Feeding Wild Turkeys the Natural Way
- Plant Native Oaks: Acorns are a key food source for wild turkeys.
- Plant Other Nut and Berry-Producing Plants: In addition to oak acorns, other staples of the wild turkey diet include beech nuts, pecans, hickory nuts, crabapples, and hackberries.
What are turkeys attracted to?
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 turkeys fast?
Periodic strip mowing of mature cereal grain plots such as corn and wheat attracts turkeys to the easily accessible food. Allow fall deer food plot plantings to mature in the spring to provide nesting cover and added turkey forage.
What can I feed wild turkeys in my yard?
Provide cracked corn, millet, milo, wheat, oats, or other seeds and grains. Wild turkeys are not picky and will readily eat less expensive birdseed mixes, as well as the waste seed scattered beneath bird feeders.
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 is a wild turkeys favorite food?
Preferred foods of wild turkeys
In the spring, they tend to eat leaves and grasses, and in the fall, they feed more on fruits, berries, seeds and insects. Acorns are a crucial source of nutrients for wild turkeys, especially in the wintertime.
What is the best food plot for turkeys?
A mixture of corn, cereal grains, and green field is the ideal mix for turkey food plots. If you need to create openings for food plots, concentrate on clearing timber or brush that isn’t producing valuable hard mast. Forage-rich openings, food plots and small fields will be prime bird-attracting tools.
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.
What is the best bait for wild 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.
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.
Can turkeys eat rice?
We’ve all heard the warning: don’t feed rice to birds or don’t throw rice at weddings because birds will eat it. Fact is, rice cooked or uncooked won’t hurt wild birds at all. The rumor is that uncooked rice hits the bird’s tummy and then swells causing its stomach to explode. It’s simply not true.
What time of day is best to hunt turkey?
first thing in the morning
Time of Day: Since Turkeys make their nest in trees and on the ground in wooded areas, one of the best times of day to hunt is first thing in the morning. Get out to your blind early and listen for the yelps, cackles, and gobbles of turkeys as they start in search for breakfast.
What time should 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.
Is it better to hunt turkey in the morning or evening?
The fact that birds gobble and their location is known takes some of the guesswork out of it. Again, mornings generally provide faster and hotter action with vocal birds, making it the preferred time to turkey hunt.
Can turkeys eat bird seed?
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.
What kind of fruit do turkeys eat?
Other planting suggestions include black cherry trees, blueberries, wild grapes and dogwood. Wild turkeys consume cacti fruits in arid areas and like many species of wildlife, will even consume poison ivy berries too.
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 carrots?
Turkeys love to pick at natural plants. They will consume all sorts of leaves and grasses. You can also feed your turkey various vegetable plants like lettuce, cabbage, carrot leaves, and much more.
Can you feed wild turkeys bread?
Yes, turkeys can eat bread. Bread is good food for turkeys, nutritionally, and it’s best to feed bread to turkeys occasionally but there are some toxic effects of feeding the moldy bread. Make sure to not put the moldy bread on turkeys and other poultry birds.
Can wild turkeys eat apples?
Do you love apples? Well, so do turkeys. Apples are excellent sources of vitamins, minerals, fibers, and other nutrients. Turkeys can eat apple whole, but you should be careful so they do not eat too many apple seeds.
Will turkeys eat peanuts?
My mother looked at the turkeys and said, “They will eat the entire peanut, so I like to crack the shells open and just give them the inside to make it easier for them.” My mother and I began shelling peanuts, and by the time I reached 10, the two turkeys were standing at attention at the bottom of the porch stairs.