Someone or something was disconnecting the battery wires on the deer feeder. Checking the canister there was plenty of corn but no power. This was the second time in a week.
Sam reconnected the wires and tested the battery. We learned the hard way to get back or get peppered hard with corn kernels. The battery was strong and the apparatus was working.
On the battery box Sam noticed muddy footprints. Best we could figure raccoons were hanging on the canister like Jungle Jims to shake the corn out. They were shaking it so hard the wires were coming loose.
Out came the critter trap with a corncob for bait. By the next morning we had caught the first of two raccoons. The third day the trap was empty. Early on the fourth morning while the coffee was making Sam gazed out the window. He whispered loud, “Turkeys are at the feeder.”
I slipped downstairs fast as my fuzzy slippers would take me. Sure enough, there was no mistaking it, six tom turkeys were gathered under the corn feeder. They were beautiful.
It was the first time we’d seen a group of turkeys in our field. A few years back a lonely hen wandered around the field for a few days then she was gone. Just around the corner on Old West Point Road near Catalpa bottom turkeys regularly crossed the road at certain times of the year but they didn’t come to our field.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks puts out an annual report on the wild turkey program called “Spittin’ & Drummin.'”
According to their reports during winter long bearded gobblers are frequently sighted together. The toms tend to hang out by age groups, young, middle-aged, and “old timers.” The turkeys seek hardwoods along creeks and rivers looking for food “mast” that is nuts, seeds, beds, fruits and berries as a high energy source.
I would imagine our toms were about as excited about finding the corn kernels as we were excited about seeing the toms. They came back once more that day; then disappeared.
Wild turkey populations in the U.S. once dwindled down to almost extinction until conservation measures and hunting laws were created. Now Mississippi boasts one of the largest turkey populations in the country hovering around 250,000 birds.
The biggest threat to the wild turkey population is predators taking the hen’s eggs. Predators are the usual bunch, raccoons, coyotes, dogs, possums, bobcats, foxes, and so on with raccoons being the biggest threat of all.
Hens weigh in at about 8 to 10 pounds while toms weigh roughly 16 to 24 pounds. The largest on record is 37 pounds. The turkey’s young are called “poults;” juvenile males are called “jakes” and young females “jennys.”
It was said that during breeding season the male’s head can alternate the patriotic colors of red, white, and blue, often within seconds.
Now that’s a sight worth seeing.
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