Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Well, it's that time of year again.

It's time to talk turkey.

You know, our upcoming turkey season is right around the corner.

And I have a panel of guests here to talk about the season as well as the current state of the turkey population here in the state of Kentucky.

Immediately to my left, I have Zak Danks, who is our turkey program coordinator.

How are you doing?

I'm great Chad.

To his left.

We have Wes Little, wildlife biologist.

How you doing?

Good.

And then answering all of our law enforcement questions, we have Sergeant Robert Owens, who's a game warden out of the seventh district.

How are you doing today?

I'm good.

Appreciate it.

You know, there's a whole lot to talk about.

The season right around the corner.

Turkey populations.

We've been doing a lot of trapping and a lot of monitoring of the birds.

Tell me a little bit about what you expect for this upcoming season.

Yeah.

So turkey populations, foremost on a lot of our sportsman's minds are concerned about the population.

But there's reason for optimism.

Last couple of years, we've seen really good hatches.

Two years ago, it was really good in parts of western Kentucky.

Those birds, the birds produced then will be two year old vocal gobblers and the majority of gobblers we harvest in any one season are two year olds.

And there's a there's more of them out on the landscape.

So I think we're going to see a good strong harvest in western Kentucky and central and eastern Kentucky.

Looking ahead, there's, going to be a good harvest next year and next 2 or 3 years because we had a really, really good hatch in central and especially in eastern Kentucky this summer.

Those are important.

These cicada hatches are very important.

Unfortunately, they only come around every 13 or 17 years.

The reason they're important, because they provide an alternative food source for all the predators that would otherwise pick off a hen on the nest or, you know, young poults, defenseless poults running around.

But they also provide food for food for, that momma turkey and the little poults running around.

So all that to say, in the intervening years, if we don't have a big cicada boom.

You know, I think we'll be talking about habitat here in a little while, but it's really important to kind of level the playing field.

But all that to say, turkey population is pretty strong and I think hunters are going to have some good shots of success this spring.

Everybody, when the cicada hatch takes place, everybody is just well aware that it's going on during that period of time.

But it's amazing how it goes from nothing to a massive amount of cicadas.

Yeah.

And a month later we kind of forget about it.

It's gone again.

But what other animal species that could be impacting turkeys will be eating cicadas and make that a dual benefit for the turkeys, not only for the turkeys to eat, but also to be avoided.

Yeah, I mean, most of our most of the predators of turkeys are, able to take advantage of ready food sources.

So a lot of folks like to do everything.

Everybody likes to blame coyotes for every problem.

Just about.

And yes, they do pick off, turkeys on occasion.

But if given the chance to gorge on cicadas because they're everywhere, they're going to do that because it's just that much more beneficial to them that they don't have to waste a whole lot more energy stalking these turkeys that are just very difficult for them to catch.

In terms of animals that would get, eggs, that could be raccoons, possums, skunks.

Well, they're definitely gorging on cicadas when they're available.

So, it's like a distraction.

It's a diversion for those predators.

And we really think that probably helps the turkeys in years like this.

Anybody it's interested in turkey populations should be, interested in growing more turkeys.

And to do that you need more bugs on the landscape.

So it's great having cicadas by accident, but try to have more bugs by design.

And that's the kind of thing wildlife biologists can help you with.

Well, that's a great lead way.

Wes.

Let's talk habitat.

I mean, we've heard from Zak that we've got more two year old birds in certain parts of the state.

Western Kentucky, a lot more one year old birds due to the cicada hatches over the last two years and other parts of the state.

What what are you working on habitat wise, to I mean, we got to feed these birds, right?

We got to make sure they got cover in areas to to nest.

What are you guys doing for that type of work?

Yeah.

So it's a busy time of year here in the wildlife Division specifically.

So we're finishing up banding.

Helping Zak with research.

You know we put leg bands on on turkeys or driving it getting harvest details there.

We put backpack transmitters on a select number of hens.

We band hens and gobblers.

But then February rolls around and now everybody is geared up for burn season, prescribed fire.

It's on everybody's mind.

It's been a wet year, but we're still managing to knock out hundreds and hundreds of acres at a time, working through the weekends, even, we do a lot of timber projects anymore.

So not just throwing fire into grass fields, but looking at our woodlands.

And, historically, you know, Kentucky would have been an oak hickory woodland, a lot of savanna, which would be scattered oak trees, a lot of grass component.

And we virtually have lost that habitat type and in wildlife division on our WMAs and even, working with private landowners near our WMAs and across the Commonwealth, we're trying to get as much of that habitat back as we can.

So, thinning the woods back out and getting some of the beach and maple, the fast growing stuff that you're going to get a in a early successional habitat that's let go.

Trying to get it back to some grasses, some native wildflowers.

Zak mentioned the bugs.

That's where they come in.

And the more wildflowers you have, the more bugs that you can have for the for the turkeys and other critters to get after.

And so trying to get back to that, that native habitat component that would have been there before the woods, just where were let go, uneven management.

So lots of older trees, some middle aged trees, fewer early successional or fast growing stuff.

That's what we're after instead of what you see now, which is virtually you look at it, it's all maples and beaches and a few oak scattered in there.

We're trying to knock back some of that fast growing stuff, and let the slower growing species that the wildlife species we like to chase, they thrive on that.

So that's what we've been doing.

Talk to me a little bit about how you promote growth of insects.

There's a lot of insects that we you know, we want numbers of insects for our wildlife species.

Maybe not the ticks.

Talk to me about how you guys promote growth of, of insects.

So I can talk about both because prescribed fire in the woods is proven to reduce tick populations in the woods.

So.

So that's one thing.

If you get in the WMA where we've been throwing fire on the ground, you should encounter fewer ticks.

But, the bug species that we're mostly, you know, you hear the word pollinator anywhere from Washington, D.C.

policy setting pollinators are a big deal.

