Your guess is as good as mine, to be honest. We did roughly 50 projects to try and figure out what constituted ideal turkey nesting and brood rearing habitat. Brood rearing was pretty easy, open areas where young birds could easily bug but with cover thick enough to avoid predation. However, there was a very fine line with cover that was too thick and the young poults couldn't move through it easily, and cover which was too thin and predators picked them apart.
On nesting habitat the best scenarios we found we small openings adjacent to thick edges, or areas which had recently been timbered. The most important aspects it seems to nesting were areas where hens could bug effectively without having to travel great distances. As when they are gone for extended periods the nests often times get destroyed.
I try and keep the perimeters of my openings beat back by laying down trees, and encouraging growth from blackberries, honeysuckle, and any other sort of growth which can provide good nesting cover, but not so thick as to make the hens vulnerable to predators while they sit on their nests.
This is IMO the most complicated thing when it comes to managing land for turkeys. Figuring out the ideal formula seems to be a mystery to most, and having lots of variety is probably the best approach.
