Where do turkeys normally hang out? I am pretty much wondering where they like to be, low valleys, hill tops thick brush thin co

[Chewylouie]

Where do turkeys normally hang out? I am pretty much wondering where they like to be, low valleys, hill tops thick brush thin cover, close to water, far away from water, ect..

[Gary Devine]

Turkeys love fields, and where there is food to eat. At night they need trees to roost in.

[Bioguy01]

See the link below for a habitat suitability index of the Eastern Wild Turkey (copy and paste into your browser).

el.erdc.usace.army.mil/emrrp/emris/EMRIS_PDF/EasternWildTurkey.pdf

[country road]

Turkeys are very adaptable and will go where the food is. They do like fields if there's any food, leftover grain, new green growth (clover) or insects. They don't like thick stuff so much and generally don't like to get their feet wet. I like to hunt them in mature oak/pine mixed forest, and if there is a good road system (logging roads) and some open loading decks, they will hang around that area. Turkeys tend to travel during the day and will cover several miles, so just because they aren't in a certain area at a given time, doesn't mean they won't be there later. Good luck to you, Chewy. Turkey hunting in the spring is a whole other level of hunting---different kind of challenge and more excitement than deer hunting. IMHO

[Ga hunter]

I find them a lot of times in old river bottoms. You'll usually find them in fields, bottoms, hardwood, just nothing too thick. When the days start to get hot, you'll usually find them hanging around creeks or rivers where it's cooler and where they'll scratch around and dust themselves off. I'm not sure why, but when it rains turkeys will usually move into the fields. Most likely because when it rains in the woods you can't really hear anything, and turkeys rely a lot on their hearing. Also, when someone tells you that a turkey won't cross a fence/river to get to you, ignore that! It's happened to me multiple times and now it just seems silly! Good hunting!

[Ncarl]

Depends on the time of year and where you live in the country but grassy fields with plenty of bugs and grasshoppers are always good in the spring. In the fall cut grain fields attract a lot of birds.turkeys like to roost in big gnarly hardwoods so fields bordering them make for good morning spots.

[scratchgolf72]

ive killed them in open fields and hardwood stands, and one in a river bottom.

[country road]

Chewy, if my memory is correct, I think you said something about living in pine woods, and turkeys will happily live there as long as there is some brush, grasses and forbs, but not too thick. The land I hunt is mostly in pines from fifteen to thirty years old and there are plenty of birds around. Now if the pines in your area were planted in old field, you won't have the diversity needed. Good hunting.

[country road]

Chewy, if my memory is correct, I think you said something about living in pine woods, and turkeys will happily live there as long as there is some brush, grasses and forbs, but not too thick. The land I hunt is mostly in pines from fifteen to thirty years old and there are plenty of birds around. Now if the pines in your area were planted in old field, you won't have the diversity needed. Good hunting.

[FirstBubba]

In the spring breeding (rut) season, gobblers prefer wide open areas so everybody gets to see "his" show.
I prefer overgrazed pastures. especially when they lie beside heavy, openish timber.
Actually, I've seen turkeys in every type terrain available in my area. Except heavy ground cover, they DO NOT like that!

[Chewylouie]

country road- I do live in the pine woods. On a pine plantation actually. There are also a couple of hardwooded areas. So would going to powerline cuts on our property and discing it up with the tractor to encourage the grass to grow this spring help with getting turkey out and about? Or a good place to start. We used to have turkeys come out of the woods into our yard and scratch around. Also, our neighbor across the road talked about calling turkey out of our woods, across the road and onto his [property to shoot it, all off of his back porch. We got turkey, I just don't know where to look for them.

[Ga hunter]

Powerlines are also a great place to find birds! Just make sure you don't go barging out there in the open and you'll be fine!

[eginzberg]

In the area that I live, there are few fields, mostly mixed woods with a lot of change in elevation a lot of steep banks, and a good deal of mountain streams and small rivers. The area that I am describing is the berkshire mountain range in western New England. Typically turkeys will congregate around fields if they can get some privacy but also they will spend time around oak trees and beech trees searching for left over forage. In my area, where there are many steep banks, it is common to find turkeys roosted in trees just off of steep banks as they have less distance to fly if they start from the top of a ridge.

[Patrick Kneeland]

In the spring breeding (rut) season, gobblers prefer wide open areas so everybody gets to see "his" show.
I prefer overgrazed pastures. especially when they lie beside heavy, openish timber.
Actually, I've seen turkeys in every type terrain available in my area. Except heavy ground cover, they DO NOT like that!

thank you for this info its helping me a lot to shoot my firts turkey

[Patrick Kneeland]

In the area that I live, there are few fields, mostly mixed woods with a lot of change in elevation a lot of steep banks, and a good deal of mountain streams and small rivers. The area that I am describing is the berkshire mountain range in western New England. Typically turkeys will congregate around fields if they can get some privacy but also they will spend time around oak trees and beech trees searching for left over forage. In my area, where there are many steep banks, it is common to find turkeys roosted in trees just off of steep banks as they have less distance to fly if they start from the top of a ridge.

thank you for this info it is going to help me shoot me first turkey