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Old 02-28-2008 | 10:32 AM
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firelt72
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Joined: Feb 2008
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From: Indy
Default RE: can turkeys smell?

Guys I am not trying to start a fight or anything, just trying to correct a misconception that turkeys can't smell. As I stated prior, they have a sense of smell, but like all birds it is poor. This is taken from the Wild Turkey Zone web site and was written by T.R. Michels, who is a nationally recognized game researcher/wildlife behaviorist, and outdoor writer and speaker, who has been studying game animals for several years.

Mammalian prey species (deer, elk, sheep, etc.) that have a highly developed sense of smell can determine the direction of danger by scent and wind direction. They generally flee down or crosswind, knowing they are fleeing away from danger, not toward it. Because birds have a poor sense of smell they need to rely heavily on both their eyes and ears to determine the direction of danger before they flee from it.

So they can smell, but they can't smell us or determine danger via that sense. Search it out,
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