More turkeys this year?

I'm not sure if there are actually more turkeys in N. TX. this year or if I'm just getting better at locating them, but I think it's probably a bit of both. Whatever the case, in my scouting treks this year I have encountered more turkeys, both eastern and rio strains, than any other year in recent memory. And I have to ask myself why is that the case?
I know I've improved on my owl hoots in the pre-dawn because I'm getting gobblers answering me almost every time. But 4-6 at a time from a single owl hoot? And on almost every occasion lately? And out of numerous scouting trips this year since back in January, I can remember only one trip where I didn't see or hear any turkeys... And I suspect there are a lot of jakes out there doing a large part of the gobbling. But I have seen numerous longbeards as well.
But I have to give mother nature most of the credit for the successful turkey encounters this year. As I have mentioned here on other posts, this year has been an unusually wet year in N.TX. since last July. And the habitat is exploding in the areas where I frequently scout for wildlife. And when the habitat flourishes, so does the wildlife. I just wish I could get more landowners to realize that you can manage your land for cattle, timber, or crops... AND wildlife as well, w/ a little common sense and effort.
Of course, all these sightings and encounters won't necessarily compute into the bagging of birds once the season opens. But having had so many quality encounters already this year, I can't honestly say I would have the right to complain if I didn't get a shot this year. But anticipation is high for a successful year turkey hunting.
And I'm already suffering from early morning awakenings. It's an affliction that I have, don't you know... Depression, you say? Not hardly...

Choir practice has begun...

The bobcat mentioned in the comments put this guy up a tree.

As I do every year prior to the opening of turkey season, I went scouting yesterday AM for turkeys. It's an excuse I use to get out and wander the outdoors w/ my camera and turkey calling garb. I enjoy it every year as much, and sometimes more, than the actual turkey hunting; plus it's good exercise, and it gets me in shape for the season.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I had been out last Thursday AM doing the same thing, but in another area I knew would hold turkeys. That AM I heard a few gobbles at a distance around daylight w/ one answering my owl hoot call, but only once.
Yesterday I was exploring a new area where I had seen a big longbeard come over the road back in January... and maybe a mile from where I had been last week. But the difference in a week was remarkable. Yesterday I had 2-3 gobblers sounding off from before daylight till flydown... and periodically after that until about 9 AM.
The closest roost was only about 200 yds from where I started calling before daylight, and he would answer my owl hoots every time I called. The others were too far off to pinpoint, but they joined together following flydown and moved ahead of me to the east... as I explored the new area in their direction. They would gobble every now and again and let me know where they were.
I didn't break out the turkey calls but once for fear of educating them before the season. But about 9 AM I thought I was close enough to maybe call them in for a picture, so I got hidden and answered one of their gobbles w/ my box call. This time I got answers from 3 gobblers, I think, and not too far away. So I waited a minute or so and hit it again... same thing... gobbles answering back, but further away. I tried one more time... same thing... so I shut up. They obviously were being led away by their hens, IMO.
This time of year I have seen small bunches of hens and jakes and maybe a couple of longbeards hanging together, but about to bust up as soon as the hens get receptive. The longbeards will run the jakes off pretty quick when the hens get receptive. And, having not actually seen these birds, there may not have been any jakes among them; but some of the gobbles that I heard didn't sound mature to me. But they could have been jakes that had already been run off and just following along nearby.
Anyway, I would say the breeding season for turkeys has officially begun in N. Texas. And it made for a glorious AM for this fat, old man. I truly enjoy the encounters as much or more than the bagging of the birds. As long as they will talk to me, I'm happy. But then, choir practice has always been more fun than singing in church... for me, at least...

After awhile this hen came to my call.

Too wet to plow...

Last fall I had to wait until mid-Nov. to spray the tall fescue in my field because of the wetter than normal conditions we had since late July. And even though my tractor had turf tires on it, it left some ruts in the wetter areas. But never did I think that come Feb. I would have an even wetter situation to manage.
Last year at this time I was disking to regenerate the seedbank; and, even though the blackland clay was sticky and hard to work, I was able to beat back the fescue and generate considerable native grasses, including both red and white clover.
However, all winter long the frequent moisture has never let the soil dry out. Being clay, it is vertically impermeable so the moisture is ever so slow to dissipate. In fact, it has been so wet here all winter that it is impossible to walk around out back w/o slipping around or getting stuck in the mud. Consequently, the native grasses have been slow to germinate, and the erosion has been increasing. Plus, I was unable to plow the dead fescue under to utilize it better as fertilizer.
These were unforeseen problems that, by all rights, would never have occurred had we not had such an unusually wet year. But w/ El Nino pushing the storm track more southerly than normal, we have the current situation. And it doesn't appear that the situation will improve any time soon.
On the positive side I am seeing some regeneration of small patches of bunch grasses, in places. But, until the warm weather and sunshine begin to be more consistent, the regrowth will be slow. I can only hope that it will dry out enough w/ the March winds to, at least, allow some light disking and early successional regrowth before any heavy spring rains begin.
So, if the Good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, maybe I'll be able to salvage something of my plan to replace the tall fescue w/ native grasses. But conditions have been much less than optimal here in this wetter than normal year.
Now watch it turn off hot and dry this summer, and the blackland get hard as a rock and crack wide open. Such is life on the blackland prairie...

11-13-09 WT on public land...

