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This farmer in Nebraska was telling me that turkeys will smash the eggs of a pheasant. Do any of you know if this is true? He went on to tell me that is one of the main reasons for the decline in pheasants near his farm.

Also do you guys pass up smaller turkeys to kill a monster? For instance pass up a 6" bearded 20 pounder to try and kill an 11" bearded, 25 pounder? Just curious.

Nonres
 
Nope.....have never heard that before. But I suppose if a fat ol' turk would come along and step on some eggs by accident..... The key to pheasants is habitat, along with varying other weather patterns ect. and the real egg eaters like skunks, coons, coyotes and other varmits are the ones who really pressure pheasant eggs.
I have never really passed on a turkey, but have only killed one jake.....the rest of my birds have been fully mature birds. This year I am going to let some of the smaller ones go and shoot a 2+ year old bird (hopefully 3 yr old). There are plenty of monsters in the area I hunt, and there are going to be a ton of 2 year olds so I think I will hold out for a really big one.....now only if I could keep all those jakes away......
Good luck and good hunting!

-GunnerJon
 
I have a hard time believing that a bird with a brain the size of a pea can determine a turkey egg from a pheasant egg or any egg for that matter. May be they can but I believe the decline of pheasants and quail have a lot more to do with racoons, cats, weather and habitat than turkzilla crashing through nests crushing pheasant eggs.

A mature bird is a mature bird in my book. Full fan, full gobble and it is getting a stick tossed at it.
 
That is the first time that has ever happened to me... How bout you GunnerJon. Just about the same post at the same time... weird.
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I agree with the above posts, but will add birds of prey as being tough on pheasant chicks.

Another thing is habitat. I'm not saying that there are no places where turkeys and pheasants share/overlap habitat but each have different requirements.

Turkeys need heavily wooded areas which also bring on the egg preditors. My area is full of turkeys but very few pheasants. And some of the best pheasant hunting areas I've been to don't look to be worth a darn for turkeys.

I don't feel turkeys are big pheasant egg smashing monsters.
 
...have you ever tried to locate a pheasant's nest?...it is pretty tough...turkeys cannot smell things out like a fox or dog (thank God!)...so any turkey smashing pheasant eggs is most likely accidental...not long ago it was rumored that turkeys in Southern Iowa were eating all the quail and was the main reason for the decline in quail numbers...resulting studies did not support such claims and pointed once again to loss of habitat as being the true culprit...
 
Hey Limb Chicken.....that was weird! I had just pushed the "send" button and my computer kinda flashed a few different screens....thought I was having computer problems for a second. Then I saw that you had posted a response at the same time. Weird! We should get a prize for a perfectly timed response! Maybe one of those Iowawhitetail.com t-shirts......
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Good luck and good hunting!

-GunnerJon
 
Interesting, of the ground nesting egg damage I have witnessed while in the woods, I would be quick to blame the 4 footed creatures.

I'm not one to call something I do not plan to shoot. So I usually do not haggle on turkeys much unless I can see them ahead of time.

I have never eaten a bad turkey and I guess I don't view a turkey like I do deer. However I do have a problem with that pea size brain getting the best of me at times .
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I too have a hard time believing that a turkey would/could make an effort to smash a nest. I have hunted birds in Nebraska and the turkeys and pheasants do have quite a bit of overlapping territory, but there was also good numbers of both there. Never saw any damaged nests. But again finding more than a few pheasant nests takes quite a while.
As for the shooting of small turkeys, I have taken numerous jakes over the years as here in Wisconsin we only have a 5 day season for each permit (unless you happen to draw 2 tags for different seasons). When I was still in school I would take the first legal bird that made himself available. Now that I have learned from my numerous ..... lets call them lapses in judgement.... I am only going to harvest a mature tom. I was able to get one last year with a 10" beard and 1" spurs about an hour after I had 4 jakes at about 10 yards. One of the upstarts even had the gumption to try and mount Betty (my decoy). Didn't last long tho... she promptly fell over and played dead (think she had a headache).
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This is nonsense. Turkeys don't do that. Also, I've heard stories of turkeys eating baby quail and this is why there are no quail. Farmers make up all kinds of stuff. The fact is that loss of habitat is the main reason for flucuations in pheasant and quail populations. However, after saying all that, if a gobbler got a change to eat a tiny newborn quail, it would probably do it. Turkeys will eat about anything that comes along, but they don't seek out eggs to eat or baby quail

Roger Raisch
The Turkey Pro
www.TurkeyHuntingSecrets.com
pro@TurkeyHuntingSecrets.com
 
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