.

[Capt. Crusoe]

I am curious as to how you and your poults turned out? You were a tad upset when you first posted. Now, I assume you still have them, they should be 7 months old now and you should have bonded. Any news?
We raised 15 Eastern Wild Poults - 7 made it back to the wild and seem to be doing well in our back woods. We do not see them all that often - once every couple of weeks they come into the prairie to forage but will soon move on and back into the woods. Even though we raised them from 5 days old and seemed to truly show affecton towards my wife and I - but when it was time to leave us behind - they left without looking back. They now act as if they do not even know us. I am happy with their progress and glad they grace our field from time to time.
I hope you and yours are doing fine!

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I love keeping wild turkeys, I personally only have kept the Merriams.

My best pet turkey was a merriam tom I hatched and handraised, he would kick the cat off of my lap to sit there himself(with a fully grown tom turkey that comes with its own challanges).

For years our property has been visited by a wild flock of merriams each winter, sleeping in the tree beside the house, coming when called and eating out of my hands.
The previous owner of this property told me 40 or so yrs ago he imported 30 merriams poults from texas, raised them up and set them loose, year after year they would return before the first snow fall and stay until the snow melts. They taught their offspring to do so and before ya knew it even with the original birds gone they came back year after year(sometimes a flock of 30 or more).

Sadly 2 yrs ago turkey hunting has been allowed on our side of the river, you can shoot any gender/age of turkey.... I haven't seen more then the occasional hen here and there since. From what I can tell Mrs. C and Prissy (yes, they all had names and I can tell them apart) were the only ones to date that haven't been shot yet, looked like between the 2 of them they ended up raising 2 poults(both males from what I can tell with the binoculars).

Anyhow, I love keeping wilds, their personality is different then that of domestic turkeys.