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Winter Wild Turkey Management |
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Written by Bryan J. Burhans, National Wild Turkey Federation
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 National Wild Turkey Federation regional biologists share their suggestions for providing winter habitat for wild turkeys. Late winter is a stress period for most wildlife. By late winter, acorn supplies have dwindled, some soft mast trees and shrubs have already released their fruits, and in most regions of the country the weather is cold which forces wildlife, even wild turkeys, to expend more energy to stay warm.
 Winter can be very stressful for all wildlife. Cold temperatures and limited food sources can take their toll on turkeys. Diversity is the key to wintertime food. It's best to have a variety of potential food sources so that if a mast crop has a bad year or poor growing conditions limit potential cash-crops in the area there will be something for the birds to fall back on.
Dowd Bruton, NWTF regional biologist for North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee
The large differences in the topography in this region present different winter challenges. For example, cover and roosting sites are in limited supply in west Tennessee. Roost sites that provide adequate thermal cover are critical in the Appalachian Mountain region. In contrast, extensive farming in the coastal plain can limit travel corridors and potential roost sites.
Annual crops like winter wheat, oats, or annual rye provide a quality vegetative component for winter food. Other annual plantings like sorghum, corn, or other small grains help supplement turkey diets. Of course we can’t forget chufa. There is no place in this region that chufa will not grow. Wild turkeys will visit high quality chufa plots on a daily basis.
There are several tree and shrub plantings that provide good winter foods for turkeys. Obviously oaks, when they produce, are especially valuable to turkeys. Other trees like crabapples produce a small enough fruit that turkeys can digest them. Other beneficial trees include flowering dogwood, red mulberry, persimmon, common apple, black cherry, and Chinese chestnut. Some shrubs that provide a good winter food source are American bittersweet, Allegheny chinquapin, American hazelnut, hawthorns and spice bush.
Joe Koloski, NWTF regional biologist for Mississippi and Alabama
Consistent sources of food pose the greatest challenge to wild turkeys in the Deep South. Unlike other regions of the country, availability of over-winter food rarely leads to turkeys dying. Having food available will determine if you will find and keep turkeys on your property. As winter sets in, food sources become scarce and often concentrated, especially in the case of hard mast. As wild turkeys switch to their winter diets, they often converge on areas where food sources such as hard mast, green vegetation, hard seed, or agricultural waste are concentrated.
Diversity is the key for providing over-winter food sources. Hard mast producers, especially oaks are a good choice over the long term. Planting a diversity of oak species will help ensure some mast production when individual species fail. Spring/Summer plantings including heavy seed producers such as browntop millet, sunflowers, grain sorghum, or buckwheat can help provide food in the early winter period. Perennial clover plantings are also beneficial and provide green vegetation through the winter months. Chufa can also provide an important over-winter food source, especially in areas where hard mast is absent. Soft mast producing trees and shrubs including crabapple, Chickasaw plum, and American beautyberry are also good choices. Providing a diversity of food sources including green vegetation, seed, hard mast, and soft mast is the best strategy for providing food and keeping turkeys on a property through the winter.
 If you have at least 5 acres of soil rated as suitable for agriculture, both turkeys and deer can benefit from some high-carbohydrate foods such as corn.
Turkeys have it pretty easy in the Sunshine state during the winter months, no excruciating cold weather or 3-ft. snow to walk through. But as in many other regions, food sources begin to dry up in late winter as hard and soft mast food supplies dwindle due to other species such as deer and hogs competing for the same groceries. In addition, as fall and winter approaches we head into our dry season, with rain chances mainly being tied to passing cold fronts. The lack of rains through the winter months doesn’t lend itself to producing green, herbaceous vegetation. However, turkeys can still find insects and seeds in brown pastures and fallow fields to supplement hard and soft mast resources.
Agricultural forages are always a great supplemental food source for turkeys including both grain and broadleaf seed types. But despite the benefit of these annual plantings, I stress the importance of planting both long-term hard and soft mast species to get your turkeys through the winter months. In addition to a variety of oak species, soft mast can fill in the gaps during those years of hard-mast failure.
Planting recommendations will vary depending on the planting site in the state….this is a big state. However, typical oak species may include live oak, water oak, white oak, swamp chestnut, and cherry bark oak. There are also other varieties of oak such as laurel and southern red oak that would prove beneficial in the proper habitat. Native species such as cabbage palm, black gum, black cherry, and persimmon also provide a great food source for turkeys during the fall and winter months. Shrub plantings are also a key component of a wild turkey’s buffet, and species you might typically find throughout Florida would include dogwood, American beautyberry, chokeberry, winterberry, blackberry, and blueberry.
John Burk, NWTF regional biologist for Missouri
Missouri really does not get severe winter weather so individual turkeys are rarely at risk. However, in the southern half of Missouri the landscape is forest dominated and the soil type does not lend itself to row crop production so turkeys are dependent on mast during the fall and winter. In the northern half of the state, row crop agriculture is prevalent and turkeys take advantage crop residues so populations do not have to face the double whammy of poor mast and unpredictable weather that can also negatively impact turkey reproduction.
