Oklahoma is no stranger to the cold. I've experienced many subzero days, especially in January, February and March.
I experienced snow with 75 mph winds and 6 foot snow drifts.
What Oklahoma SELDOM experiences is 8 to 10 continuous nights of subzero lows and 2 weeks of constantly freezing weather.
The drouth of 2010/2014 was devastating to the local wild turkey population. The year the drouth broke, 2015, was one flood after another.
Despite that, we had a good hatch and the turkey population boomed.
Since then, turkey populations have remained good.
After the "Arctic Freeze" of early March, turkeys have been slim at best.
This is the time of year you should be seeing flocks of turkeys with a strutting tom in their numbers.
So far this year, I've seen exactly ONE bird. A tom walking along a ditch.....alone.
By the time season opens, you should see 2 to 4 toms that will come eagerly to a call.
I had a conversation with a neighbor. He sees and hears turkeys every spring. He's seen/heard NOTHING!
H3 did tell me that during the "Deep Freeze", he was out trying to save his calf crop.
He said it wasn't unusual to find numerous dead birds each day and birds so cold and lethargic you could almost touch them before they flew away.
Can you think that maybe the turkeys froze out?
I experienced snow with 75 mph winds and 6 foot snow drifts.
What Oklahoma SELDOM experiences is 8 to 10 continuous nights of subzero lows and 2 weeks of constantly freezing weather.
The drouth of 2010/2014 was devastating to the local wild turkey population. The year the drouth broke, 2015, was one flood after another.
Despite that, we had a good hatch and the turkey population boomed.
Since then, turkey populations have remained good.
After the "Arctic Freeze" of early March, turkeys have been slim at best.
This is the time of year you should be seeing flocks of turkeys with a strutting tom in their numbers.
So far this year, I've seen exactly ONE bird. A tom walking along a ditch.....alone.
By the time season opens, you should see 2 to 4 toms that will come eagerly to a call.
I had a conversation with a neighbor. He sees and hears turkeys every spring. He's seen/heard NOTHING!
H3 did tell me that during the "Deep Freeze", he was out trying to save his calf crop.
He said it wasn't unusual to find numerous dead birds each day and birds so cold and lethargic you could almost touch them before they flew away.
Can you think that maybe the turkeys froze out?
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