6 Ways To Attract Turkeys To Your Yard
- Provide Turkeys with a Varied Diet Year-Round.
- Provide a Water Source.
- Install Shelters and High Perches.
- Provide Nesting Sites.
- Limit Your Use of Pesticides.
- Lock Up your Pets.
- Attracting Turkeys May Be Illegal in Some States.
- Turkeys Can Cause Damage to Your Property.
What is the best feed to attract wild turkeys?
Turkeys love acorns and pecans, as well as dogwoods, huckleberries, blueberries, and other fruits found in the understory. Planting food plots: Follow these tips to establish food plots as a supplement to natural forage. Food plots can also be used to increase turkey sightings and harvest success.
How do you attract a turkey?
Food. Turkeys are omnivorous and will sample a wide variety of foods. To attract turkeys to your yard, you can provide them with a large ground feeding station containing cracked corn or mixed birdseed. Turkeys will also happily clean up any spills under hanging feeders you may have up for other birds.
Do turkeys take the same path everyday?
Turkeys tend to travel the same routes or circuits to the same areas every day, as long as those areas provide what turkeys need and want. Hunters can use this information to place themselves right in the path of the birds, or at least pretty close to where those birds typically travel on any given day.
What should you not feed turkeys?
Foods You Should Never Feed to Turkeys
- Low-quality chicken feed. Turkeys require more protein than chickens do, therefore, a simple chicken feed will not contain the nutrition that a turkey needs.
- Other Livestock Feeds.
- Dried/Raw Beans.
- Avocados.
- Fruit Pits and Seeds.
- Tomato and Eggplant Leaves.
- Raw Meat.
- Onions.
What trees attract turkeys?
Turkeys will be naturally attracted to trees and shrubs like dogwoods, chokeberries, viburnums, hickories, beech, hawthorns, and more. Oak trees should also be on the top of your list with white oak and red oak trees, in particular, proving to be effective at attracting turkeys.
Will corn attract turkeys?
Since wild turkeys are a ground-feeding type, sprinkling cracked corn in an open area of dirt is a sufficient way to attract them. Seeds- Another easily attainable food source, seeds provide even more nutrition for wild turkeys. Mixing seeds and cracked corn makes a great spread out meal.
How early do you start calling turkeys?
When To Call A Gobbler. OK, so let’s narrow it down to the time of day. In my view, the best times of the day are right off the roost, then again from about 8:30 to 9:30 when more hens start to leave the gobbler to go lay an egg, and again from about 11 until noon.
What time of day are turkeys most active?
General Weather Conditions: As a general rule of thumb, turkeys are most active during calm, clear days in morning and early afternoon hours. Turkey activity generally decreases with bad weather conditions including wind and rain. During extremely wet and rainy days, turkeys are neither vocal nor very active.
Will spooked turkeys come back?
The gobbler wanted to be where you were when you spooked him. So, after he thinks you’re gone, and he hears a hen softly calling, there’s a very good chance he may come back in that direction. Remember — the gobbler has a limited number of days to breed.
What time do gobblers leave hens?
As stated above, both male and female turkeys will leave the roost sometime between 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. The largest factor that determines the exact time during this window is the weather. If the weather is clear, the birds will leave the roost earlier. The gobbler will usually fly down right around first light.
Why won’t turkeys come to my decoys?
If a subordinate gobbler comes in, and he’s already been beat up by a dominant gobbler, there’s a very good chance that he’s won’t come in and get his head bloodied again. Many times, a turkey won’t come to a decoy, because the hunter has made a mistake in where he’s placed the decoy.
Can turkeys eat bird seed?
Foods They Eat
Seeds and grains, including spilled birdseed or corn and wheat in agricultural fields. Berries, wild grapes, crabapples, and other small fruits. Small reptiles, including lizards and snakes.
Can you feed turkeys chicken food?
So, can turkeys eat chicken feed? Turkeys cannot eat chicken feed, or at least they shouldn’t. Turkeys are larger birds than chickens and therefore require more protein in their diet. Equally, chicken feed is usually insufficient to nourish and provide all the nutrients a turkey requires for optimal health.
Can turkeys eat cat food?
Some cat food can have ingredients that aren’t particularly good for birds — things they can’t digest, their body can’t fully process or is just too much for them. But it can depend on the food, the bird and how much it eats. Filling up on cat food also could stop them from eating the foods that are good for them.
Do turkeys roost in the same spot every night?
Overall, the answer to the big question is that turkeys do not always roost in the same place. Turkeys are much like deer in that they shift to different parts of their home range throughout the year. That said, they do seem to favor certain ones, and spend more time roosting in favored locations than anywhere else.
Do turkeys always roost near water?
Turkeys also prefer roosting very close to water or directly above it if possible. They also like to roost in trees that are on the edges of cliffs if given the chance, and would love it if those trees were also close to a strutting field.
What does it mean when turkeys are in your yard?
Encountering turkeys is often considered a sign of prosperity. For the land to sustain a flock of turkeys, there must be food and water plentiful enough to feed the flock. A turkey encounter can be a source of guidance. If a turkey approaches you, it means that you have a gentle and trustworthy soul.
How do you keep turkeys in your yard?
When raising backyard turkeys, the secret is to keep the turkeys in cages raised off the ground, on sunporches. One of our neighbors customarily raises 6 to 12 turkeys a year right next to the hen house, in a pen about 5 feet wide, 12 feet long and about 2 feet high.
What do you put in turkey feeder?
Best feeds are milo or corn chops. Landowners who wish to feed both deer and turkey from the same feeder should consider using an elevated barrel-type automatic feeder and a mixture of whole corn and milo.
What can you feed wild turkeys in the winter?
Whole corn works best; cracked corn is not good because of mold. Soybeans are also a good high-energy supplementary food source. After food plots and crop fields are gone, feeding along those edges is a very effective way to feed not just turkeys, but all wildlife.