Protecting turkeys from unsafe and amateur hunters

[LinckHillPoultry]

Okay. I have 4 turkeys as you all know. Today was the first day of spring gobbler season here, and the hunters are rolling in all over like FLEAS! I had my turkeys out today (2 royal palms, 1 bourbon red, 1 blue slate) and they headed down towards my woods... which they have NEVER done before... I think they might have heard someone using their turkey call and they headed towards that sound.
My royal palm gobbler is always in strut and always gobbling... so if someone hears him they are going to try to get close to him and call him in.
#1, he is a royal palm.
#2, he is on our ground, but certain people that arent from this area that come here sometimes don't care where it is, they'll shoot it on someone elses ground.
#3, they don't care if he is white or not. They'll shoot him thinking he's albino and they'll think they got the first albino turkey or something.
& #4, my gobbler isn't the smartest and he is also very tame, so he will go towards someone calling him and get about a foot away from you.

Anyways, when they headed towards the woods off I headed in fear someone would get them. He was gobbling up a storm and I didn't want him to draw any attention to my part of the woods he was in.
I ran them back up into yard and put them in the goat pen so they wouldn't run off again.


My question to you guys is are there orange saddles that can be purchased anywhere for turkeys? I would really appreciate if you guys knew of anywhere they were available because they are something that I would definately use for my turkeys during turkey season.


Thanks a bunch guys!

 

[wilds of pa]

well i can tell you this, if they go off your property they can be shot, somebody See's your royal they'll be wanting to get him stuffed as they'll think its a rare wild eastern. However there are true albino wild eastern turkeys, ive seen some in the wild and some that where taken by hunters.

You can trim there beards so they aren't visible as anyone shooting right now has to see a visible beard on the bird.

But i would surly keep them penned till its all over in 4 weeks, i my self hunt turkeys and speak with many hunters, lots never even herd of the rare turkey breeds, so they have no clue...

trespassers need to be arrested if caught.

***new rule(law) with turkey hunting this year we don't have to wear orange while moving, so now those bad folks can sneak right up into to places they don't belong with out being seen***

I myself have wild easterns, but my male that i leave out doesn't go eye distance away from the hens in the pen thank goodness.

I hope your birds stay safe..got my toes and fingers crossed for ya..

charlie

 

[nicks chicks 1]

http://www.mbldesigns.com/chicken_aprons.html here is a place that sells designer turkey saddles maybe you could get one in orange they are made for the hens but im sure you could get one for your tom! good luck!

 

[ticks]

I agree with Wilds of PA, you should trim the beard because that should be the first thing a hunter looks for. Well, that is what I look for.

 

[coopist]

Just mark "TAME" on him in orange marker

 

[silkieluver_07]

What we do is spray fluresent hot pink or bright orange spray paint on their tail. It declares that the turkey is tame.

 

[southernsibe]

I worry about turkey season as well. I have a pair of RP's and they are very tame. As an experiment, I had one of the neighbors blow a turkey call and sure enough, off my tom went. Last autumn, I brainstormed and thought and tried to figure out what I could do to allow my turkeys the freedom of free range, without endangering them.

Long story short, I decided that they would just not be allowed out unless I was going to be out with them, and when I went in, so did they. I really tried to think of other ways, including using non toxic paint to make the feathers some outrageous colors so they would obviously be someones property. Unfortunately, in my area, that may incite someone to try and shoot him, just because he looked different.

Keep them safe, keep them in. I hate to say it, but there it is. I don't think that someone is going to pay attention to an orange saddle, and they may not see if it they only see his head.

Rachel

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

They have this spray paint for hair that you can buy at most party cities. I've never tried it, but I imagine it would work fine to just spray some on him before letting him out. It' washes right off in water, so it should be no problem getting it off. You could also tie a bright orange ribbon around his wing or his neck.

 

[ticks]

the only time I worry about turkey season is when I don't get to go

 

[ozark hen]

Well, that is the reason I don't have turkeys...these crazy people around here love to shoot anything and look later. Road hunting is unbelievable on our road. Neighbors, who's house sits on the road tell us all the time that we wouldn't believe the road hunters. We live far enough off the road that we can't see it. Some people don't care about rules I am sad to say.