THE ART AND SCIENCE OF STAYING DRY - P.6 Super Sauger Story inside page 8
To Find the Gobblers, Keep Track of the Hens OV Outdoor Times
For the most part, we lucked out this winter. We didn’t get many long stretches of extreme cold and it warmed up just often enough to keep the snow drifts at bay. Overall it seems like wildlife fared pretty By Ralph Scherder well this winter, too, Hunting Editor and it’s now time to turn our thoughts toward spring gobbler. It’s common to see gobblers strutting in a field with hens by mid March. All it takes is a nice warm day, and sometimes not even that, to get them feeling frisky even in February. The primary breeding season for turkeys, though, is late March through April. Like any other breeding window for any other species, there’s usually a buffer of a few weeks before and after that time when breeding can occur. I’ve seen gobblers breed hens from February clear through May, although they may not actually lay their eggs during that time. Hens are able to store sperm from
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Outdoor Times March 2016
males for up to eight weeks after breeding takes place. This delayed fertilization allows them time to wait until conditions are right before beginning the nesting process. Weather and habitat are the two primary factors that dictate nesting, which is why there can be a big difference from year to year as to when poults start showing up. When a hen finally decides to make her nest, she will lay one egg per day for eight to 20 days. The typical nest consists of 10-15 eggs. Throughout the process, she keeps close watch and stays nearby, although she won’t actually start to incubate the eggs until they’ve all been laid. The incubation process then takes about 28 days, during which time she will rarely leave the nest. At least half, and sometimes more, of the poults won’t live longer than one year due to predation by coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and avian predators. If they can survive their first year of life, though, turkeys are pretty much in the clear and will only occasionally get picked off by a predator. Their flocking nature helps keep them safe. By fall of their first year, young males leave the flock and create their own little bachelor groups, and these jakes hopefully make it to the following spring where they call out from their roosts in the early morning light. We don’t often think about the life cycle of a hen turkey, but in truth, the hens control everything in the turkey hunting world. Figure out what the hens are doing and you’ll likely have more success bagging that trophy gobbler.
Ohio Valley Outdoors–Photo by Ralph Scherder
If you want to know where the gobblers are, then find the hens, and that means finding the habitat where they will feel safe while nesting and rearing their brood.
It all starts with nesting habitat. If the area you’re hunting lacks quality nesting habitat, there simply won’t be any hens in the area. Nesting habitat consists of dense brush, thick grassy fields, and areas that have been timbered in the past few years. The key is that a hen needs to feel safe. During the 28-day incubation
period, hens and their nests are extremely vulnerable, and there has to be enough cover to conceal her from predators. If the area you’re hunting lacks good nesting habitat, it will also lack birds, plain and simple. No hens, no gobblers. Turn To Gobblers Page 4