Improving nesting/poult rearing habitat
 

For the last three years i have had turkey on my place.
The first time i seen them was in fall there was about 8 of them.
and in the spring there was 2 jakes and 3 hens.
Then next spring their was a long beard ,2 jakes and 5 hens
and this year i had ONE jake who gobbles constantly right behind the house,as lonley for a hen as can be.no tracks of hens or sign of hens.and i know that when turkey season comes some one will kill him just because hes gobbling.

There is thick oaks out of 160acrs,about 50 is very thick oak woods,with a creek running through it,the only openings are large openings that only have cover on one side. I have about 1 acre of winter wheat, that the deer graze to death,im happy with my deer population.but not my turkey pop.

What can i do to help persuade the hens to nest and rear poults on my land.I figure my main goal is to do that.and then longbeards will be there. Plans to make more food plots or clean up underbrush make small clearings in woods?? I really just want to improve the habitat for them,and manage them correctly.

RE: Improving nesting/poult rearing habitat
 

Sounds like you have some bad predator problem. I'd try to set some traps for the coons, shoot all the coyotes I could and any other predator problem I could try to eradicate. Bad spring rains kill a lot of the little poults, but there isn't much you can do about that. Planting some plots that are turkey friendly will help.

RE: Improving nesting/poult rearing habitat
 

Well I'm actually an avid furbearer.I used to use this land in my trapping land rotation setup,but there is not enough predators to trap.
Bobcats and coons are thinned to nothing,from the track sign ive seen.,there is a few coyotes though.but im not much of a coyote trapper,and they wont hardly come to calls it seems anymore.Ive treid to trap it last winter but,i did not make any money off of it.so i moved my traps elsewhere.

RE: Improving nesting/poult rearing habitat
 

Coons, possums andarmadillos all take a heavy toll of quail and turkeynests. Two bobcats devastated the quail and turkey population on the 230 acres that a friend of mind owns. Here in OK we also have tens ofthousands of wild hogs roaming around looking for anything that is edible.

If you mow the grass onyour place leave some patches standing for the turkeys to nest in. If your place has livestock, fence off a few plots where the grass can grow.

RE: Improving nesting/poult rearing habitat
 

In my experience - A good Roosting Ridge goes a LONG ways to improving your turkey population. If the turkeys in your area have to go elswhere to spend the night, its tough to do much to populate the property. Not that you can get 100 year old trees if they don't exist - but ask yourself - "where would turkeys on my property roost in flocks of 20-40 birds". Good roosting woods are side hills or ridgetops, with a relatively open forest floor. My favorites are Hemlock/Hardwoods mixed. Turkeys do not feel comfortableflying up or landing in thickets.

Encourage food sources close to roosting areas - and a source of water (sounds like you have that).

Good turkey nest areas are brushy hedgerows, transitional areas between differing types of habitat (eg. Hardwoods/poplar, or Pine/willows, etc.) Turkeys like edge habitat too. Areas with tall grasses nearby help hide poults in their 1st months.Goldenrod & ragweed fields are safehavens for summer poults.

In my opinion - turkey plots are hard to quantify. Corn, Sunflowers are great in Fall/winter - but do not offer much the rest of the year. In my area - turkeys like alfalfa & clovers - for the bugs that live in them (spring/summer) - more so than the plot itself.

FH