can turkeys smell?
 

i hunt every year with my uncle and it never fails he seems to take a bath in bug spray! you can smell it from atleast 10 feet away! i have gotten two nice gobblers with him but this year i want to take one with a bow and they are going to have to get closer. so what i am asking is can a turkey smell all that good? they are known for there eye sight but i have never herd anyone say that a turkey was down wind and it got spooked because of it.

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

as the old saying goes "If they could smell no one would ever shoot one"

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

If them birds could smell we wouldnt be hunting them....


MrGobbler

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

I agree 100%

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

I also agree, with the prior posts.:D

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Sure they can smell and I have some lure that you can purchase that never fails, never. Just send $19.99 to, (send PM for instructions).;)[8D]

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Enough said!

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

If you're set-up isn't just right they'll smell a rat.;)

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Turkeys smell great...when they're roasting in the oven :D You don't need to worry about scent control.

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Turkeys can smell (poorly), but it is not a highly developed area for them. Deer need smell for their primary protective purposes and turkeys use eye sight and hearing as theirs. I would say very few land animals, if any can't smell some. It is just not sufficiant to pick us up in the woods like a deer can. JMHO. (I actually looked the answer up and found it on multiple web sites).

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Thankfully they can't smell...if they could, they wouldn't be huntable (as prior posts have stated).

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Theyd be 100% impossible to hunt if they could....:D

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,

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

I had one about 70 yardsdown wind coming in slowly on morning. Ripped off a good early morning oneand he stopped and looked in my direction. I don't think that he smelled it though, I think he just heard it:D

Seriously, I don't think its turkey smelling you need to worry about!It’s deer that you so be concerned about. Working a gobbler in WV a few years ago, I ended up spotting a few does feeding towards me. They were moving faster than the gobbler and eventually got down wind of me. They started getting nervous and doing the old leg stomp thing. Well all that caught the attention of the gobbler I was working and he turned and left. I ended up getting him but no thanks to the deer that caught wind of me.

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Cut open the next one you shootand put your nosenear its guts. You won't have any doubt about whether they smell or not.

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Turkey Sense
While a turkey does not have ears per se, it does have excellent hearing, making it extremely difficult for any creature to approach without being detected. They also have exceptionally keen eyesight and see in color. However, a turkey's night vision and depth perception are poor. Turkeys also have a poor sense of smell but a keen sense of taste.

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

they smell real bad when you breast them out, just don't dont open up that crop

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

This has been the answer I have gotten from biologists as well.

Most of what interests me is that fact that some folks say ducks have a very good sense of smell. Personally I think that is a bit on the far fetched side, better than a humans perhaps, but certainly no where as good as most of the other land animals we hunt.

Vultures and buzzards, however, have a sense of smell that rivals or even exceeds that of a whitetail deer... not to mention eyes that are right up there with a turkey.

I'm sure turkeys can smell a bit, but not enough to use their sense of smell as a warning system for hunters.

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Turkeys won't smell youor the guy bathed in deet... draw and fire....

RE: can turkeys smell?
 

Just like most everyone else has said, with their keen eyesight and hearing, if they have a strong sense of smell, we wouldn't be talking on a turkey hunting forum.:D
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