so iv been working this area with my tree stand and a cam and over the months iv put out some feed to bring in the deer for my cam , well in the past 2 -3 weeks all thats on my cam is like 50000 photos of turkeys eating up all the grain and not one deer .. and i had a great 10 point and a two handfuls of does about a two months ago and now they dont seem to be coming around any more ... can the turkey be scaring off the deer or is that just plain old silly ?
-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
-
Be sure to enter the NES/MFS May Giveaway ***Canik METE SFX***
Can turkeys scare off the deer ?
- Thread starter Augustus McCrea
- Start date
Putting food out for the deer is a no-no. Baiting is not legal in Mass.
From the Mass hunting abstracts
HUNTING PROHIBITIONS
• Artificial lights for hunting any bird or mammal except raccoon and opossum.
• Baiting migratory game birds, wild turkey, bear or deer any time within 10 days prior to, or during, the hunting season. This does not apply to the hunting of crows.
F
Finalygotabeltfed
I doubt it. They've either found better feeding grounds, possibly left because of a local predator(cotyotes or dogs) or just migrating to another place within their territory. I'll bet they're within a half mile or so of your spot.
The answer is, they will push deer around, not scare them. I've seen it personally in my own front field. Group of five or six turkeys on one side and two deer on the other. Young buck moseys over to see what the turkey are up to, and one of the young Tom's flapped his wings and chased both deer out of the field.
He must be lugging all this feed out in the woods because the deer look hungry....
@ captainbly , did you carefully reasd what you posted ... did i mention anything about harvesting an animal , a few of you just drew assumptions without any evidence thanks JW .. actually i dont do archery .... i literally have 2 cams out and shot gun season isnt for another 3 weeks or so. I had put some stuff out and was going to let it all get eaten up.I also have a turnip and sugar beet food plot iv built up over the summer , it clearly states in the abstract ... up until 10 days of the season .. well my season is shotgun ... oh yea .. its its also on my own private 110 acres if that makes a difference. Im trying to learn more about patterns of the animals on my property thru camera usage
That's all well and good, and if you aren't out hunting them I don't see you getting hung up, BUT realize that just because you don't bowhunt doesn't mean that the season they speak of is shotgun deer. The season opens as soon as archery opens, whether you do archery or not.
i think we are drifting away from the point of the thread, im just wondering if turkeys influence the presents of deer , or do they co-habitat , iv noticed over the weeks of film that the deer i was seeing almost daily have not been coming around as much and and the biggest variable is the fact that there is like 5000 turkeys daily on my film.
I did read the abstracts, I understand your point. The abstracts state within 10 days of the HUNTING season which started October 17th . I assumed that since this is archery season, that this is what you were referring to since you said you were working the area with your treestand. It makes no difference if it is your own land. Not attacking you, just pointing out the reg incase you weren't aware.
As far as Turkeys scaring away all the deer, no they will not runoff the deer from the area. I am in Illinois now and see many fields with booth deer and turkeys in them. The stand that I was in tonight, the turkey's came in and roosted on the hill I was on. Two bucks and a doe came up the draw and right under the turkeys were in about two minutes later. Almost as if they were following them up the hill.
Better late than never... Dont worry about the Turkey. As a matter of fact I've known hunters to set up Turkey decoys under/near there stand during a hunt. The theory is if the turkeys are there then the deer may feel more comfortable,relaxed. Almost like the Turkeys are on point.................
No problem.
So are you saying that in Ma he can legally hunt deer over bait?
thats not how i interpreted the law , to hunt over bated deer. i guess i saw it more like .. when i start hunting it will be nov 28th .. there for 10 days before hand ? that is probably naive, but thats for another thread
Keep in mind that it is around rut time now. So if you were getting mostly only pics of bucks or a particular buck and no does he may be searching right now. He could be out of the area. He will find where the does are. If you can find where they bed down you may have a good shot at finding him to. Also if you were visiting the site often to put out corn and check the cams there is a chance you could have run him off. Especially if you were not diligent about scent control. Bucks do not like being pressured and will pattern hunters pretty quick.
Good luck this season.
Good luck this season.
Ok, maybe I am just to stupid to read how you write,"He can legally hunt the species for which baiting is llegal." I mistook your misspelling to mean Illegal. Also since the op was specifically talking about Deer and not other species, I guess you did not read his original post. Yes you can hunt other species over bait but that was not what this was about. I originally posted the part of the abstract pertaining to deer encase he was not aware of the law. He posted on an open forum that he was baiting an area for deer during the hunting season. I did not attack him or belittle him at all. But feel free to keep attacking me if it makes you feel better.
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
@ capt, i did try to be careful , but there is a good chance that i didnt try hard enough , thats interesting tho about bucks might be out searching , and makes total sense. At one point there was some serious bedding down about 25 yrd off my stand, but as the weeks pasted i had stopped loading the camera angle with grain.. bout month or so , and then the turkey came and the bed went cold and this real bruiser since vacated
