Are the Good Old Days Finished?

[FireFly908]

In regards to Scott Bestul's article, "Are the Good Old Days Finished?", do you think the extremely mild winter in the Midwest and a lot of the rest of the country is going to make a difference in the turkey hatch this year?

[charlie elk]

You betcha. Last year I found flocks of winter killed turkeys. So far this year turkeys appear to be well fed and energetic.
Since last year I read some studies on turkey mortality in the northern Midwest and was surprised to discover in winters with deep snow 80%+ of the turkeys die off.
Now if the spring isn't too wet and cold we may have good bounce back.

[dewey]

Unless the rest of the winter gets really cold and a ton of snow the turkeys are going to come out of this winter in great shape. I saw a map of the current snow levels in MN right now and the southern half of the state currently doesn't have any show. Not too mention the temperatures have been extremely mild so like Charlie said unless the spring is wet and cold I would expect to do really well. I think in these upper midwestern states are going to have good years and bad years for the weather standpoint and the turkey populations will follow.

If the winter were to finish off mild and then have another mild winter next year the turkey population in MN could literally explode.

Dewey