Poison Oak and turkey behavior?

[Marc]

One of the areas I hunt has seen a decrease in turkey numbers with an increase in turkey numbers of surrounding areas....  Only hunting pressure on the area is me, and I generally take 1-2 birds off the property (about 1500 acres).

It is rather steep country and three major changes (I have noted) have happened in conjunction with the lowering turkey numbers:

1) Tremendous increase in the amount of poison oak on the forest floor making open areas of these rolling oaks saturated in poison oak, with now much smaller areas of open ground.

2)The logging road has been washed out creating a 6-10 foot crevice in the logging road which was previously well-traveled by turkeys.

3) Interestingly, there has been a significant increase in the number of wild feral pigs utilizing the area...  (But I would also say that is true of the surrounding properties as well).


So...  Does poison oak influence birds and bird behavior?  Could the loss of travel on a logging road that runs through the property move birds out?

[Southerngobbler]

It would surprise me if turkeys had any allergic reaction to it at all. I know poison ivy is a preferred deer food in my area and turkeys are  always in the poison ivy around here. Im not sure about poison oak but I'm guessing its the same.

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

Sounds like time for some prescribe burning to rejuvenate and add some diversity into your habitat.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[PharmHunter]

Of those factors, I'd def cast a vote for #3 being the biggest detriment to your population. 

[RutnNStrutn]

Of those factors, I'd def cast a vote for #3 being the biggest detriment to your population.

X2
Pigs are a big problem. Turkeys do coexist with them, but pigs are aggressive, compete for food and eat a lot more than turkeys. At a good source pigs will run turkeys off. I would get the pigs under control first. That should help.

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

[Greg Massey]

I agree i think pigs alone with other predators are your biggest problem...

[Sir-diealot]

I would think the pigs are the biggest and the road may be a small part. I do not think that the Poison Oak would be the problem, I went and tried to find anything on Google earlier when I first read this speaking on Poison Oak causing a problem with turkey but I could not find a thing.

[NCL]

Marc,

The private area that I hunt in Nor Cal seemed to have a significant lower number of turkeys this year. I have hunted that property for 12 years and the turkeys have continuously roosted in the digger pines, there has always been from 4 to 10 gobbling at first light  along with numerous hens. This year there were two mornings with no gobbling occurring and an area that has always had roosting birds had none until the last weekend and it was one bird. Also there only seems to be 3 to 5 hens on the property. Normally the turkeys on the property go off the roost to an adjacent, this year they stayed on the property. This property is covered in poison oak and there seemed to be less pigs this year than seen in past years, only saw two this year and have seen as many as 10 in past years. Nothing similar to the road you mentioned has occurred on this property. This is the long way of saying there just seems to be less turkeys this year. Also the whole years seems to be weird, I normally start hearing gobbling near my house as early as January and it is usually in full swing by March, this year I heard only one gobble in March. Now I am hearing gobbling every day, just had a longbeard gobbling across the street about an hour ago, there was one gobbling in my backyard for an hours between 11 and 12 o'clock yesterday.  It seems the gobbler to hens ratio is off with fewer hens this year.

[ncturkey]

Kill the hogs and prescribe burn the areas with the poison oak.

[ol bob]

Watched turkeys walk around in poison oak all season they don't seen to notice it.

[Marc]

Thank you all for the replies...

NCL, it was indeed a weird season...  I hunted several areas, and had days with birds gobbling off the hook, followed by a day of silence...  Killed a bird on the last day of the season, and was literally "surrounded" almost immediately by willing at first light, whereas the day before, I did not see or hear a bird???

Saw groups of hens and toms sharing the same area that seemed to have no interest in interacting mid-season?

As far as my situation, there is a caveat...   The areas that I previously had most of my success is devoid of turkeys with little or no pig sign...    It has over the past couple years become over-run with poison oak...  Mainly oak trees with tall grass (no grazing), and currently very dense poison oak.  I do not know that the birds are avoiding the poison oak, as much as the poison oak has changed the landscape and made the area too densely "brushed?"

Interestingly, the pig rooting has turkey tracks mixed in....


The areas with some limited turkey activity, are also the areas with the most pig sign (and sightings), as well as deer.  Tall grass, dense oak, but far less poison oak, with far more open areas.

[310 gauge]

Once pigs discover nests they will not only eat the eggs but hatchlings that are too small to get away also. Then they will start to seek out nests in the area and thus earn the name...pigs.