Last year, i decided to start trapping raccoons in an effort to see the turkey population return. I had only seen one turkey between two small properties in 2020 and both offered decent habitat. A friend that owns 5 acres was losing chickens to raccoons so i offered to trap them. In turn, he let me deer hunt (I've taken two nice bucks there between last year and this year).
I started trapping August 1st 2021 on 12 acres and the 5 acre place. By March 31st, i had trapped 129 raccoons between both places. This made it very apparent why turkey recruitment was failing.
Still no turkeys but Rome wasn't built in a day.
I started trapping September 15th this year on just the 12 acres as we've moved and with work, it's not feasible to check traps at the the other place (he's not lost any more chickens). I'm up to 29 as of today. Mostly juveniles, which tells me a lot about the population.
During rifle season, i saw my first turkeys here! 7 walked to 10 yards and flew to within 4 yards, over the neighbour's fence (he's told me to hunt the fence line).
Yesterday, i put out some stuff for deer in the backyard. An hour later, the turkeys were there! They walked right up to the house before continuing their journey. A flock of 7 in the winter is terrible, but it's better than before and I'm looking forward to another year or two really showing a return on investment here.
I started trapping August 1st 2021 on 12 acres and the 5 acre place. By March 31st, i had trapped 129 raccoons between both places. This made it very apparent why turkey recruitment was failing.
Still no turkeys but Rome wasn't built in a day.
I started trapping September 15th this year on just the 12 acres as we've moved and with work, it's not feasible to check traps at the the other place (he's not lost any more chickens). I'm up to 29 as of today. Mostly juveniles, which tells me a lot about the population.
During rifle season, i saw my first turkeys here! 7 walked to 10 yards and flew to within 4 yards, over the neighbour's fence (he's told me to hunt the fence line).
Yesterday, i put out some stuff for deer in the backyard. An hour later, the turkeys were there! They walked right up to the house before continuing their journey. A flock of 7 in the winter is terrible, but it's better than before and I'm looking forward to another year or two really showing a return on investment here.