Harvest Down 16%

[charlie elk]

study done in the Netherlands, of the different preening oils or waxes birds use during nesting time make it very difficult for mammalian predators to smell nesting birds.

This is very interesting, I have been trying to find the study online with no luck.  Do you have a link to it?

[AWTHDA]

There's a link in the 4th row down:
THIS IS A BARKING NEWS UPDATE
Study reveals special oil on birds feathers during nesting time...

If you don't see it there, hit Refresh or Reload.

[gobblerchaser]

Thanks AWTHDA!

And thanks for the info.....I'm in central Michigan and have been looking hard for poults here as well. Still have yet to see one and have seen hens in bean fields and corn fields by themselves. I did see hens with gobblers last week. We still have some cornfields where the corn is under 12"! I'm sure hoping we have a late hatch here as well. I sure have enjoyed hunting Wisconsin - you have some beautiful areas!

Good luck on a late hatch there as well (and a milder winter to boot)!

[ouachitamtnman]

A problem I heard about on 2 different occasions this year was not running over hens but running over the nest.  Our hayers ran over one nest that they know of and were sick about it as they are turkey hunters as well and another friend of mine was bushhogging and jumped a hen off the nest right in the middle of a grown up field and found a bunch of eggs.  He went back the next day and found the eggs scattered and a few busted and decided to take them to a lady who had chickens in hopes that they would hatch them.  I havent heard whether they did or not.  I bet the reason they nest in these grown up fields is because, if the field is fescue like many are, they grow so thick that it is hard for even opossums, coons and skunks to navigate through them to get to their eggs...That's my guess anyway.
 
Is it strange to anyone else that turkeys are on the nes in the first part of June?  Gotta be a re-nest huh?

[charlie elk]

THIS IS A BARKING NEWS UPDATE
Study reveals special oil on birds feathers during nesting time...

Asks for a username and password but I see no place to register or sign up. 

[charlie elk]

if the field is fescue like many are, they grow so thick that it is hard for even opossums, coons and skunks to navigate through them to get to their eggs...That's my guess anyway.
Is it strange to anyone else that turkeys are on the nest in the first part of June? Gotta be a re-nest huh?

I agree that is a good guess it is hard for me to walk those fescue laden fields too. 
Last year I found nests as late as July with some poults only softball size on the opening of fall season.
This last week I have been encountering flocks with birds of the year already in the 5-10lb range.  Which I consider delightful table fare. [:)]
Still hoping there are more poults yet to be discovered but maybe too small to see at this time due to the heavy cover.  Things started growing late but man have they ever made up for lost time.

[AWTHDA]

Fixed it, username / password  / place to register is there now, thanks.

[turkaholic]

I have been farming for over 10 years and have had my share of close calls with turkeys nesting in my fields. Because of my love for the beloved birds and my own interst in having as many as I can on my land I maybe an exception to the rule. I watch for hens and have successfully transplanted 2 nests. Both times the hen made it clear there was something wrong. I was looking for the nest while mowing and when I found it I moved it just off the field in good cover. While working the hay dry, I watched the hen sit quietly as I made my hay for several days. I returned to the nest sites to see the poults were hatched and also watched them grow. I also watched the predators take 12 poults down to 6 in no time. I wrote Dr. Lovett Williams to tell him of my adventures and he said"that was amazing and he had never herd of this before". This yearI have not had any problems with nest sites because of a late hay season due to the lack of a string of nice days. Maybe educating farmers about nest sites would help but I doubt it.The hay industry does not do well with fawns either.

[charlie elk]

have successfully transplanted 2 nests. Both times the hen made it clear there was something wrong. I was looking for the nest while mowing and when I found it I moved it just off the field in good cover. While working the hay dry, I watched the hen sit quietly as I made my hay for several days. I returned to the nest sites to see the poults were hatched and also watched them grow.

Wow thanks for sharing this, I have never heard of anyone successfully moving a nest.  I will keep this mind should the need arise.
Many farmers here in WI are so deer crazy if they think some fawns might get hit they will delay those hay fields.  Which saves turkeys too.

[cat35]

We at the WI-NWTF are working closely with the WI-DNR on this issue. I sit on both the WI-DNR Turkey Committee, and attend Conservation Congress Turkey Committee meetings. This issue has come up, and even though I believe balers can have an impact on turkey mortality, I don't believe it has a higher impact than weather, or predators. This year alone rain fall numbers across the state in many areas are 400-600% above normal for the months of April-June. That coupled with cold weather has made my hunting very slow. However, my overall sightings have been typical to most years of hunting, and in the last two seasons activity rose with the warming temps.