Food Shortage this Fall

[Jstpssng]

My turkey poults will be wandering around my property in several months.
There are so many turkeys, and they are so easy to bag if I should need some.

I haven't seen as many around as I used to. I think that last year's snow killed them off. At one point a few years back I had 40 out in my field... feeding on the winter rye that I had just broadcast spread.
They were like vacuum cleaners, working their way from one end of the field down to the other. At the end of the day I could go out and see the line where they had stopped feeding. Yet I couldn't get permission to shoot them, and that 500$/bird fine plus prison time really ruined my aim. It was pretty impressive to see 40 turkeys lift off when I fired a warning shot though.

 

[fried1765]

I haven't seen as many around as I used to. I think that last year's snow killed them off. At one point a few years back I had 40 out in my field... feeding on the winter rye that I had just broadcast spread.
They were like vacuum cleaners, working their way from one end of the field down to the other. At the end of the day I could go out and see the line where they had stopped feeding. Yet I couldn't get permission to shoot them, and that 500$/bird fine plus prison time really ruined my aim. It was pretty impressive to see 40 turkeys lift off when I fired a warning shot though.

Even though I live in a much more heavily populated area than you do, and only have 12 acres, I am virtually certain that I could get a turkey whenever/if needed.
I could even use a pellet gun if need be, though a .22 short (head shot) would do the job, with very little noise.
Shotgun though obviously preferred, would certainly be too noisy for my area.
The Indians used arrows!

 

[Jstpssng]

I thought about taking one that fall with my 30-30. I was deer hunting on the back of my property and they were in a corner of the field not visible from the road. The way that my luck runs though it would have taken off the way that headless fowl tend to do, and landed in the road right in front of a game warden. Still, if I was hungry enough rules wouldn't apply. If I was going to risk jail time though, I would be more inclined to take a moose. :licking:

 

[Diggin It]

Ok, maybe it's just me, but isn't a Moose a bit more difficult to hide than a Turkey?

 

[Jstpssng]

Ok, maybe it's just me, but isn't a Moose a bit more difficult to hide than a Turkey?

In for a penny, in for a pound! One shot would mean turkey dinner, two shots would be a freezer full of meat for the winter. I would have to be pretty hungry to risk it, but if the future was uncertain and the animal was in my back yard I would take that chance.

 

[/pine]

For anyone that has never eaten wild turkey they are not missing anything that is known for being great table fare...
IMO if you need to harvest small game to survive...rabbits and squirrels (marinated and fried) make much tastier meat dishes IMO...

 

[LouNY]

I tend to look at that a bit different, we have a lot of poachers around here and also a lot of slob road hunters.
The ones that are jacking deer to feed their family I don't have a problem with.
The ones that are blasting away at every thing they see from the road, I'd just as soon see them hung.
Especially the ones that road hunt and leave the carcass in the fields and just take the rack.
Of course I also have no use for any "hunter" that just takes the rack and leaves the meat.
My wife hasn't been hungry enough that she would willingly eat a wild turkey and she fusses at venison.
I used to do all my turkey gathering with a .22 taking the drakes out of the trees as they roosted.

PS. on a wild turkey just skin them out and keep the breasts, then use an oven bag.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I have the same viewpoint toward poachers as you. Unfortunately there are more poachers just wanting to kill something than there are people who need the meat. The only time that I considered calling our "Operation Gamethief" toll free number was when I came across a pile of does with the hindquarters cut out and nothing else taken. Where I found them it was doubtful that wardens could find the thieves but I have always regretted not trying.

 

[/pine]

At this point I don't think it will come to the point but I have shut down any fishing on my section of the river...just in case we need the fish...

 

[Alan W.]

At the beginning of the virus panic people were buying freezers like crazy.

Have seen more people buying seeds than in previous years.

The chicks seem to be leaving TSC faster.

Like others I think once the reality of gardening and raising chickens sets in it will probably be their last time. Some things ya dont learn overnight.