ORIGINAL: ManySpurs
Here in NC Pa, the turkeys are having it pretty rough to. There's a flock of 50-60 birds up the road from me that haven't been out of the roost trees for the last 4 days. I have 300 pounds of cracked corn setting in my garage that I'd love to put out for them. Unfortunately, these turkeys are on SGL where feeding is prohibited.[:@]
Call you local WCO and that situation might work out well for all.
It is illegal to enter into a feeding program on the game lands but I have turkeys on bait right now that are getting their food supplemented while I prepare to trap the turkeys to band the gobblers. I will not trap them though until conditions improve some so they have a higher chance of surviving after I trap them. If your turkeys are in a place where he can trap them and there are gobbler he might be interested and you might be able to get involvedin the trapping. It is interesting when you get involved in the turkey research.
You are correct that conditions are pretty harsh right now for the turkeys and even the deer. Both the turkeys and deer have been in the process of moving into the wintering grounds habitats over the past few days. Saturday it was getting difficult to find deer or turkey tracks on the ridges or plateau but once I got around the wintering grounds I was finding lots of deer sign and some turkey sign.
I agree that many of the turkeys are still up in the trees, but we know they can stay up there for up to two weeks without food and still survive if they aren’t disturbed. Just don’t make them fly and expend that valued energy if you can avoid it. If they fly they have to be able to find enough food to replace that lost energy.
R.S. Bodenhorn