And on the landscape, it's always been a big, big deal for anything from turkey and quail, grouse.

They're feeding on bugs just as much as they are acorns or, you know, different species go through cycles throughout the year where they need different amounts of fat, protein, carbohydrates, you name it.

They have to have all of the things necessary.

And bugs provide a huge bump to the nutrition leading into nesting season leading into breeding season.

And then, as Zak mentioned, once the poults run around, you know, they're going to have stuff that's easy to get to, too, So a natural wild field in Kentucky.

Would have looked like a lot of wildflowers, a little bit of grass here and there.

Some spots thicker than others.

It should be a mosaic.

And, the more wildflowers you have, the more species of trees grow, and you have the more insects that you're going to, to, to attract to that area.

So that's the goal is to set it back wild.

Very cool.

Well, thanks for that update.

We'll talk a little more about that.

I'm sure we'll get more questions because a lot of people on their property, you know, they want the hardwoods the hardwoods only.

But you're saying you know a good mixture of not only the hardwoods, but, the early secession stuff is also really important, right?

Absolutely.

All right.

Now let's, let's, let's hear from, Sergeant Robert Owens.

Thanks for coming out today.

What are you working on when it comes to this spring turkey season?

Just trying to, get ahead of the season actually, is is our main focus.

As far as getting flights, trying to combat, illegal bait sights and things like that.

Freshening up on regulations, making sure that, we have coverage across the areas in our district, is, is mainly the focus right now until season comes in, obviously.

Well, there's a couple of changes that, that recently happened, when it comes to hunting, especially our wildlife management areas.

Talk to me a little bit about what those changes are for this year.

Yeah, the most recent one that I, that I receive, a lot of questions about that I think there's some misunderstanding is the bag limit on WMAs.

A lot of people think if they kill one bird on a specific WMA for instance, in my area like Duey Lake, they think they're done.

They can't go to another one, which they can based on the way the regulation is wrote now.

So as long as you haven't exceeded your bag limit, say private, you can kill one on one WMA and go to the next WMA and take another bird.

Okay, so the rules and regulations for everyone is two birds, right?

Two birds that can be taken with a shotgun, and or any other, method of take per per hunter.

Only one bird per WMA.

Correct.

But you can kill two birds, but you have to hunt multiple WMAs.

You can't go to one WMA two days in a row and kill two birds, right?

That's correct.

So that allows it to spread the pressure out a little bit on the wildlife management areas to give a couple other individuals opportunities to hunt.

Right.

Yeah.

Let's talk a little bit about baiting because, there's a time period that is already past where putting out bait, for wildlife is has passed.

What is the rules and regulations on how far before you hunt a site are you allowed to have had bait out.

So currently, like the regulation you just talking about is March 1st to July 31st outside curtilage of a home.

You cannot hunt that area 30 days after the bait has been removed.

Okay.

Once that exceeds that date, obviously it's available to hunt.

Yeah.

So it should have already been picked up and been up for it should have been not put out since March 1st.

March 1st.

But it can't be out there on the ground at all.

We're we're already within 30 days of the season, so.

Correct.

Okay.

Well, that's that is good to know.

So we want everybody know out there, make sure that, all that all that bait has been picked up for a while now and is no longer out there on the landscape.

We're going to do a couple of fun things today.

We are actually going to do some trivia questions.

We're going to hope you play along at home.

We have ten trivia questions.

Hey, right beside you guys, you should have a dry erase board there and a marker as well as, a piece of cloth to wipe the papers off.

We're going to ask a couple of trivia questions like, say, play along at home.

These are all about turkey hunting and our upcoming turkey season.

This should be a lot of fun.

And then we're going to get to all your questions.

All right, guys, this is going to be ten questions.

It's going to be multiple choice A, B, C or D. We'll go one at a time.

And when we get to the end we'll, we'll see how we did.

All right.

All right.

Very first question is, Kentucky's modern wild turkey restoration primarily began in what decade?

And we'll give you some multiple choice, A, 1930s, B, 1950s, C, 1970s, D, 1990s.

Everybody got an answer.

What do we got?

Oh, you can just do them one at a time and erase them if you want.

So I can see over here.

Yeah.

So what do you got for one.

Yeah.

Turn it over.

We got C, C. Sorry.

So you wrote 70s.

Failed.

Oh, yeah.

No, you got it.

You got 70s.

And I was shouting out to George Wright here, by the way.

Yeah, he was the architect of the turkey restoration.

I call him Saint George.

He started in the 70s.

If you're a turkey hunter, that's a name you should know, because he kind of got the whole restoration program started here in Kentucky didn█t he?

Yes.

He did.

Yeah.

All right.

So you can erase those so that I'll be able to see the answer.

All right.

We'll just go one at a time.

Sorry.

I should have been.

Gave you a little bit of a heads up.

I'm a nerd.

That's okay.

All right.

We're three for three.

That's a great start.

All right, second question.

What method was most effective in restoring wild turkeys in Kentucky?

A pen raised releases, B, trap and transfer of wild birds.

C placing turkey eggs across the state, or D cross breeding with domestic turkeys.

All right, everybody ready?

And the answer is we all got it.

B that's interesting because we did go through a phase with some bird species trying to do pen raised birds.

But tell me about that.

Tell me about that.

That yeah.

With turkeys.

How is that work?

They tried it in many places.

Many, many states.

They tried game farm release birds.

And the way back early 1900s, even up into the 50s, 60s.

And it just did not work.

They just had bred the wild know out of those birds.

And it was only when we used wild birds that the few that remaining on the landscape and states were gracious enough to share those with other states.

And you had transfers between states and once the state's population got built up, then it could sustain itself.

That made all the difference, you know, but unlike pheasants, for example, you know, some states raise pheasants and a few of them will carry over and breed, but.

