Really; do they actually attack big red shiny objects?
Yes. Well polished red vehicles are a trigger for the toms! I always wanted to put up a mirror on turkey stand and call them in close enough to see it and then watch what happened. The reflection does not have to be red, but red seems to attract a lot of attention from the males.
Old true story:
A friend that always kept his trucks in like new condition and kept them for about 10 years, bought a brand new truck. He always parked it in his driveway, nose out forever. It was spring and after a week or so he walked around the truck to put some packages in the passenger side. He looked at the door and there were 7 or 8 bb dents in the door. His next door neighbor's kids had bb guns and would shoot them in the back yard at targets at the back edge of the property.
Understandably he was pissed! He waited a day or so and caught his neighbor and called him over. They always had had a good relationship but this was pressing the limits, especially since he only had the truck for a couple weeks.
He pointed out the dents to his neighbor and the neighbor went ballistic about his kids! The neighbor said to have the door repaired and he would pay. A week went by and the truck owner was mowing the lawn. As he mowed the passenger side of the truck, there were 5 more dents in the door. He caught the neighbor shortly after that and he said that it could not be his kids because he confiscated the bb guns and put them in his tool box under lock and key. He had the only key!
Just as they were talking, the mailman walked up the driveway, laughing and said, "You guys figure it out yet?" and they asked him about it. It seems that a flock of turkeys would walk past the truck every couple days and one old tom would peck the hell put of the passenger door.
The neighbors smiled, shook hands and learned that a polished red truck was a tom catcher. He did not fix that door until the flock of turkeys left the area.
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