“You can come shoot one out of my yard. We have loads of ‘em!”
There isn’t a turkey hunter alive who hasn’t heard some version of this dubious invitation. It’s usually issued from someone who lives in town, and believes it would be easy because “turkeys are so dumb.” Those turkeys are obviously accustomed to seeing people routinely, and unconcerned about people, cars, and even pets.
Conversely, there isn’t a turkey hunter alive who doesn’t know how wary and skittish turkeys are in the wild. If you spend enough time trying to get the drop on one, you know how acute their sight and hearing are — and how quickly they will get gone.
And that’s not to mention the “something’s not right” sense, whatever the scientific term for that is.
So, what’s the deal? It’s almost like we’re talking about two different species.
I spoke with Kelly Pharis of DNR division of fish and wildlife earlier this week. She had this to say: “In the state of Minnesota, we have a lot of habitat for wildlife; lots of forested areas, open spaces, even in our urban areas. As far as in urban areas, there is plenty of habitat for them, and plenty of food sources as well.”
As a lifelong Minnesotan, it reminded me that part of our quality of life is being surrounded by abundant natural resources. Like the patchwork of habitats available even in farm country, including river valleys with wooded hillsides.
Turkeys like to roost in old trees with spreading branches. Little wonder they’ve felt at home here since being reintroduced to the area decades ago.
When it comes to the food component, they couldn’t have it any easier hanging around town. Turkeys are nearly omnivorous. Hold the carrion, thank you very much.
“They’ll eat a variety of things, almost anything they can find. Things like grain, grasses, berries, insects, acorns, and stuff like that,” said Pharis. “They’ll even eat frogs and things like that if they find them.”
I have noticed their fondness for crabapples, a tree frequently planted by humans for their beautiful, fragrant spring blooms. The tiny apples themselves are a food source for all kinds of birds, turkeys included. Fruits hold onto to the branches throughout the winter and into the spring.
After the melt and before things green up, they are one of the most dependable natural food sources for turkeys (though it’s a stretch to consider crabapples lined up on the boulevard “natural”). And then there are the unnatural ones.
“Typically, we put feeders out for songbirds. But turkeys are birds too, and they’ll find an easy food source and go for that,” reminded Pharis.
Indeed, there isn’t a backyard bird enthusiast who doesn’t know how popular bird feeders are with squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and deer. Birds too, if you’re lucky.
For several years, we’ve been discouraged from purposely feeding deer on account of diseases like chronic wasting diseases. I asked if the same would be true for turkeys.
“Concentrating wildlife in unnatural ways, by putting out food for them, does help with spread of a variety of diseases, and avian flu would be one of those,” acknowledged Pharis.
Feeder sites are also a place where turkeys can become habituated to human presence, losing their natural fear of us. “They get used to thinking people equals food handouts,” as she put it.
Some even become aggressive toward humans. Seems like every year we see a news story about a turkey terrorizing some neighborhood, attacking kids and mail carriers. Pharis said her office fields a lot of calls about problem turkeys, though it isn’t usually that extreme.
Turkeys letting their guard down also means spending more time around roadways, where they can become roadkill. Unnatural habits inevitably lead to unnatural demise, after all.
Just this week, a flock pecked around near the pavement on the opposite shoulder as I drove to some appointment or another. Car after car sped by, mere feet away. A couple days later, one dead turkey lay near there.
Pharis said the best we can do is discourage these unnatural habits and keep turkeys wild. If you notice them coming around your yard routinely, reign in the bird seed.
In the event that turkeys show signs of tameness, Pharis said we are encouraged to try and turn that around. Yell, make loud noises. Honk your horn.
One house near me used to have turkeys and deer around the bird feeder throughout the winter and spring, to the extent that it seemed the homeowners covered the ground with excess food. Nine times out of ten, they’d be there when I went past. This went on for years.
I don’t know, but I suspect there was an incident or incidents, because it ended quite suddenly. Like they made the decision to stop feeding altogether. Cold turkey.
The DNR’s turkey section of the “living with wildlife” corner of the website gives advice for how to deal with aggressive turkeys. In addition to noise, it recommends “…swatting with a broom or water sprayed from a hose. A dog on a leash is also an effective deterrent.”
I can’t think of a dog that wouldn’t like to help with that.
Regardless of whether turkeys are aggressive or problematic or whatever, keeping them wild is in their best interest. It guards them against car strikes, disease, and more. Please consider doing your part. It’s not like hunting them in the city limits is a viable tool.
Although if it was, I’m sure they’d still find a way to give me the snub.
Roy Heilman is an outdoorsman, writer, and ethnic Minnesotan. His adventures take him all over the map, but he’s always home at neveragoosechase.com.