Well, the turkeys just, just don't do well when they come from pen raised stock.

And it's so exciting because there's a, you know, at fish and Wildlife agency.

We're so used to the fish side working so well where you can raise so many, many young species or, minnows essentially, and turning those loose.

As fry it works so well, but in birds it just doesn't work, just doesn't work.

It.

Nope.

All right, next question.

So if you're thinking about raising your own wild turkeys in turn to lose, don't be doing that.

It's it's going to be pretty fruitless.

Save your money for habitat.

And it's illegal.

Yeah.

And it's illegal.

So there you go.

Next question.

Question three.

How long does a hunter have to telecheck a harvested turkey finally got one for you.

Here.

You you two for two.

Oh, you're doing good.

How long does a turkey have to telecheck a harvest a turkey A immediately B within six hours.

C by midnight of the same day.

D within 24 hours.

So I missed that.

I'm like, yeah.

The answer is C by midnight on the same day.

So that was a law enforcement question.

So all right nice job guys.

And a little longer sometimes.

Next question.

This is an interesting question.

I did not know this question I'll be honest with you.

Coming up, the heaviest wild turkey ever recorded by NWTF from Kentucky weighed what this was the heaviest wild turkey ever recorded by WTF?

And I think this is a world record.

The answers are a 31.1 pounds B 33.7 pounds C 35.4 pounds or D 37.6 pounds.

This is a tricky one.

John Boy says take C. Wow, this.

I knew this is going to be tricky because I had no idea this.

According to the NWTF website, the world record weight for a wild turkey taken is from Kentucky by David Cody.

Guess in Lyon County, Kentucky in 2015.

Weighing 37.6 pounds 37.6 pounds.

We don't measure trophy turkeys by body mass or weight.

I'm not sure why, why NWTF has that, but that is what they have on their website.

So I knew that was going to be a tricky one, because I would have never guessed that.

Oh, I didn't know.

It's a giant bird.

37 that's how bird.

Yeah.

Yep.

All right.

Next, the next question here.

Number five, when using a pump action or semi-automatic shotgun for turkey hunting in Kentucky, what is the legal maximum capacity in the magazine?

Not, including the round in the chamber.

Right.

A one shell, B two shells, c three shells, d five shells.

How many is allowed in the magazine?

Not counting the chamber.

All right.

What do we have to.

Everybody's got it.

Be.

Explain that to to our people out there who might be a new hunter.

Yeah.

So the gun that you're using, typically a shotgun for spring turkey, it's got to be capable of holding three shells total, which is two in the magazine and one in the chamber.

Therefore, that that gun has to be pulled it.

If if you go to put your shotgun shells into a semiautomatic or a pump gun, and you can get three in before you've either reacted or you put the one in the chamber that it's capable of holding four, you got three in the in the magazine and then one in the chamber.

So that would be a total of four.

So you put two in, you put and then if you can get a third one in and then your gun is not plugged.

Correct.

That is correct.

It should be fine on a plug before you take that.

And that's one of the things you guys, the very first thing you check when you come out is and it is make sure you got your license.

And how many shotgun shells can you hold.

All right.

Good job guys.

All right.

We're on to question number six.

Here we go.

Here.

Which habitat component is most critical for brood rearing hens?

A early successional habitat.

B mature hardwood forest.

C open fields with bare ground r d dense conifer stands.

This is kind of tricky because you talked about a mosaic.

A couple of these are really, really important right.

Yeah.

All right.

But but we're talking about the most important component for a brood rearing hens.

What do we have.

Yep.

Okay okay I'm giving the it depends.

Eight is the biggest.

So C is the next biggest.

And and B is the will your biggest.

You said A is the biggest and you wrote it the biggest.

A is our least essential habitat.

And you're right.

Yeah.

That's what we know right.

That's a little bit.

That's a little bit of a tricky question.

D is kind of you know okay.

We don't need conifer plants so much.

But the others are all important.

Let's tell me why we picked a though.

Yeah.

So so nesting cover is a number one.

So you can have mature forests with a lot of acorns and zero cover on the ground.

And it's almost useless for the brood rearing hand where thick undergrowth gives them a place to get away from predators and ensure easier.

So.

So you want something thick and wooly.

A diverse species, you know a lot.

A lot of flowers, a lot of grass makes components with, you know, briers, you name it.

Anything early successional.

That just means that early stage of growth could be something different in the woods.

And it is an open field.

The trick is something wooly.

Yeah.

All right, there you go.

So I like your answer A, b and C forget d but a, b and C the all important next next question here.

Number seven.

Is it legal to use electronic calls wild turkey hunting in Kentucky.

A yes b no.

See, only on private lands or D only on public lands.

And your answer b b a is it.

No.

Must be.

I'm sorry.

You got a okay.

Yeah.

Oh.

Is it legal to use electronic calls.

So I misunderstood you.

Is is it you.

You thought I said is it illegal.

Illegal?

Yeah.

Is it legal.

So the answer is B no.

Talk to me a little bit about that.

Talk to you about electronic calls because they're becoming more and more more popular with all the predator hunting.

It seems like everybody's got some form of electronic call right now.

Tell me about using electronic calls while talking.

Yeah.

You're you can't even possess them in the field when you're you're talking obviously.

But now as far as Cyote hunting and stuff like that, a lot of people will, like you just said, that's what they're going to is electronic calling.

Yeah.

But as far as for turkeys, you can't even possess them in the field with you.

If you got that Fox Pro or that or that call and it's got turkey sounds on it, don't, don't take it.

It's not legal.

You don't want to get that taken from you.

All right.

Next question.

Which factor most limits Turkey populations long term habitat quality is a b hunting pressure C predator control D disease.

You guys ready.

What do you got.

Everybody's got it a. Real big check is that's an R. That's a good discussion question that you have with hunters in real time.

