pete heavily for acorns, beechnuts, and 

 other turkey foods. 



A fence to protect a turkey-food patch 

 from livestock may be expensive to build 

 and to maintain. In mixed stands of 

 grasses and clovers, some grazing or peri- 

 odic mowing after nesting can be bene- 

 ficial to the clover. Nevertheless, if 

 livestock use is excessive, food patches 

 must be protected with either a barbed- 

 wire fence or a living fence. Woven 

 wire should not be used. It keeps the 

 turkeys out and foxes and dogs can catch 

 turkeys against woven wire. 



A living fence of multiflora rose pro- 

 tects food plantings, and the rose hips 

 provide winter food. Locate the rose 

 fence in open sunlight. Plant the seed- 

 lings 8 to 12 inches apart and protect 

 them from grazing for the first two 

 growing seasons. Mulch to a 4-inch 

 depth with straw or sawdust and fertilize 

 the first year or two with several appli- 

 cations of a high nitrogen fertilizer. A 

 large deer population may make it hard 

 to establish a multiflora rose fence as deer 

 relish the young growth of the rose 

 seedlings. 



Disease 



A wild turkey range should be pro- 

 tected from domestic poultry. Chickens 

 or domestic turkeys ranging in fields 



where wild turkeys feed can spread such 

 diseases as paratyphoid, fowl pox, and 

 blackhead. These diseases are spread 

 from the droppings of infected birds and 

 can quickly become epidemic. Since the 

 soil remains contaminated for a long 

 time, poultry manure should never be 

 spread on fields where wild turkeys range. 

 The purchase or release of pen-reared 

 turkeys as wild turkeys is not practical. 

 A pen-reared turkey has a poor chance to 

 survive in the wild. 



Predators 



The wild turkey is able to escape most 

 predators except free-ranging dogs, which 

 are among its worst enemies. Foxes and 

 bobcats seldom prey on wild turkeys. 



Raccoons, skunks, and crows destroy 

 turkey eggs. If numerous, these pred- 

 ators can be controlled by trapping and 

 hunting in accordance with State game 

 regulations. 



Hunting 



Hunting of wild turkeys must be care- 

 fully adjusted to their annual increase. 

 About one-third of a fall population can 

 usually be taken safely. If there has 

 been any poaching on your land, the 

 number of turkeys you can safely harvest 

 will be reduced— possibly eliminated. 



THINGS YOU CAN DO 



• Provide choice turkey foods by planting grasses, grains, and leg- 

 umes in fields adjacent to woodlands. 



• Increase food production in woodlands by controlled burning, 

 chemical brush control, thinning trees, and seeding scattered small 

 openings and clearings. 



• Save food-producing trees and shrubs from eradication. 



• Provide reliable, year-round sources of drinking water. 



• Protect turkeys from excessive hunting, nesting disturbances, 

 poultry diseases, and certain kinds of predators, especially free- 

 ranging dogs. 



(Front cover picture: Courtesy of Herman Holbrook) 



Issued October 1963 

 Slightly revised April 1970 



U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1970 OF — 377-400 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

 Washington, D.C 20402 - Price 10 cents 



