Morgan County checking in... at my place I've had 6 hens and 3 have had poults with them this year (~7 poults total). The poults all made it to full feathers/flying. They've been scarce this past week and I'm hoping it isn't from the yote pups (one on Sunday and one on Monday) I noticed creeping around the edge of my clearing. Both were during daylight hours and they bailed soon as they saw me.
Those yotie pups are EASY to call in. I almost feel bad about killing them, but I dont.Morgan County checking in... at my place I've had 6 hens and 3 have had poults with them this year (~7 poults total). The poults all made it to full feathers/flying. They've been scarce this past week and I'm hoping it isn't from the yote pups (one on Sunday and one on Monday) I noticed creeping around the edge of my clearing. Both were during daylight hours and they bailed soon as they saw me.
I've got boat loads of them running around the property. These are really the first to come near the homestead clearing. But the absence of the hens/poults means if I get a shot on them I will. Both encounters were over in 2 secs. They saw me and dashed into the woods pronto. Haven't seen any since (yotes or turkeys). But now I'm watching closer.Those yotie pups are EASY to call in. I almost feel bad about killing them, but I dont.
"almost"Those yotie pups are EASY to call in. I almost feel bad about killing them, but I dont.
That's what I think the reason is as well.I'm beginning to think maybe the over-population of predators is the problem.
Absolutely!Yesterday I saw around 5-6 hens with a bunch of poults but it was hard to count because they were in some tall grass and weeds but I would guess around 20 total. Most I've seen at one time since back around 2010-2015. I found a busted turkey egg in a road last year while turkey hunting and that motivated me enough to start eradicating nest predators. I lost count at 65 last year, this was a mixture of coon, possum and skunks but I can tell it's starting to make a difference. If you want turkeys around, I would say hammer the nest predators.