Predator control is a big deal to a lot of private landowners.

But the mindset is if you have native habitat that Turkey grew up.

He he evolved with predator so proper had a habitat.

A smart turkey knows how to hide from predators.

So predator management not against it, but in the long term habitat means more than anything else.

Yeah, it's habitat is is the main key.

So there you go.

Next question number nine.

How many primary tail feathers does a typical adult gobbler have a 14 B 18 b c 22 D 26.

All right B is the answer.

Yeah he is what we for 18.

You guys were all over it eight Earth I don't know if there's a difference between primary.

And that threw me a little bit.

Because primary is usually referred to the wing feathers.

Yeah.

The main wing feathers okay.

Of which there's ten on each wing okay.

So then about okay, I don't usually count the.

Yeah.

These are the tail feathers.

I'm not really sure where we got the answer, but that's what our sources.

I'm sure it's right.

I think he was.

Yep.

Okay.

You got it right.

I was right, yeah.

I think West wrote that question.

Probably the.

No, no, I probably missed no.

Number ten.

All right, number ten.

Why do gobblers often go silent after they fly down?

All right.

A they're focused on predators B they're feeding only C they're with hens or D they cannot gobble on the ground.

All right.

Everybody got their answer.

All right.

You got the Cincinnati Reds C on there I c all right.

We got C there with hens.

And that is correct.

All right guys we did a pretty good job.

There's a lot this last question this last question about gobblers and flying down and going quiet.

You see that quite a bit.

Oh yeah.

And your experience out hunting.

Yeah I mean it's one of the things that tests, the patience and nerve of even the best turkey hunters.

I mean, you've got to you put all this work into scouting or finding getting a place to hunt.

You're a bird.

You're really excited.

You know, it could happen right off the roost.

Could happen real quick.

Sometimes it doesn't.

If you let your guard down and you get flustered or fall asleep or get a little too curious looking around, you're liable to get busted.

I mean, just there may not be a more exciting aspect of hunting when, you know, they start gobbling on the limb before they fly down for quite some time.

And a lot of times when you get there and you park your truck and you're getting your gear on, you're making sure you got everything and and you hear them just hammering away on a limb right where you're getting ready to walk.

And you just I mean, every year I fall for the same thing.

This is going to be quick and it never happens.

I was very few times where I ended up getting the bird right off the roost.

It usually you walk in, you set up, you get everything set right where you want it.

You scouted it out.

The birds are roosting right there.

They're gobbling like crazy and you hear them come down and you see them head away.

And then about 2 or 3 or four hours later, they end up making their way back sometimes, though, or the hands beat them to the ground and they go to them instead of you.

They go to them instead of you, yeah, I tell you, that's that's the way it happens more often.

Not so if you're a new turkey hunter, patience and not moving around too much is probably going to be your best bet.

When you hear birds come down and you take off the other direction, it's really hard to sneak up on a turkey isn█t it It is.

All right.

Well, that was fun.

I'm not sure what the final tally is.

We'll get that here in a minute.

But, all in all, that was, that was really good.

So now we are time to get to our a viewer question.

Our first question.

My experience hunting buddy is taking me turkey hunting this season for their very first time.

What is one piece of advice that you have for me as an older, first time hunter?

What's the best way I can learn more before we go?

What expectations should they have?

Wow, that's a lot of questions.

And this is great.

This is a person that later on in life decided they want to get into hunting.

They've got a mentor.

So that's perfect.

They got step one taken care of.

They got a mentor and a person is going to take them out.

What's some advice that you give them.

Have fun.

Relax and be still.

Yeah yeah it's amazing if you're if you're coming from being a deer hunter and now you're going to try turkey hunting.

And I'm assuming this person was a hunter, but not a turkey hunter.

You know, deer hunting.

You always trying to figure out how to beat their nose, right.

It's it's all set control.

It's all wind.

It's all.

And now you're going into something.

Where I don't really care what you smell like when you get out there.

Turkey hunting to you.

It's all about those eyes and beating.

Those eyes and ears.

They can hear too.

But been beating those eyes is the is the most important thing.

So what about you?

What kind of advice would you have?

So.

So first off, thank you for taking time to mentor another hunter.

So so you have when you take a mentor there's two things you're thinking about.

You're taking a kid hunting or you're taking a new hunter.

And and I just that we've learned that a kid, they still have to grow up.

They still have to make the decision to become a hunter, even though you've taken them.

But the adult, there's a higher probability if they enjoyed their hunt, that they become a lifelong hunter, or at least a hunter for a long time.

So thank you for taking the effort and exactly having fun.

That's number one.

When you go out, don't expectations based on a YouTube video.

That's the worst thing that's happened to hunting lately is everybody you got to have the pile pick right.

You know it's a it's always bragging rights on social media or whatever.

Get out.

Set realistic expectations.

Let's say you're a hear birds.

Let's have fun with our our turkey calls.

Find good habitat if you know what that is.

Take them to what good habitat is.

If the turkey don█t show up.

They don█t show up.

But you can teach them the basics.

And then when they go again, they recognize when I say it pays off.

So, so patience.

Have fun.

Stick to the basics.

What kind of advice would you give?

Someone wants to learn a few things before they get out there.

Yeah, so you can go to our website and we have web pages dedicated directly to learning how to hunt the various species, learning how to fish.

So our R3 program that's recruitment, reactivation and retention of hunters.

They offer various field to fork program.

So teaching you the classroom setting.

This is what you should expect.

Take you hunting and then even bring you back to show you how to dress your animal and cook it to prepare it at home.

And so there's various programs like that.

And then I think we have found a mentor, things of that nature.

So you can go to our website and find a load of information for new hunters or mentors.

I think you said something that, you said something that, it's a conversation I have with with viewers, with Kentucky Field, all the time.

