Posted on 09/17/2012 4:38:29 PM PDT by don-o
After months of zero turkey activity, the feathered holiday animals have re-emerged and residents are urged to steer clear.
City Commissioner Clayton Stout said he’s already responded to a wild turkey sighting in the Regions Bank parking lot, near the Towne Acres community and as wildlife commissioner, he’s already made contact with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency.
On Nov. 28, TWRA Officer Jeff Prater authorized the termination of two wild turkeys in the same Regions Bank location, which sparked a mixed debate on the fate of the birds.
This time around, Stout hopes to avoid that scenario altogether.
“We didn’t get into a lot of specifics as far as what (TWRA was) going to do, but bottom line is they were not going to do what they did in the past. There was going to be more of a concerted effort to relocate (the birds),” he said. “For me personally, I don’t want to see what happened last time and I’m just trying to work with the public and work with the wildlife agency as far as making sure that we’re in cooperation together.”
snip
“They usually hang together,” he said. “When I’ve seen a turkey, there’s usually about six together.”
“As they become more visible, more people will probably start to call,” he said. “It’s important that we don’t feed them because that was the problem initially, was that the turkeys became way too comfortable with people. Right now, from what I’m being told is these birds are ... wary of people. They try to stay away from people.”
He suggests that nearby residents and citizens spotting the birds pay them the same courtesy.
“One way the public can help is to keep us informed and also not to feed them,” Stout said.
(Excerpt) Read more at johnsoncitypress.com ...
PBS did a story on raising wild turkeys:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/my-life-as-a-turkey/full-episode/7378/
Darn, can’t get the video to play.
The last house I lived in, the fellow who’s back yard butted up to mine...we would sometimes talk over the fence...He was in a club that set up and keep tract of the wild turkeys they let loose in Michigan. When I told him about the wild turkey I had on the farm, he said it might have been a domestic turkey that got loose from a farm...the turkeys they let loose are kept tract of and I think he said also genetics....there is a domestic turkey that looks just like the wild ones. The difference is noted in the edge of the tail feathers....I think he said the wild are edged in brown and the domestic was white...The wild turkey association doesn’t like the domestics that run loose, their offspring are not genetic 100% wild....
This is just a stab in the dark, (being over 20 years ago) but I think the one I ended up having was wild....not sure but the demestic one’s are called Russets....Royal Palm are totally white except for the edging on each feather is black..
There is a flock of wild turkeys close to where I live. A flock pass by the property next to our house about a month ago. My wife and I have occasionally seen them frolicking on the lawn of a house across the road from the woods where the birds must have their digs. My question: are the people who own the property the turkeys occasionally pass time on allowed to shoot or trap them if they’re on their property?
"Don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful."
eet mor tir-kee
You never know about those darn turkeys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In5s7r6JQW0
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