How to keep turkeys on property

[PondPopper]

Its really not possible to convince turkey to stay on your property.. They migrate/travel for miles. Its just what they do.. Having a water source such as large ponds or a lake is the main thing that will hold a few.. Food helps but its not a slam dunk way to hold them because a turkeys diet consists of such a wide variety seeds, grasses, bugs, etc.... They either want to stay or they don't.
Skunks and coons are bad on populations but I'm afraid the fire ant will be the eventual demise of the Rios in the hill country.. Fire ants are getting bad in McCulloch county.. I can remember when there weren't any here..

[PondPopper]

Stay away from the roost!

And this^^^^^^^^^for sure..........

[AntlerCollector]

Are your neighbors feeding them milk? Sounds like a lot of guys on here don't know about the milk trick.

[Johnny Dangerr]

Its really not possible to convince turkey to stay on your property.. They migrate/travel for miles. Its just what they do.. Having a water source such as large ponds or a lake is the main thing that will hold a few.. Food helps but its not a slam dunk way to hold them because a turkeys diet consists of such a wide variety seeds, grasses, bugs, etc.... They either want to stay or they don't.
Skunks and coons are bad on populations but I'm afraid the fire ant will be the eventual demise of the Rios in the hill country.. Fire ants are getting bad in McCulloch county.. I can remember when there weren't any here..

This

They go where they go. Been doing it for generations.
Hunt when they are there - and expect them to disappear half the year......

[texan16]

We built a couple of these a few years ago and the turkey hammer em (so do the dove). Fill em up with scratch.

[PondPopper]

This

They go where they go. Been doing it for generations.
Hunt when they are there - and expect them to disappear half the year......

Exactly... We are covered up in the summer until October. They all, except a hand full, leave for the winter(they migrate north toward Brady lake)and they return in the spring.. They've been doing this same routine for 18 years.. And we have a pond and year around feed.. It doesn't matter.. They do what they do..

[batmaninja]

We built a couple of these a few years ago and the turkey hammer em (so do the dove). Fill em up with scratch.

How does this one work?

I built one from an old protein feeder and feed hen scratch year round. The deer hit this one, along with the birds.

[Hawkpuppy 1]

Another thing a lot of people don't consider is grass. Too much and they don't like to walk in it as they cant see as well. Too little and hens wont nest in the area without enough cover. We used to mow areas in our river bottom to encourage them to stay around....

[Clark]

Fill a feeder using half corn and half hen scratch.
Turkey will scratch and peck that bare dirt under the feeder long after the feed is gone.
They love it and it’ll hold them.
Hunt them there and don’t mess with crowding a roost.

[ultrastealth]

As stated above, milo and killing coons is the best things that you can do. 10 years ago, we only occasionally saw hens on our property. One spring, we fed the roads with milo and mixed milo with the corn in our feeders. We now have a pretty good number of birds on our property in the spring. Keep in mind that turkeys do migrate somewhat in the hill country. They spend the fall and winter down in the lower elevations, preferring to roost in tall pecans near streams and rivers. In the spring, they spread out and move to higher elevations. At over 2000 feet of elevation, we have virtually no birds until at least February. This year, they didn't really show up until late March. Water is also very important. Hens like to have ground level water to wet their breast feathers for incubation. Cattle troughs are not as good as ponds, springs, or streams. Best of luck to you.

[clayree]

We use apple corn & they hit it pretty hard.

[oldtestamentman]

Pics will explain everything. daily feeding.

[ultrastealth]

I forgot to mention hogs. TP&W is currently studying hog predation on turkey nests. Some biologists seem pretty concerned that this may be a growing problem.

[oldtestamentman]

Pics tel it all. Daily feeding.

[Smart]

Regular corn works well too..