They come up and they, they, they watch the show and other outdoor hunting shows.

You know, we can turn a, an all day turkey hunt into six minutes of video.

It doesn█t take six minutes if you when you're out there, learn to appreciate everything else going on around you.

If you're only going to be excited, if you see a male turkey within 50 yards, well, then you're missing a little bit of the point of turkey hunting, right?

It's all of the other wildlife species that you see that that sun, that sunrise coming up and other predators moving around and birds and hearing the owls.

I mean, that's really the experience of a hunt.

One of my best memories, turkey hen was with my dad.

I was home from college, and in my coursework, I was learning bird songs.

And these are, you know, not.

I'm not just talking cardinals or things around the house, but, I was hearing a, summer tanager.

The bird breeds in the tropics.

Or winters in the tropics.

And it flies here to breed, you know, so it travels long distances.

And if you're not looking in the tops, trees know just what to look for.

You're going to miss this blazing rig because they don't stand out, level like Cardinals do.

Oh, it was a lull.

We weren't hearing gobbling and I pointed it out to my dad and he he's like wow.

You know once he started honing in and listen he could hear it.

It's like yeah.

But no one had ever told him.

Yeah.

So little things like you just never know.

Same thing with plants or morel mushrooms.

I mean, you can really get in, get into everything.

There's so much more to it.

Keeps your mind sharp And, you know, maybe get lucky and have a bird surprise you.

But there's so much to enjoy.

Don't set your expectations so high that you've watched ten turkey hunts that lasted six eight minutes on camera, that you're out there for two hours.

You're like, well, this ain't going to happen.

It's pretty typical that it doesn't happen in the first hour or maybe an hour in the first day.

It may take a couple days.

So how about you?

What would you get?

What kind of advice would you give for this individual?

I'll just touch on the permits and stuff.

Licenses, just making sure they have the proper permit, which is a spring turkey permit if they're resident or nonresident, based on, you know, where they're located.

The licenses and then Hunter education, if they're, if they meet the January 1st to 1975, after, make sure that they complete that course before entering the field and then also equipment, plug shotgun.

Yeah.

There you need to have a plug shotgun and listen get that gun to the range to test out your ammo with your, with whatever choke tube that you're shooting or whatever barrel you're using.

Get to the range.

See how that gun's going to pattern.

Next question.

Why do turkeys use my property for a few days then disappear for periods of time?

And is there anything I can do to get them to stay around longer?

So this person must.

I'm going to guess is purchasing a lot of birds before the season?

Is having trouble seeing birds during the season?

Let's talk a little bit about what they can do, why that's happening, and what they can do to avoid that.

Short answer is every bird is different.

Some birds are homebodies and some like to take off.

We had a, transmitter, bird that was entering his two year old year.

So his first season as a mature gobbler, he had been hanging out in one farm, and he went like eight miles up the river between.

I think it was, April 1st and opening day of season.

He went eight miles up the river and was harvested that day, on a different place.

So anybody that was, you know, expecting him to show up, I mean, he wouldn't.

And it probably has a lot to do with the quality of habitat and the amount of pressure that that those birds are under.

So, you know, if there's, another plug for habitat, it's that, you know, you want to do everything you can to stack the odds in your favor.

You can't control.

I mean, they're wild after all.

They're wild turkeys.

That's what we want.

We want them in front of our shotgun, but we want them to be wild.

That's part of the challenge.

That's why we don't just, you know, go to a turkey farm and shoot domestic turkeys.

We don't do that.

So there's going to be variability.

We talk about turkeys and some of being homebodies.

But if you spent much time on a big body of water in Kentucky, you've seen turkeys fly rivers, you've seen turkeys fly lakes.

I've seen them fly over Nolan, rough river, green River, you name it.

Parts of Dale hollow, they can make long distance flights if they got the pressure and they decide they need to go for whatever reason.

You know, they're not just a ground walking bird.

They can fly and they can cover some distance if they decide to go.

Yeah.

So, hens especially Will.

Yeah.

And they're completely reactionary to, I mean, a turkey that's hit the ground the same spot three days in a row, may hit the ground and see something they don't like, and guess they're not hanging around.

They're gone.

They're gone.

So that it could be very simply, when they came down, they saw something they didn't like.

And they went to the neighboring farm and didn't come back.

So sometimes it just happens that way.

What type of habitat would you say would if you were going to go out and plant 1 or 2 things and say, hey, I'm going to try to to give turkeys on my property something that will make them stick around.

What would it be?

So I don't plant anything first.

My goal is always evaluate what you have and see what you can remove to make it better.

Because our seed banks are full.

With the exception of maybe in crop country.

You talk a crop field that seed banks have been hammered for for decades.

It's a little different.

But you take, you know, most of our landscape is, is pasture, woodland, and the seed bank is intact.

So sometimes if you have a fescue field or even just a field border, that you can give up a little bit of herbicide to get the fescue out of the way will make something explode.

And then you can start looking at do I need to add to it or do I need to manage selectively?

Is there invasives that need to be handled?

Invasives is usually my number one.

But that's a that's a heavy fight.

You got to get in that one for the long haul.

But, I usually don't recommend planting anything food plots wise.

Food plots are neat.

You can attract a lot of species to a food plot.

And if you leave a food plot, that becomes fantastic.

Early successional cover.

So you blend it.

Year one, year two, you just leave that food plot standing.

Almost invariably, whatever the species, unless it's like a cool season, oats and clover or something like that, it'll stay the same, but the rest of them it changes.

And so I'm not as much on planning something to attract as I am addressing the habitat that's there.

And I'll plug our private land staff.

We have a staff of, of of men and women that do nothing but help on private land.

So, you can go to the website and find your nearest private lands biologist and get loads of recommendations on on what to do on your farm.

All right.

Very good.

Good information.

Here's the next question.

This is, this is regarding, shot size.

