We’ve seen a dramatic decline on our place. Twenty years ago, we might see dozens on a morning during deer season. Less than ten years ago I almost always saw a flock or two. I might have seen a dozen total over the last five years or so but probably saw half of those this last year. So maybe they are coming back a little.
We have enough land to hold turkeys on it and we haven’t done anything different. Habitat is the same. We’ve had all the same predators. Nobody has trapped coons or other predators since the 80s. Had coyotes forever. Maybe more hogs now, but those fluctuate too. And the turkeys weren’t hunted much if at all most years.
I lean towards natural fluctuations or maybe the populations got so high that disease went through them and crashed them. We’ve lost a lot of turkeys and about four of the five things he mentioned don’t really apply to us.
Last edited by JoeBob; 05/01/23.
