No turkeys by me

[shawn73]

Is it possible for a disease or something that can kill off turkeys. Were i hunt we have had lots of birds. This year hunting we didnt even hear a gobble or even see anything. We even talked to neighbors and they had the same luck its very wierd not to even hear a gobble. Or could it have been weather, we did have a very early spring this year.

[shaman]

Usually it's not a disease or predators that are to blame.

Turkeys go where the food is. If your acorn crop failed last fall, the turkeys might have moved over the winter to a place that provided better sustenance. Come spring, they can be slow coming back. I've seen that with my own property over the years.

Eventually the turkeys will filter back. That's my guess.

[turkey junky]

wear are you hunting man??? if your in the south id have to say you just were not wear the turkeys wanted to be... if you were in the north then maybe winter kill would effect your bird populations??? but it was a extremely warm/mild winter this season for most of the country... extremely dry conditions could also hurt the over-all turkey populations in the south west... but as for disease & predators killing all your turkeys id have to say not that was not the case??? yall would of found plenty of dead turkey sign if disease killed them all...

[TheCallDr]

The best way to find out what happened in your area is contact your state wildlife dept and talk to the biologist. They will have all the information if it was to some disease.

You can also go to your local Sporting Goods stores in your area and talk to them. They should be able to give you feedback from other hunters.

No Gobbling all season is not good. So something has changed. We can all speculate for the many reasons but you need to research your area and find out what took place.

[shawn73]

I hunt in western New York. We didnt have hardly any winter this.So i dout it was winter kill. Being a taxidermist i only got two birds this year and i hear from others it was a tough season, But not to hear a bird or see any it has to be something different.

[Jellyhead]

The best way to find out what happened in your area is contact your state wildlife dept and talk to the biologist. They will have all the information if it was to some disease. You can also go to your local Sporting Goods stores in your area and talk to them. They should be able to give you feedback from other hunters.No Gobbling all season is not good. So something has changed. We can all speculate for the many reasons but you need to research your area and find out what took place.

Shawn, this a very interesting problem and I think The CallDr has the right idea; hopefully the NYS biologist will have a bead on your area, but I'd love to hear the answer or even the local theories about what caused this.

I'd mention two conditions that have impacted me in the past: in addition to the acorn crop mentioned above, a change in local agricultural activity/practices has sometimes moved birds out of their normal range. Where I hunt in Central NY, as you know we had some wicked flooding the last two years that washed away fields I would normally find birds feeding in. The other issue is coyotes. If you have a big enough coyote problem, that will affect bird movement and vocalization; at least that has been my experience.