Man, this is a good topic because, there's so many changes that have taken place.

What shot, is legal and not legal for turkey hunting?

It used to be easy.

Four or 5 or 6 is in lead now.

There are just so many options.

So first talk about what is legal.

Nothing larger than four shot.

Obviously it could be layered or nontoxic.

Let's like we discussed earlier, there's many different loads these days.

But but for no longer than four is is the answer to that okay.

So if you wanted to use if you wanted to use fours or fives in steel, will that take down a turkey?

It did for years.

That's all I ever used.

Fives and sixes for me.

Okay.

So do we have made that require nontoxic shot and or steel shot?

Not nontoxic.

We can we shoot, shoot turkeys.

And you have the energy with steel.

Do you feel really comfortable doing that?

I know migratory birds.

Yes, but turkeys?

I don't think so.

I think you can hunt with.

What?

Is that right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Most of the, the steel shot or your dove films on amazed.

Okay.

I double check the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service refuges just to make sure.

Yeah, yeah.

And not because.

Not probably not, but just be sure.

Nontoxic.

Nowadays, you start thinking about that.

A lot of the heavy stuff is also nontoxic, right?

Then superior to the standard steel and much heavier, denser, a lot more knockdown.

So that's a really good option, a little more costly, but you're probably taking a couple of shots a season maximum.

So that might be the way to go next question.

Is there any evidence that bearded hens have better maternal instincts?

I've never heard this before.

No, there's, I'm not aware of any published literature about it.

I've heard some people mention it.

It's I'm not sure where they're getting it.

If there's as yet unpublished studies, then maybe, maybe they'll come out.

But it's just that bird heads have a little more testosterone, that she produces a beard.

But there's no reason to think she's better or worse at raising.

Yeah, at least not that I'm aware of.

So maybe that'll change someday.

But right now, we're in the, We know a bearded hens on our studies that have reared broods, just like, you know, non bearded.

Your standard non bearded hen.

Yeah, yeah.

And, what percentage of the population are we talking about?

10%.

Probably have beards.

Yeah.

Now the harvest.

It's less than 1%.

We actually shoot.

But in the population it's probably more than that.

Probably 4 or 5, seven, eight, nine somewhere in there if that's what the best estimates show.

All right.

This next question, this is from, this from one of our young viewers.

It's actually, a little girl that I know, Willow Brockman.

Thanks for watching.

Willow.

From Shepherdsville.

She wants to know the different types of turkeys and their feather colors.

So in Kentucky, we primarily have what type of turkey?

We just the eastern subspecies of welter.

Okay.

So Sylvester's Sylvester's.

That means forest.

So it's the bird of the eastern United States, which is forest.

And as far as the color, just give willow a brief overview of the color black with brown.

And on their head it's red, white and blue.

Its legs are kind of reddish brownish.

Spurs or black.

The man they have just a beautiful iridescent that's iridescent I mean it's it looks greenish orangy.

And the light hits it.

Right.

It's magnificent.

If you had if you had an eastern gobblers tail feather spread out, you talked about the brown black, it's banded and kind of tell her what that looks like.

Yeah, yeah.

The very tip of it is a lighter brown.

And then there's a stripe as if you go from the top to the bottom.

It'll be light brown to black and then alternating narrow bands of black and brown all the way down.

All right.

We've got questions about predators and, what predators have the biggest impact on turkeys.

So we talked a little about this earlier, but let's talk a little bit about, predators that, first non nest raiders and then let's talk about nest raiders.

So what type of, predators we have to worry about there.

Yeah.

So the big three are bobcats coyotes and grey horned owls.

Wow.

Oh grey horned owls.

People don't think about.

But they will hammer a bird who's gobbling on the roost.

And we've had some taken out in our studies.

It's it's pretty interesting.

But when that gobbler sounds off, he's taking a risk.

You know, just like a bunch of guys being ornery and run around town, you know, trying to find a girlfriend can get into trouble.

Well, that can cause a lot of trouble, because that that owl is designed to figure out exactly where he is.

And so you lose some that way.

Cats and bobcats both are able to to take adult turkeys.

And they do.

All three of them take the gobblers.

They take hens, they take them all the roost.

They take nesting hens when she's she is, nesting on the ground, roosting on the ground at night, incubating her eggs.

but throughout the year, it's pretty hard going if you're one of those predators.

I mean, our studies and lots of other studies are showing that hens in Kentucky, they have about a 70% survival rate.

So that's that's pretty good, 70, 75%.

So you think about that over the course of a year, most of those coyotes you you may call in when you're calling, a lot of people have done that.

And they see them stalking turkeys.

That's just what they do man.

The predator super predators.

Yeah.

That's how they make a living.

That mean they kill every one that you see.

Yeah.

And bobcats I mean they wouldn't be our state land grant university, my alma mater mascot if they weren't fishing.

It's all of them.

So it's pretty cool.

But those are the, the non, you know, nesting I mean, they kill adult big turkeys and you know again two of those threes you can hunt and trap and how about it.

It's great.

Just, try to pair that with a predator.

Control what you want to do.

With with habitat work like there's been talk about, you know, it's interesting you, you talk about a lot of times people ask questions about why do birds gobble only certain times a year.

And, you know, I've heard gobbles and non breeding times a year, they they don't lose the ability to gobble.

Right.

But you talk about it being a risk.

It could be something that over years and years and years it's just the ones that were loud and vocal and took that risk year long.

Just don't make it.

I mean, that's bred out.

It's like there has to be a reward worth the risk.

And I guess it brings a balance.

That's what nature does in the course of eons.

It balances things out.

You have some turkeys that just tend to gobble more.

Yeah.

And you have some that tend to be tight lipped.

Yeah.

Like people, you know, kind of need a little bit of both on you when you're hunting them, because the ones that gobble and tend to be really aggressive probably aren't going to last.

