Best trees to plant for Turkey

[Wooden Arrow]

Where is the best source for sawtooth oaks?

if you were anywhere near Knoxville, they grow all over the campus area. good friend fills his pockets every time he goes to a ball game. those he planted in SW VA starting dropping acorns at 7 years old, when about 8 ft tall.

 

[Biggun4214]

Might be thinking sericea lespedeza...incredibly invasive.

Bicolor will grow 10-12 feet tall if not mowed.
Sericea was used a lot to sow right of ways in the 60's-80's.
Kobe or Korean lespedeza might be better choices

 

[mike243]

For Turkeys, really really big and old trees are best.
So, they can roost there ASAP.

Makes it easier to shootem out also

 

[woodsman04]

I joined Arbor Day foundation in 2008. They sent a pack of trees and I got to pick ten additional trees. I picked all Sawtooths.
Planted as seedlings. Twigs about 20" tall. As of now they are probably 30'+ with the base as big as my thigh. Started having sparse acorns about 2017. This year they were absolutely loaded.

When they were young, I put fence around them to keep deer away. Used roundup carefully to keep weeds away from the tree. I had some five gallon containers with a top on them. I'd drill a couple of small holes in the bottom. Fill them up with water and place them at the base. When they got about 6-8' tall in 2010/2011, I got them tree fertilizer packs and dug holes around the root line.

That is all I did with them. The turkey and deer really like them. I am very pleased with them.

 

[Biggun4214]

Sawtooth oaks need lots of sunlight. Shade will slow their growth or even kill then.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

Sawtooth oaks need lots of sunlight. Shade will slow their growth or even kill then.

they plant them in rows in the center of linear food plots down in 'bama. some of the saplings we saw when we first started going down there are large enough to put tree stands in now.

 

[Creek bottoms]

They're awfully hard to find.

 

[Soft Talker]

Rather than planting trees, best thing a man could do to draw Turkeys to his property, is running a hot fire through it

 

[Gobble4me757]

Rather than planting trees, best thing a man could do to draw Turkeys to his property, is running a hot fire through it

I want to and will do at another property but unable to create a fire break around the 15 acres due to being so thick. I want to do both trees and fire

 

[th88]

Couple fruits I haven't saw mentioned that turkey love, blueberries and mulberries. We have several blueberry bushes on our property and the turkeys love them. The big bonus is that I love them too! And mulberries fruit pretty early.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

I want to and will do at another property but unable to create a fire break around the 15 acres due to being so thick. I want to do both trees and fire

the birds really respond to a fire. exposes acorns, bugs, all kind of goodies. they like the increased visibility too. i've killed birds in Alabama that had smoke coming up around them. it takes a long time for a pine stump to quit smoldering.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

mind you, this aint a tree, but...there are areas in Alabama where we found turnips growing in low spots in power line clearings, linear food plots etc. frequently bumped turkeys out of those low spots.