I have had to chase away the turkeys twice today!

Zeus-cat said:

We have 5 acres as do the neighbors (only 5 houses on the 70 acres as several lots are still for sale and several more that were sold, but no houses put up). We have about 1 acre that is cleared for the house, yards and septic leach field. The leach field is a prairie with native plants specifically selected for a septic area. My wife has been clearing all of the non-native trees from the area; mainly bush honeysuckle and autumn olive. Both are invasive species and fairly aggressive. She has been making trails in the woods to clear out the invasive species and we see a lot of deer tracks on the trails.

Anyway, we put out sunflower seeds, corn and water. We have wild turkeys, deer, raccoons, possums and a lot of small birds. We also saw two red foxes a month ago. A couple of weeks ago we had two skunks fighting over the cat food we put out for a stray cat. My wife usually brings in the cat food before it gets dark, but she forgot and the skunks were really making a lot of noise. Not much you can do about that, but they both left and neither of them sprayed.

I don't think we are allowed to hunt on any of the 70 acres; it was in the sales agreement for the land.

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hornet driver said:

It's kind of a cool problem to have. We had them in North GA. when we lived there. They can be quite bold this time of year. In Oct/Nov deer were an occupational hazard driving into work in the dark or coming home. Ah' I miss those days. Just coyote and bobcats here in Tx. The bobcats are cool though! We should be seeing the little ones around here soon on the property. Only seen a few gobblers around here and the deer are runts---I mean really runts compared to what I'm used to. ---H

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RocketFeller said:

View attachment 339880

We used to have a lot of problems with deer and elk in our yard, but improved fencing and a dog have mostly taken care of the problem. The deer will eat the shrubs, flowers, vegetables, and even kill small trees. The elk just pass through, but a couple hundred of them can really dig up the lawn.

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Zeus-cat said:

We have 5 acres as do the neighbors (only 5 houses on the 70 acres as several lots are still for sale and several more that were sold, but no houses put up). We have about 1 acre that is cleared for the house, yards and septic leach field. The leach field is a prairie with native plants specifically selected for a septic area. My wife has been clearing all of the non-native trees from the area; mainly bush honeysuckle and autumn olive. Both are invasive species and fairly aggressive. She has been making trails in the woods to clear out the invasive species and we see a lot of deer tracks on the trails.

Anyway, we put out sunflower seeds, corn and water. We have wild turkeys, deer, raccoons, possums and a lot of small birds. We also saw two red foxes a month ago. A couple of weeks ago we had two skunks fighting over the cat food we put out for a stray cat. My wife usually brings in the cat food before it gets dark, but she forgot and the skunks were really making a lot of noise. Not much you can do about that, but they both left and neither of them sprayed.

I don't think we are allowed to hunt on any of the 70 acres; it was in the sales agreement for the land.

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catman001 said:

I live on a bluff overlooking the Minnesota river and get to see just about ever kind of bird and animal that lives or passes thru here. A bit early here for the mating season of turkeys, but in the next few weeks things should pickup.We have a dozen or so around and while I like watching them fan out and strut and gobble, the dropping are sure a real mess. The dog can sit in front of the picture window for hours watching them.

One of the greatest things that I have seen was a few years ago when a couple of Canada geese that were in the yard got into it with a couple of turkeys. I don't know if there were young or nest's nearby, but it looked like a fight to the death. Rolling on the ground, pecking at each other, feathers flying, it was just amazing to watch. After about 20 minutes they just quit and walked away from each other, all four of them looking a bit beat up.

Wife likes to feed the deer, but they take a heavy toll on the plants, bushes and flowers in the yard. Here's a picture taken from my living room, thru the picture window a couple of weeks ago.

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Zeus-cat said:

We have wild turkeys that come right up to the house and peck at the window for our hobby room. Apparently they think the reflection is another turkey and is a rival for the females. Twice today I have had to go downstairs and shoo them away. I open the door and gobble at them. They take off running, but they'll be back.

This morning I gobbled at them from the hobby room and they just gobbled right back and the male just kept pecking at the window. I had to go up to the window to spook them a little. Then I had to go and open the door to the backyard to get them to really back off. This afternoon the sound was really freaking out our kitten. She is normally fearless, but she couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from or what it was. And they peck the window pretty hard. We have had to close the screen door on the basement door or they peck at the door.

I guess we all have our problems to bear. :smile:

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rocketguy101 said:

were they part of this gang?

around here the big pest is wild pigs...they can really tear up land, destroy crops. a buddy of mine bought a thermal scope and is working on thinning them out, but they reproduce so quickly, I'm not sure he is making much of a dent in the problem!

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