It varries though.

The verries day to day.

Yeah.

So one day the birds may be fired up and the next day they may not be.

If you chew, if you by luck, bad luck choose to go on the day.

They're just not really gobbling.

Doesn't mean they're not there.

Yeah, yeah.

And once hunting starts hunting, pressure has definitely been shown to reduce the amount of gobbling.

So some people say, oh, our season comes into late.

They're all gobbled out, where they don't hunt them.

They have done studies that show, like they have this nice, steady progression from late February March peaking in mid late April.

It carrying into May all through till the end of June.

Basically they're still gobbling where you can't hunt them.

I want to talk about that for a second because, people have different styles of the ways they like to hunt.

If I'm going to hunt the same piece of property, I know there are quite a few birds on there.

I'm going to really limit my movement for the first couple of days.

I'm going to do a little bit of scouting.

I'm going to listen where where I think they're at a couple days before the season comes in, man.

When you get up and you start moving and you start really running gun start hunting.

Which don't get me wrong, it's the most fun.

But you do risk the chance of one making those birds hard work or to push them completely off the property.

So if you have a piece of property that you it's private that you have the opportunity to get on there, you might want to take a little more, less aggressive approach a couple days.

If you know you're going to be out there for a few days in a row because it's hard to hunt a bird that's gone, it's completely off the property information hunt.

It's kind of rough to hunt that bird or quiet, go just kill either one of them.

Research some some birds.

Take one strategy of running off other birds.

They just sit tight, but they're tight lipped.

Yeah.

So either way, you know, moving around, lots of activity.

It can we see that on public lands a lot less research is real.

Sure.

It's very clear on public land.

But same would go for prevalent.

And tell me about some of the nest raiders that, that we talked about predators.

Let's talk about some of the nests raider.

So anything that eats eggs from skunks and possums, snakes.

Even some of the woodpecker species, if they can find a nest, there's nothing a woodpecker likes better than to crack an egg open and eat that, you know, but the big ones are going to be your skunks and possums and snakes.

That's what most people do.

It crows?

Absolutely.

The various birds that they'll attack, and coyotes will absolutely gobble a nest up.

The big take home that I always try to do it preach is.

You know, we've all seen that hayfield with one little stand of trees right out in the center.

That's a predator magnet.

You know, there's nowhere for that turkey to hide.

And then there's one small spot for that predator only has to work that one small spot, and it has a higher likelihood of finding a turkey that's nest in there or what have you.

Do you take a CRP field or grown up piece of property?

That target could be anywhere across there.

So habitat management is a key to avoid that.

If a predator can can hone in on a specific spot and find a higher probability of hitting the nest, you're going to lose that nest before you lose one that's scattered out in a field that has lots of early successional growth.

One of the things I can't believe we haven't mentioned today, and it comes up at every one of these shows that hadn't been said.

So I think it's time to mention it.

Mowing.

When is the when is do we not have to worry about turkeys?

The nest of pretty much.

At what date would you say?

If you want to increase your turkey population, do no bush hogging, no mowing.

Until what day do you think those birds big enough to kind of move and get out of the way?

What would you say?

No.

Earlier than doves season?

Okay.

September.

October.

Yeah, because every year I get reports a little polts in September, first couple weeks of October.

So they came from a hen that got that brood of hatched that those eggs on her third attempt probably.

Yeah.

Fourth attempt.

It's it's you know possible.

But yeah, I mean if you really care about it, do not get all that bush hog until the leaves start changing.

Yeah.

You know, there's just it's no sense in it.

Yeah.

If you, if you're, if you're cutting hay to make a living because you're a farmer, that's one thing you got, you got to make a living.

But if you can avoid it, do it.

There's no sense in it.

You're talking about nest raiders.

There's not a bigger nest rider, in the state of Kentucky than a lawnmower or a bush hog.

Right.

You know, if you're in a piece of property that you know, you got a lot of turkeys and and you're trying to make it easier to hunt, easier to you're probably doing more damage to your turkey population.

Yeah.

And just look at that as a first step.

I mean, we have we biologists we like to talk cream of the crop, you know, like this is over.

He's in charge of wildlife management areas throughout the bluegrass region.

And he he and his guys, they manage to the hilt.

I mean, they do it right.

The average guy who may not a person who may not have been, dip their toes in the habitat world yet first thing to do is just look at what you're doing now.

And that can entail not mowing during the critical periods and save that for later in the you know, late, late summer fall or early spring before they even, you know, start nesting, do that first and then get a handle on that.

Then you can start looking at some of the other things, because, I mean, I'm telling you, fire is the way we've got to get fire across the Kentucky landscape, research shows that where it's prevalent, those nest graders, their prevalence is lower.

Yeah, they do the typical the main offenders like, coons, possums and skunks, they're not as abundant.

They don't occur to as great a degree in spots that get burned a lot.

Yeah, but guess what?

Does turkeys.

Yeah.

Within days or even hours of that burn.

Yeah.

So there is there are training opportunities across the state now the department can set you up with the Kentucky Prescribed Fire Council and you can be doing it.

I've worked with with both or for years work with landowners that have done this.

And it is pretty gratifying when a landowner pulls off a burn.

Nobody got hurt, fire didn't get out.

They got their all trained up.

The fire department knows what's going on.

The neighbors know what's going on.

It's a good, good time.

And now's the time for that, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

All year long we offer learn and burn workshops.

You literally do the coursework online, and you show up and we pair you with department experts and, go out on real fires and teach you how to do a prescribed fire.

So, so check out our Learn and Burn program if you're interested in putting fire on your on your farm.

All right.

Fantastic.

Next question is from Remington.

Oh, and he wants to know how old each of us were when we took our first turkey.

You guys remember your first turkey?

I do, absolutely.

How old were you?

I was a freshman in high school.