Where mast is limited, planting a variety of red and white oak species will be the best thing to provide for the long-term needs. If you have at least 5 acres of soil rated as suitable for agriculture, both turkeys and deer can benefit from some high-carbohydrate foods such as corn. Corn is obviously attractive but even if you plant 5 acres, heavy early use by deer could deplete your crop prior to crunch time during January through March. Milo is a good choice because the critters will leave it alone until later in the winter. On smaller acreages I recommend a clover mix.
Bob Eriksen, NWTF regional biologist for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware
As is the case throughout the northern states, wild turkeys in this region are challenged by cold temperatures, snow depth and duration, and quality winter food availability. Deep snow affects wild turkeys by decreasing their ability to move. Mobility is the key to being able to locate food. Cold temperatures increase the caloric demand on wild turkeys and other wildlife so quality food sources are essential for maintaining body weight in the cold months. When heavy snows occur, wild turkeys may stay on the roost for days at a time awaiting the formation of a crust on the snow or waiting for the snow to settle. If poor weather is extensive and snow remains on the ground for long periods, body weights decline. Tough winters may affect survival, although starvation losses are rare. Such winters may, however, affect productivity the following spring as hens in poor condition may lay fewer eggs, may produce more infertile eggs and may be more prone to abandoning the nest.
To provide winter food for turkeys, you can’t do better than standing corn as a winter food source for wild turkeys. Sorghum is a distant second. Both plants have strong stalks that stand up to wind and snow pretty well and allows the crop to stand above the snow and available to wildlife. Harvested grain fields can be a good food source if deer activity at night opens paths and other areas for the birds to scratch and forage. Good grains include corn, sorghum and soybeans. Green crops are also attractive provided that the birds can get to them them. Clover patches or fields planted in winter wheat or rye remain fairly green through the winter and begin to green up in February and early March.
Standing corn should be left near favored roost sites, especially on southern exposures. The southern exposures are favored by wildlife because snow melts more rapidly there. Standing corn near spring seeps (either pasture seeps or wooded seeps) is valuable as well. I watched a large flock of turkeys cross a river daily one winter to access standing corn. This large group of 120 birds would fly from tree to tree until they could glide from the high ground on the east side of the river to the cornfield.
Trees and shrubs that hold their fruit through the critical months of January and February are the best to plant. Some excellent choices are black haw, highbush cranberry, wild raisin, arrowood, silky dogwood, maple leafed viburnum, nannyberry, winterberry holly, hawthorne, mountain ash and crabapples or standard apples that hold fruit late.
Randy Showalter, NWTF regional biologist for Michigan, Indiana and Ohio
The most challenging winter areas for wild turkeys in this region are the northern lower and Upper Peninsula of Michigan, northern lower Ontario and a small spot in extreme northeast Ohio. The locations in Michigan and Ontario are Snow Belt regions with substantial snow fall that restricts turkey movement and food availability. Ohio has a similar situation in the northeast portion of the state because of lake-effect snow that hits the region most winters.
The Ohio region has the advantage of good agricultural lands that offer either waste grain on the surface or landowners can leave corn standing for winter food. Oaks in the region offer a good energy source for these birds to assist them in getting through the winter.One of the best shrub plantings in this region is crabapple. This shrub typically produces a high volume of fruit that persists throughout the winter and offers a good food source well into the winter season. Native oak plantings are also recommended within these areas because of the early season energy inputs this mast will have to assist the birds through the winter.
The remaining areas of the region are blessed with a high percentage of agricultural lands (around 50%). Waste grain abounds and snow fall amounts are reasonable for the birds to forage in the winter. I recommend conservation tillage to producers, which will keep the waste grain on the surface of the soil throughout the winter. Encouraging the leaving standing corn also assists the birds in times of the occasional deep snow. I like to encourage landowners in the region to plant clover mixes for a good green crop and insect production in the summer. Clover fields in the agricultural areas are generally missing because of a high percentage of corn, soybeans and wheat production.
Doug Little, NWTF regional biologist for New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts
Food availability close to preferred roosting sites is critical in this region. In addition, snow condition is more of a factor than depth. A hard crust on top of the snow can support a wild turkey’s weight and allow them to travel to and from food sources. This is particularly important when food sources are any distance from the roost site.
Leaving crops like corn stand through the winter near roost sites allows turkeys to fly down and reach food immediately. Standing crops are especially important in areas where there are restrictions on spreading waste manure on farm fields during the winter. Each winter I can count on flocks of turkeys using a specific pine stand as a roost site not too far from my home. These birds feed on standing corn located by the roost site. They travel very little and waste little energy getting to the food source.
There are a variety of plantings to help provide winter foods. Unfortunately, landowners seem to want to focus on planting oaks even though fall foods are not typically lacking in this region. Landowners should focus on species that are known for holding fruit late into winter. An apple tree that drops fruit by early October is not as beneficial as a hawthorn, high bush cranberry and varieties of crabapple that hold fruit later into December and January. Other species like winterberry holly, staghorn sumac, mountain ash, and wild raisin also are known for holding fruit late into winter. |
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