Do turkeys hurt the quail population?
 

I am in MO. and I don't see near as many quail as I remember seeing when I was a kid. The turkeys in this area are booming and I have heard several people say that they push the quail out. I have even heard a guy say he saw a video showing turkeys eating baby quail like grasshoppers. We have a lot of fescue around here and from what I have read, that is hard for the quail to move through. But the area I grew in is mostly farm ground and they seem to be harder to find in the past few years. The Mo. Dept. of Cons. seems to be more interested in turkeys than quail, but they also make a lot more money from the turkeys and they are NOT afraid to make money. I know there are a lot of variables but I wondered what you all thought. 935

RE: Do turkeys hurt the quail population?
 

We have turkeys and quail both and there are getting to be more quail every year so I would say in our case there isn't any problem . We did have a problem with people dumping cats off in the area which will do a number on quail .

RE: Do turkeys hurt the quail population?
 

I don't think they do maybe a little. My Uncle's place where we hunt turkey actually had a hen nesting in the same small clump of brush his resident covey lived in. It didn't seem to bother either of them at all?

RE: Do turkeys hurt the quail population?
 

935 I've read a few mentions of turkeys eating baby quail here. I've also read that it is a myth that gets passed around. Ask your friend if he can locate the video. Then you can see for yourself, and send a copy NWTF in SC.

There are birds known to eat the nestlings of other species like some of the herons & egrets, but I don't know if they've been observed eating game bird chicks.

The change in populations of quail & turkeys is more the result of changes in habitat than direct competition or predation by one species on the other. As crop lands are converted to residential areas, allowed to revert to a forested state, or aggressively managed as monospecies fields; quail lose out. Turkeys are better suited to broken and forested habitat than quail are.

RE: Do turkeys hurt the quail population?
 

I've got both of em on my place...and the last 3 year's they've had a population explosion.....both of em come at the same time to my feeder's....although you can see quail there most any time of the day

RE: Do turkeys hurt the quail population?
 

i could imagine turkeys eating them but never have heard of it, i would worry more and more about coons, possum, fox and skunk, less and less people trap anymore which is bad for any bird