So how old are you when you're a freshman?

You spring in my freshman year.

Spring of 1997 So.

Yeah, I was 15, 15 years old.

Do you remember who you went with?

By yourself?

My dad.

Oh, with your dad.

Oh, it was.

It worked out perfect.

It was a jake Yeah.

We got there.

I heard a bird gobble off the roost.

We got set up, and it happened.

Is one of those that happened right off the bat, and I just got lucky.

But we got that thing home, brought it to school.

Even though some of my buddies in the parking lot at school.

So I'm super lucky.

Was it your first time hunting or just your first time successful?

Yeah, well, I had imaginary turkey hunted.

because I've watched his videos for a year or two before that.

Yeah.

Hunter specialties.

Yeah.

Old school primos and.

Oh, yeah, you know, videos and things.

Knight and Hale.

But that was my first year hunt, and it worked out for him.

So, it used to be when you go by a pack or 1 or 2 calls can be a mouth guard, whatever.

They come with a a CD, you'd pop that CD in and watch the all the experts show you exactly how I got to meet.

Will Primos a couple years ago, but I still remember the the cassette of his I had.

Oh got where he was.

He was talking about enunciating sounds with a mouth call.

Oh, so how about you?

16 years old, grew up on a farm.

It was actually on the neighbor's farm right next door.

I remember driving and seeing the turkeys in the field and got got permission and, drove next door, and Turkey did just what is exactly what I'm supposed to do.

My first bird was a textbook.

I never forget that.

That.

That's awesome.

That was your very first hunt ever, was it?

Oh, not my first turkey.

Not just my first harvest.

Yeah, my uncle take it had taken me several times unsuccessfully, usually because I couldn't sit still and.

But birds more than that.

Boy, you know what I'm good at what happened?

I don't remember my exact age, but it was around 15 or 16.

That was the first time.

It wasn't my first time.

Yeah, plenty of hunts, unsuccessful.

But yeah, around 15 or 16 when I killed my first one.

Mom was later on, later than that, actually, when I was real little, we just didn't have that many turkeys.

And then I got into fishing.

And, you know, April is a good time to be on a on a front of a fishing boat.

So I spent a lot of times listening to birds and, thinking, you know, I was a bow hunter.

One of these days I'm going to get into turkey hunting and get a shotgun and turkey hunt.

But, mine was later.

I don't even know the exact date, but it was definitely later on.

I think that's good.

That's a great example for people, Chad.

Like, yeah, I think it'd be intimidating.

I would imagine, just think that probably a lot of people are a little hesitant to take up the sport without good mentors or role models.

And so I hear that, but it's pretty, is it illegal to shoot a turkey on the roost after legal shooting light.

is not okay.

Not shoot a roosted bird in KY.. You can't shoot a roosted bird in Kentucky.

Next question here.

This might be our last question of the evening.

What kind of call will you be using on opening day and what do you like most?

Slate, box, push or mouth call?

Man, you probably have a whole combination of each of them.

If I'm not, if I'm if I'm thinking right, what what do you think you're going to use it?

I've always, always got a mouth call.

Yeah, yeah, I do and back up is a is a slight, but I'm not very good at those.

I have a, I got a trimmer in my, my dominant hand and so that's good.

That's a little flair to the sound.

But I typically have a mouth though.

Okay.

I love using a slate.

I have a really good buddy that has a, a thriving business selling turkey goals.

And and I love using his, like, goals.

But as I said, I've always got a mouth call in my mouth.

I rarely use a box call I have, I'm not as good with them.

To me, I can't be subtle with it.

It's either screaming at a bird or put it away.

And so.

Yeah, so mouth guard is my go to.

I'm typically I use slate over slate or slate over glass.

Yeah.

What I typically use up I've got all the other calls, but, just seem to revert back to one or those two.

They're always.

It's fun because I mess around.

This is the time of year you, you know, you're driving down the highway.

And if it looks like you see me driving down the road, it looks like I'm talking to myself.

I'm probably working a mouth call.

You know, they're turning them up and finding out which one you want.

I love the sound of a box call I love the volume.

If you.

If you hear a bird gobbling, it's so far away.

And you want to really project volume.

But there are just a pain in the butt going, you know, you.

It seems like they're always.

You hear them when you're walking through the woods and you go to sit down and and it's scratching and it's carrying on.

So I love a box call.

I always have a box call with me, maybe not in the woods, but in my truck, because if I have a bird that's long distance, a box call is loud.

but I typically use slate or glass, those are the ones that I usually have.

They're right with me, with a mouth call handy in case the bird gets close and I need to be able to work it up on the build.

Chin on the stock, ready to go then that's you got to have that mouth call them.

But well, it's been a great show.

I know what I'm super excited about the season coming in.

It seems like every single year it's that time of year where we just two weeks ago had this major cold snap, and now it's to start thinking about being out in the turkey woods with the sun coming through, hitting you in the face, seeing the the woods open up.

It's an exciting, exciting time to be out in the woods.

Turkey hunting in the spring.

One of my all time favorite activities.

Hey, hopefully you're getting out and making plans as well.

It's the perfect time when we get out and start patterning that shotgun.

I can't, I can't express that enough.

Just grabbing, shells or borrowing shells or run into the store the night before.

Throw them in a shotgun.

You just don't know what you're going to expect.

And sometimes spending more does not mean better results.

So make sure you get out and you find out that your ammo and your shotgun and your choke tube all work well together.

That is a huge plus.

Well, let's go over the season dates real quick.

Youth season is going to be Easter weekend.

That's April the 4th and 5th two day weekend.

And then after that our general season's going to run.

April the 18th through May the 10th.

So we got a long turkey season.

Make sure you're making plans to get in the woods.

And remember, hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

And so next week, I'm your host, Chad Miles.

And I hope to see you in the woods there on the water.