too many turks

Every fall giant flocks of turkeys inundate this small property (20 acres trees, 40 row crop & hay). They seem to disperse elsewhere by spring. Anybody know any tricks to get turkeys off the property? Hunting doesnt seem effective enough & is too darn expensive (tags) & time consuming. Farmer not too happy with turk damage.

GP - thanks for the update. As long as the farmer is happy, that's what counts. You can tell him you have the antidote for too many turkeys, but if it gets out of hand you can always call in the heavy artillery (TurkeyDog.Org) ;-)

Turkdog (b/c you sound interested), went to property tonight post plow & sat til close & there were still @ least 6 r 7 that roosted. Much less than before, but as long as the farmer thinks they're gone & is happy all is well.

Thanks for help, farmer doesn't own the property, so need to walk a fine line...just trying to keep everybody happy so I can continue to have a place to bow hunt near home. I went through my old pics and found one spared from deletion for ya.

Thanks GP. My experience has been the later in the season, the less tolerant turkeys are of harassment. For that reason I would normally only hunt a particular flock about every 3 weeks (I don't want to drive them away). In December it may only take hunting (and maybe shooting) them once. But I hunt them on the ground with a dog. Maybe they're comfortable just avoiding tree stands. Pigeons, crows and turkeys usually learn to leave the area and not come back when a few of their brethren are shot. They're probably only after bugs in the hay and clover, and leftover waste grain in the corn and wheat fields. Don't feel too bad for turkeys (deer, raccoons, etc) eating some mature corn and wheat. Our country's cheap food policy has a lot of programs to help out http://farm.ewg.org/search.php?fips=55000®ionname=Wisconsin Walworth County Zip Codes http://www.zipmap.net/Wisconsin/Walworth_County.htm If the farmer really wants you to get rid of the turkeys, good for you, all he has to do is let you hunt there more. Fall turkey hunters have the highest success rate in getting permission from WI farmers (about 8 out of 10 times). Plus very little competition - it's not like spring turkey or fall deer when everybody's asking for permission. Fall turkey hunting is the best kept secret there is.

Last fall winter wheat, which is what bothered the farmer, he wasnt that worried this yr, because no winter crop, but thought i'd ask the lake link crowd their thoughts. This year they were mostly in the hay, clover & corn...i called farmer with all u guys suggestions, he said he plowed the wheat & corn stubble & hasnt seen them since...depending on schedule, i'll probably be back out there this week & will know real quick if they moved on. I've had many a trail cam pic of the flocks, but just delete them.

Quite the mystery. To a fall turkey hunter, the $10 tags are not too expensive and the time is not too consuming. 'Giant flocks of turkeys' (inundating this small property), become habituated from someone feeding them. What are they eating? Another thing that doesn't add up. Post some pictures, the farmers address and we'll resolve the problem.

walworth

Scatter them far and wide with a good turkey dog. Call them back in and shoot 1 or 2. Repeat within a few days. If it takes more than that, you might be pulling my chain. Or their fearless genetics deserve a DNA study. What county are they in?

Scare crows. Move them around every few days.

Scare off roost in am or pm or @ night? Pressure & hunting doesnt work, stupid (description of intelligence, not value) birds keep coming back

Continued pressure will move them off. Scaring them off the roost, hunting them and pressure will get them on the move.

I would think that running them off with dogs several days in a row might persuade them to find a new roosting/feeding area if one is available localy..............

Call the DNR. They will issue crop damage tags for turkeys. Reduce the numbers why more than regular hunting and possible scare off some of the others.