Land & Legacy - Habitat + Hunting

Wildlife Openings for Turkeys


Listen Later

Sometimes it may take years to see the results of your hard work. However, other projects may be immediate. Matt and Alan dive into some of the most overlooked areas that occur on pretty much every property we see throughout our consulting travels. Wildlife openings can be a huge part of the success of not only harvesting turkeys, but providing beneficial plant structures that are conducive to raising more poults.
It's time to start evaluating the areas of the property that may not be doing much currently, but with a little work, could be a huge piece of the puzzle to help hens have a place to take their poults. Wildlife openings should be managed in a way that removes any nonnative grasses, and focused more on promoting native forbs and legumes. These areas provide ample opportunity for young poults to move through and have the perfect amount of cover above them with bare soil underneath that they can navigate without becoming soaked from dews. The structure of the forbs and legumes also allow the poults to move freely through the opening with ease while also attracting a multitude of bugs providing crucial nutrition to young poults. When these areas are also in close proximity to good nesting cover, the chance of a hen raising a brood is really high.
It's truly amazing to see how quick the wildlife will respond to the work we do. The creation of this wildlife opening started with spraying the fescue on March 2, then followed up with a burn on March 12. Turkeys showed up on March 13, and have been utilizing the fresh burn ever since. A huge part of the success of this hunt was providing an area that was different from the hundreds of acres of fields that surrounded this small timber block and wildlife opening.
It's time to start taking a different approach to the odd areas of our fields or open areas of our timber. Every opening doesn't have to be a foodplot, and in most cases these openings can be the best strut zones on the property. A native wildlife opening will be much better than a mediocre foodplot, or even a poorly placed foodplot on the property.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Land & Legacy - Habitat + HuntingBy Land & Legacy

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

375 ratings


More shows like Land & Legacy - Habitat + Hunting

View all
Wired To Hunt Podcast by MeatEater

Wired To Hunt Podcast

4,794 Listeners

Working Class Bowhunter by Working Class Bowhunter

Working Class Bowhunter

1,437 Listeners

Truth From The Stand Deer Hunting Podcast by Clint Campbell

Truth From The Stand Deer Hunting Podcast

749 Listeners

The Element by The Element

The Element

678 Listeners

Deer University by Dr. Bronson Strickland & Dr. Steve Demarais

Deer University

494 Listeners

Speak the Language Podcast by Lake Pickle & Jordan Blissett

Speak the Language Podcast

1,239 Listeners

The Southern Outdoorsmen Hunting Podcast by Andrew Maxwell & Jacob Myers

The Southern Outdoorsmen Hunting Podcast

1,306 Listeners

Habitat Podcast by Jared Van Hees

Habitat Podcast

562 Listeners

The Fall Podcast by Arron Bleise

The Fall Podcast

531 Listeners

Chasing Giants with Don Higgins by Terry Peer

Chasing Giants with Don Higgins

528 Listeners

Fist Full of Dirt by Mossy Oak

Fist Full of Dirt

1,637 Listeners

Gamekeeper Podcast by Mossy Oak

Gamekeeper Podcast

1,131 Listeners

HUNTR by HUNTR

HUNTR

323 Listeners

The Land Podcast - The Pursuit of Land Ownership and Investing by Jake Hofer

The Land Podcast - The Pursuit of Land Ownership and Investing

181 Listeners

Wild Turkey Science by Dr. Marcus Lashley & Dr. Will Gulsby

Wild Turkey Science

544 Listeners