Ok.. goin upstate for the Pa's opening day (28th) took forever to get here.. Well we have had warm weather,,turkeys were gobbling,,everything was going great and as of this past sunday , monday,, it rained,,froze over then snowed like 5 to 8 inches.. so this !@$@@$$#.. as of yesterday its almost melted now.. temps are cooler though. I was wondering if this recent snow will affect the hunting ?, and do u guys think the recent snow will mess up the eggs in the nest ?
Good point, I sure hope it domnt harm the eggs. They say cold is a huge threat to young birds and that how many typically die.
We have had tons of rain here in VT , also very bad, How much does rain effect their activity?
Its my understanding that most of the snow was in the higher elevations. Hens usually nest at lower elevations because it greens up earlier there. Weve had cold years before. Worst case we have a weak hatch, hens that would lose an entire nest almost always renest and would simply hatch later. I recall one year in the mid nineties that a lot of hens seemed to renest. The fall birds that year were smaller than average, but unless they have an unusually harsh first winter, they usually fare okay. Wild critters adapt to conditions much better than we assume they will. If this had been a heavy and prolonged snow event, i might worry but this was only a few inches and its gone nearly everywhere already. And if u dont think they gobble or u can kill them in the snow, u need to see the wv posts in the general forum. Might change your opinion! :)
Getting to the nesting.... YES!!! If the hen is not on the eggs, most definitely, When the eggs gets below 39 degrees F, the viability of the eggs will start to drop (hatching rate)! The thing with turkeys, they can/will re-nest.