What do turkeys do in the winter?

[Schobs]

I live in Green Bay, and hunt in north central WI, near antigo for any of you locals, and i was wondering what turkeys do in winter time as far as food and shelter. In my neck of the woods, there are no farm fields, just maples stands, swamps, and marsh. we USUALLY get quite a bit of snow, but dont normally see their foot prints as much as we do on the dirt roads in fall. i say we usually get snow because here it is jan 2nd, and its 40 degrees here in green bay, and will be about that for the rest of the week, hopefully this will help the turkeys establish themselves in our area. thanks for any info, im not a big turkey hunter, but always wondered what they do when/if winter rolls around.

[mauser06]

to put it simply they flock up and find the food and shelter. the flocks sometimes travel pretty far in search of food..they hit the food source till its gone and keep movin it seems. sometimes it may seem like no turkeys live there...but if they are there in the hunting season thats all that really matters i have a spot up north where i do alot of hunting and goto college and spring i can hear 20+ gobblers from one area no problem. come fall i cant find them if you paid me. ive put 100 miles on my boots walking everwhere and cant find em. find scratchings..but they are old..im always a few days behind them and cant figure out where they went. winter time i usually get a flock right in that area that hangs around..thats where i deer hunt and listen to them in the spring. its not a HUGE flock in the winter..usually 10-15. i still dont know where they go and i covered all the mountains! i love seeing winter flocks though. once i came over the knoll of a hill to see the ground was moving. there had to be 100+ birds in there. then again ive seen a lone hen dragging a gobbler in full strut through half foot of snow in december gobbling his head off like it was spring...turkeys sure are wierd birds!!

if its windy/cold/snowy look for them in the lowlands, pines ect where they can get out of the weather. even in the spring and fall if its nasty out thats where i head.

i dont much worry about winter turkeys. i pattern them in the spring and fall..thats when i hunt them. i know that summer and winter their patterns are usually pretttty diffrent and not worth chasing around..

[TEmbry]

my friend has set back in the winter while in the deer stand and watched 200+ birds in one flock. biggest ive seen is 150+ while driving and had a group of 80 or so move in on me and dad while on our very first turkey hunt ever.

so i think its safe to say, as stated above, they flock up and find watever food available. they like the safety of the real thick terrain where they can still find food. nicely told mauser06.

[Schobs]

thanks guys, this question usually comes up once or twice during the winter up at our cabin, and now i'll have an answer.

[maytom]

What do turkeys do in the winter?

Ski of course!! LOL!!!!

[Ridge Runner]

I saw a flock set in a tree for 9 days once during/after a heavy snow storm, when they fly down they find a place where snow isn't so deep and pretty much just mingle till the weather/conditions improve.
RR