Kansas turkey hunting - Rio Grande Turkey habitat

Threats

While good Rio Grande Turkey hunting is most threatened by spring during brood month rain hypothermia there is a consistent threat to both fall and spring turkey hunting seasons even before the chicks have a chance to hatch.

That turkey hunting threat is to available nesting grasses most preferred by turkeys. And, this is also a threat we can influence very little except to continue to push federal farm conservation funding for tall prairie grass CRP legislation to increase turkey nesting habitat quality through quantity. This same threat to the Rio Grande exists for the Eastern Turkey, however for the Rio Grande Turkey the available nesting areas are tougher to come by. And, there is good news.

The good news for the Rio Grande Turkey in terms of nesting cover is the buffer strip programs increased employment creating exactly the types of turkey preferred low to the ground grass cover required by nesting hens. These buffer strips placed between crop fields and drainages typically lined with trees make for all elements of roost, ground cover, water and multiple food sources within many relatively small areas. These areas are repeated in many areas covering a large amount of land. This one change may be the cause for why the Kansas Rio Grande Turkey flocks grow to such large number of birds. Again these are turkey hunter observation and speculation as empirical evidence supporting such ideas is unavailable or unproven.

In spite of this relatively new development of farm ground to wildlife habitat conversion some studies have Rio nest survival rates as low as in the 30% range on game surveys published in various studies. Turkey nest failures within our region are attributed to destruction from skunks and raccoons in the north and add the armadillo in south Kansas. Destruction rates were higher in poorer nest cover than in higher quality nesting cover typified by larger areas of thicker grass cover favored by the hens.

Having more and larger tall grass prairie typically only provided for by the Conservation Reserve Program enhances nest survival through dispersion of both the nests and the animals that prey upon them. This makes sort of a bigger hay stack to hide that proverbial needle or in this case a turkey nest. And, in the case of these studies the tall grass was relative to the older CRP practice of entire large fields planted. The buffer strip program did not exist in the form it does today as when the studies were published.

There is good news attached to this nest failure rate. As hens will re-nest if a nest has been destroyed the later re-nested chicks have a higher possibility of survival due to the later spring warmer temperatures and the lower affects of hypothermia. Additionally, bug production later in the spring contributes to faster chick growth rates just as the less frequent rains become less a threat as we progress into summer.

The key point about destroyed nests as observed by our hobby of having raised game birds as youths is that if the eggs are destroyed the hen will most likely re-nest. If the hen successfully hatches a brood and the brood is destroyed the hen most likely will not re-nest. That distinction is frequently thought to be the reason why we sometimes see a hen with just one or few chicks compared to when hens begin to group up and there are over 10 chicks per hen.

Good news continues as within the central mid-west, our Rio Grande Turkey hunting remains very productive as our locality allows for mild winters leaving hens stronger for egg laying and nesting. Our open country allows good predation on raccoons and such as well as longer range vision and reaction to such threats. This leaves the spring rain variable our most significant threat to increased bird numbers.

The final element to consider within our Rio Grande Turkey range is they exist within the same Kansas regions of low human density. Local to that county resident hunter activity is far less than in higher hunter density states of Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and so on.

Limiting Factors

Many come to our turkey hunting website and this section on the Rio Grande Turkey expecting to find just turkey hunting information. That does exists and is available with increasingly greater detail as will be found by preceding through the website. However, for the very best turkey hunt there must be an awareness of the environmental limiting factors that produce the numbers that allow for the best turkey reproduction as frequently evaluated as the likelihood of filling a tag.

When it comes to our Rio Grande Turkey we have a high harvest success rate each spring season on our lease land for a variety of reasons of limited turkey hunter pressure, good habitat and the current topic the right season to season weather patterns that allow for reproduction.

Good turkey hunting is based on the turkey's ability to reproduce first and then through the year survival second. That ability for the Rio Grande Turkey is found to combine in Kansas and allows for the Association hunter to hunt two turkey species each fall and spring season.

The MAHA staff is in the field 12 months of the year as Mid-America Hunting Association is their fulltime job. That field time while many will want to call hunting time is more spent on member/trespass patrol, posting signs and meeting with landowners as well as scouting new land lease options. By the time the regular seasons start we have a good idea of the leases we plan to drop.

During the season we also ensure we do get what we pay for. This picture series is from one such lease check and a variation of what we monitor.

Snow track picture showing a pheasant and turkey track.

One of the two Association staff, John Wenzel, while on a pheasant hunt on a farm we have had leased for six years showed the first signs ever of turkey. In this case we are in a Rio Grande Turkey region of SC Kansas.

While many may consider this a good sign of a developing new turkey hunting spot that greatly increases the value of that lease to the Association there is more to consider.

Looking back to the place on this lease where the snow turkey track was found shows largely open ground well liked by Rio Grande Turkeys. This draw is heavily weed and grass filled, surrounded by row crop and is not pastured. It has the appearance of good spring nesting cover. The problem is the lack of water and roost trees.

This aerial shows the lease in question where the turkey tracks were found outlined in yellow and the larger surrounding area, #4 being the spot where the turkey tracks were photographed.

#1 is the nearest reliable water source. #2 looks like water in the aerial, however it is a cattle feedlot. And, #3 illustrates very well how the land use changes. The pivot irrigation is no longer present as this aerial photo 13 years old and the only one available. That farm that was a large operation had since been sold by quarters and half sections to different buyers.

What we conclude is that while this property has demonstrated undeniable turkey presence it does not have the perquisite turkey habitat elements to make for a good, meaning reliable, turkey hunting spot. Knowing the leases not to hunt is as important as knowing where to hunt. The end result is more of our do it yourself hunters hunting what it is they want to hunt. We get the self guided hunter to the spot to park his truck to hunt. For Rio Grande Turkey this lease is not the spot.

Next about Kansas Rio Grande Turkey hunting

Rio Grande Turkey Habitat

Threats

Limiting Factors