Written By - 724outdoor.com - 05/23/2007
Link to Original Article here

Turkey season inMid-MO was very tough. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation it was tough state-wide. The turkey harvest was the lowest in 10 years. (See related article on this web site.) The MDC attributed the low harvest to poor hatches in last couple of years. The scarce gobbling was attributed to the lack of 2-3 old toms which reportedly do the bulk of the gobbling.
In several mornings of hunting on our farm, we never heard a gobble! We knew we had many gobblers on our farm because we saw them every day while riding our 4-wheelers. On the farm next to our hunting grounds, we had turkeys in front of our cameras on a daily basis.
Two weeks after the season ended, the turkeys really turned on around our hunting grounds. Every morning for the last two weeks the woods have echoed with turkey gobbles. Our cameras have been packed with hen and gobbler pictures, many of toms strutting. Interestingly, Kansas Friend in Mid-Kansas has experienced the same accelerated turkey action which has to be labeled as very late breeding behavior.
The MDC reported that the 3 day hard freeze drove many hens off their nests and the eggs were destroyed. Since hens can nest several times in an attempt to successfully pull of a hatch, it is probable that the late breeding action is nature's way of saving another hatch.
Below are a few of the pictures of turkey breeding behavior that is occurring very late in the season. Let's hope that the hens are successful in their second attempt at hatching some poults.