I wonder if turkeys in NY and PA are affected by WNV as the grouse in those states are?





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George, I am south of you by the New Jersey border, we had lots of turkeys until 5 or so years ago.It got worse every year,this year I have not heard or seen a bird. Same thing that happened to the grouse about 20 years ago .We do have coyotes, hawks, owls, and fishers.

Dean, I think environment might be more of a factor. Open fields, flanked by thick cover and then woodlands seem to produce a lot of birds. If any of that is diminished or developed, the turkeys would find it hard to reproduce. Sherman, Ct. and the neighboring town of Pawling and other border towns seem to produce a lot of birds. I see them all the time while driving. Last week I came around a bend in the road and a hen was standing in the middle of my lane. I had to swerve to miss her. It was close.

In an earlier post I mentioned 29 Toms in a field at one time. I never saw anything like that and probably never will again. I believe that we have a lot of birds because of the favorable habitat.

By the way, on a different subject, I found a dead whole deer that was half buried with grass and dirt. The next day the carcass was reduced to a skeleton. Coyotes came to mind, but I don't believe they bury their kill to return later. I'm thinking that it might have been a big bobcat that made the kill.

Or a black bear. There are a lot of them in PA and NY.





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You get over in the NE corner of PA and they have some BIG bear . Back when we used to keep up with it they averaged I think a dozen or so in that area alone over 600 pounds and most years they’d drag a couple out that were getting close to or slightly exceeding 800 pounds . Killed one one year about two miles from my preferred deer stand that weighed 813 if my memory serves .

Well here it is next to the last day of NY"s turkey season and after not seeing or hearing anything even resembling a turkey, lo and behold at 6 PM there are 2 large jakes right outside my living room window . They hung out for about an hour or so and then took to the tree's about 50 yards away. should have gone out in the morning but instead said what the heck and went back to sleep. You're right Dean lots in this area. every year see at least or 6 different bears, some with cubs.

Had a bear in last night that destroyed my hummingbird feeders and took down a bluebird house on an eight foot pole.