These are pictures of the mount of this deer that I just got back this weekend. Although they're not very good pictures they give a better idea of the size and character of this buck. 1-18-10

Here's some pictures of the cape of a deer I bagged on 11-13 in the Caddo National Grasslands about an hour west of where I live. This area uses prescribed fire as a management tool almost exclusively w/ great results.
This deer is a 140-class, 22 in. wide, 11 pt. estimated at 4.5 years old. He's a main frame 10 pt. w/ a crab claw on the rt. side. He chased a doe over me at about 10:30 that AM. Pretty solid evidence that good habitat and healthy herds can be obtained w/o high priced food plots or feeders.
I'm not saying that food plots are bad... just not altogether necessary. They provide food, but native grasses and forbs do as well w/o the high costs involved w/ food plots. Feeders? I'm not a fan of feeders because they concentrate game and propagate disease. They can be useful in late summer droughts or hard cold winters to help wildlife through tough times. Otherwise, their use is simply to make animals more easily visible...

Disking to regenerate the seedbank...

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, but I've been doing a lot of turkey hunting this year. I'm not getting any younger, and I figure I had better do it while I can.
I just thought I would relate some things about an ongoing project I have on my own property. I'm in the process of trying to eliminate tall fescue and create a better habitat for birds, including quail and doves, utilizing native grasses and the natural seedbank. The first part of this project is no easy matter. In fact, I may not be able to eliminate the fescue since the neighbors property has it, and it's a very stubborn adversary at best.
Anyway, since I decided to do this beginning last winter, I realized I needed to wait till late fall when the fescue is entering senescence to spray with herbicide (roundup). I could have sprayed the herbicide last winter, but it would have come back. Consequently, I decided to mow the field low and then cut it up with a disk (disc)to regenerate the seedbank.
I realize the fescue was regenerated as well, but I now have crimson and white clover and other natural grasses sprouting throughout the field along with the fescue. When I do spray with herbicide in late October, I will have had the benefit of putting some nitrogen back into the soil via the clover, and providing forage for wildlife as well.
At the same time I reclaimed some old fencerows and piled the brush out in the field for burning later. These brushpiles have provided nesting areas for numerous birds this spring that would not have been here otherwise.
I have been careful to monitor nesting areas in the field so as not to mow over them. Keeping the fescue from going to seed is a goal, while at the same time allowing the clover and other beneficial grasses to reseed. Since the fescue seeds are produced on a long stem, this can be done by adjusting the mower height. It's not a perfect plan, but it's working fairly well so far.
After I spray and cut the field up next fall and winter, I will reseed some areas in food plots and some in natural vegetation. But in the meantime, I am trying to get the best use out of the area as I can.
If any of you have any suggestions on how it might be done better, please feel free to comment. This blog was designed to share ideas, but so far, they have mostly been mine. I would welcome some feedback.

Does prescribed fire displace wildlife?

I think not, and I'll offer you some first hand proof. And maybe I'll even brag a little bit too.
This AM was the opening of spring turkey season in NE Texas where I live. Being a passionate participant in the activity, I was up early and headed for the Caddo WMA on the Caddo National Grasslands about an hour from my home. I had scouted the area a couple of weeks ago, and I knew the birds were where they usually are this time of year.
When I arrived at my chosen spot to hunt, I found that the Forest Service had chosen to light a prescribed burn of about two sections the day before opening day and right where I planned to hunt. As I arrived at the registration station there was another vehicle just ahead of me, but he didn't stop. Since the woods were still smoldering, he drove down the road and turned around and left.
I stopped and registered, then listened closely to the sounds of the dawn breaking before leaving my truck to hunt turkeys. I knew the turkeys would be active in spite of the fire; and, sure enough, before daylight I could hear turkeys gobbling in the distance. I made my way to where I wanted to set up initially, stumbling on to a coyote on the way, and hearing more gobbles as I slipped into position.
When I got my decoys out and daylight was right, I began calling softly to let them all know where I was. I had turkeys gobbling back from three directions, but all were quite a distance away. However, by 07:45 I had called a nice longbeard into range and bagged my bird with smoke rising from numerous stumps still on fire. When I tagged my bird he had black feet on the bottoms from walking in the soot. It was a great morning and life was good.
As I was coming out with my bird to go to the check station and record my harvest, I passed several FS employees heading to work tending to their fire. They asked if I had any luck, and I told them what had happened. Then I thanked them for firing the woods and scaring off all the other hunters. I had the woods all to myself this morning, and it was great.
They laughed, and then they asked if I had bagged the bird in the burn area. They seemed elated that I had bagged the bird in spite of the fire.
So don't let anyone tell you that prescribed fire will cause wildlife to leave the area. It just ain't so... why even the songbirds were having choir practice this morning.

Switchgrass in large CRP fields and wildlife habitat...

Not having seen a lot of tall grass prairie up close in my lifetime, I was overwhelmed the other day by some large CRP fields of head high switchgrass in N. TX. I had seen the large bunches scattered about in gulleys and crevasses before, but I was not familiar with it in such a large and thick environment. It was beautiful, and I'm sure it did a wonderful job as erosion control. But I question whether it was effective as wildlife habitat when sown so thickly without much plant diversity to compliment it as habitat.
Switchgrass is, indeed, an excellent forage for wildlife and especially noted for game bird seed forage and cover. But it has a very thick carpet underneath, much like other erosion control plants, and would be hard to navigate by young quail and turkeys... IMO. And without plant diversity and bare ground in between the bunches of switchgrass, I would think it's benefit as wildlife habitat would be limited.
That thinking was initiated when I asked about quail on the property and was told that you would never hear a quail calling on this property. It started me asking myself: Why? Not being personally familiar with the switchgrass prairies (only heresay), it just didn't make a lot of sense to me, at first. But after thinking it over, the lack of diversity in the fields has to be the reason.
But then, I am convinced that biology is an evolving science, and I never professed to have all the answers. But this issue deserves considerable study on my part. Maybe some of you have some helpful information or experience on the subject. If so, your input would be greatly appreciated.