What to feed turkeys with?
 

Hi folks I have recently bought another parcel of land with a field that is a little over 1 1/2 acres in town. My question is what to feed turkeys? We had some pretty hard hitting ice storms and the birds have been walking along our roads looking for food. They appear to be thin and we can not hunt them until May up here. So I figured it would not hurt to help them out a little. I bought a bag of corn today to put out. But, I was wondering what anyone else may use to help them along. I will be stopping any feeding of them at the end of march so it will not be like I am baiting them any. I just want to help them out over our harsh winter.

wheat or scratch feed, deer will devour the corn at night
RR

Here's an interesting link of dos and don'ts for feeding put out by the NH Game Dept. that I think would be worthwhile for you to read.

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wild...guidelines.htm

Thanks guys !!

Phil,

I feed turkeys during the winter months once the snow gets
deep. I use a mix of about 50% coarse cracked corn and
50% sunflower seeds. I scatter the feed over a fairly big area
so that not just the dominant birds get the feed and to
help reduce disease problems. Once I start feeding, I do
it on a daily basis until the snow is gone.

i have used corn for the longest time. The turkey in my area are ruthless with the corn. I would put out 50-100lbs and within a day 75% of it is gone and its definitely the turkeys because of the sign all around the area. Sure some deer come in and take a bite, but those turkey do the most damage. I don't know how the area is where you hunt but near me there is soybean fields nearby so the deer tend to eat there more and the turkeys come to the corn pile for the most part. You can try the corn or try some custom mix of corn and whatever else. good luck.

We do not have a very large deer population here so what deer that do come in it would not hurt to bad if they were to eat some of it. I was told the crack corn might be harder on the birds?? So I did scatter out some whole cord kernels for them. They did not hit any of it yet and 1 deer came by as well. So I am going to wait a while to see what happens..

Thanks everyone..

Milo..less expensive than corn

They will devour corn and typically get more of it than deer will.

Thanks every one!! I have put some corn out and the only thing that came to it so far has been crows.. But, I am sure that will change...

In my woods I don't have resident turkey but they'll travel through during the winter months. I run a deer feeder with corn year round. After the turkey get use to coming to the feeder, when they hear it go off the turkey come running.

Thanks for all the input... The corn has not appeared to work very good and I have around 3 deer I am thinking eating it all up. I have not seen them yet as they appear to be hitting it at night.. Oh well it surely will not hurt them any and I am far enough from the main road so it should help those ones from getting hit by traffic..

Phil,

Try adding some sunflower seeds to the corn and scatter it about
not just in one spot.

Feeding turkeys can be just like hunting them. Sometimes, you have to put the feed right where they want to be. I've set up feeders and the turkeys would not come near them..move them 50 yds. and they were all over it.

Gman

Thanks I will wait a little longer to see what happens.. If no luck I may just let the deer finish up what ever is left and not bother any.. It will start warming up again up here before the month is over.. ( I hope at least..)

Phil,

I'm thinking your excessively optimistic. It is
Maine and it is still Feb---smile.

Phil broadcast the seed farther. You can leave a small trail and trust me they will find it.
Right now the majority of flocks are picking cut corn fields here in northern Wisconsin. They are rare around my bird feeders and do leave the deer corn alone. But that won't last long.
Times are getting tough here in WI with all this snow and the depth of the snow.

Toss in the ole ice storm which we know is coming at the warmup and times will be tougher.

JW

I have thrown some corn out quite a ways and that has been getting hit by blue jays and morning doves right now.. The deer are walking around eating it as well so I put some in a small pile for them.. I put my trail cam out there just for 1 night as our temps were a little warmer with a storm coming in. The batteries are from last fall still in it. I did manage to get a picture of one of the deer though.. It is dark from the low batteries though..

here is the best picture it took of the deer coming in for the corn.. I am thinking a young buck by the size of the neck.. But it is hard to say with such a low quality pic..
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/memb...4-pict0034.jpg

Phil,

So, the Turkeys haven't walked by where the corn is at all?
Are they spending time nearby? If so, a little corn trail
leading to where you want them might be in order.

Thanks everyone and the turkeys have started coming around this week.. I have not seen them yet and will soon be setting my trail cam back out on 30 second videos.. What a nieghbor told me this morning he counted 5 coming in there. 2 of which that looked like large toms from where he could see them.. I can hardly wait to see them..

Once my turkeys find corn, I always broadcast milo. Takes them longer to pick it all up and deer and other critters leave it alone.

Any update.. Did the corn work well for you?

Yes I have had some turkeys showing up for the past few days.. Now the temps have dropped they have stopped showing up again.. I have no doubt that they will be back though.. I will check out getting some milo to spread out as well.. They should have a variety to help them out anyways IMO.. I posted a few vids in the trail cam section from my prowler.. No big toms but our weather has been crazy this year with cold temps and a lot of snow..

Plant Chufas. Turkey love 'em. Once well established, they "reseed" themselves. It is a type of "nut grass". Has nodules just under the ground. Sort of like peanuts do.
Loose feed here in Al. is not legal durng the season. Food plots are, so Chufas fields are OK.

Phil I have know idea if this would work but you could try wild bird seed (I know I've seen it sold at Walmart)maybe they'll like that as well.

We can not bait them here either so I am just trying to help some out over our harsh winter here.. Our season does not start until April 28th and I will surely be stopping it by the end of the first week of April to make sure nothing is on the ground then..

I have never heard tell of Chufas and not sure if they would survive our winters here or not.. But, it would be worth checking into..

Just wanted to show you a pic of where I am feeding the turkeys here.. No big toms have showed up here but I still feel it is great to try and help them out over our harsh winter this year.. We have been forecasted now with up to 2 feet and possibly more locally in some areas.. As you can see in this pic we have plenty of snow left yet .. I wish this stuff will go away..

I have never been a fan of feeding turkeys. Of course being in Alabama we don't have to worry about deep snow and such.

My biggest reason against it is the threat that you could actually kill the turkeys with the thing you are trying to feed them with.

Google search AFLATOXIN. Turkeys are highly susceptible to aflatoxins. Aflatoxins come from corn that has been exposed to high humidity or has experienced drought.

Thank you very much for the input bald9eagle.. That is the very last thing I would want to happen to them.. They can use some help right now with our harsh winter we have had this year..

Well folks the turkeys and the like will be on their own looking for food after tomorrow morning. I will be ending the feeding of them as our season will be starting up on the end of April. Hopefully some warmer weather will soon be staying around here.. The turkeys and I had very little contact so they are still quite wild to say the least.. I do have some deer still showing up as well for some Lucky Buck I put out. So they deer should still be able to get a little help and that will be it until next winter..