turkeys and hog panels

I own 180 acres in NE Stephens County. I always had and seen a lot of turkeys until I had to put hog panels around my feeders to keep hogs away from them. Since then I have not seen many turkeys and have been unable to get them to jump over the hog panels and into the pen. I have cameras at each feeder. I see plenty of deer but see no turkeys in the pen.I have even put turkey decoys in my pen in hope that will get them to jump over, but no luck. I also have a turkey feeder in each pen along with a protein feeder and corn feeder.

Do I just have a bunch of Stupid Turkeys or what!!!

Our turkey's go in the pen

How big is the pen?

I have the same exact problem. Lots of turkeys on our place, and when I had barbed wire fence up, turkeys hit feeder every day. But so did the hogs. Built a big round pen this summer with 12 hog panels. Thousands of deer pics, but not a single turkey came in. I see the turkeys at the property so they are still all there. Crazy

Some turkeys figure it out while others never do. Have seen turkeys walk back and fourth along a netwire fence for hours before one remembered it could fly over the fence then they all crossed the fence. They are not the sharpest tacks in the woods. Remember they only have bird brains to work with

Rio Grand Turkey's can fly like Quail BUT THEY DONT LIKE GOING OVER A FENCE . I DID NOT SAY THE CANT I SAID THEY DONT LIKE TO. Rather go under I have seen it for yrs. I have seen them jump a fence but more often they will fly over . I have used this in my favore many times callin ,they will hang-up at a fence and gobble back at ya,for a long time. If you know your fencelines you can set-up knowing he will probably come down along this fence if he decides to come to you,or he may hang up for whatever reason is goin on in that pea brain of his. My two cents .....Dusty

Just guessing, but I would think that if the turks got established on the feeders first without hog panels, they'd start jumping the panels once you put em up.

Never had a turkey inside my "ten panel" pens.

I understand that you put the panels up to keep the hogs out,but if you have pics of the Turkeys and they are still not flying over the panels move your corn feeder a little closer to the edge so a small amount will go outside the pen, this will keep them coming and eventually they will figure it out and start flying in.i have seen them walk Fences and feeder pens for awile before the realize they can fly it.

I have 6 hog panels and I have no problem with deer jumping in, just turkeys.

I have raised some native turkeys in the 80-90's, what I have noticed is turkey dont like to fly into a small confined area, I'm betting if you guys double or tripled your feeder pen size that would make a big difference.

Turkey, as y'all know, are powerful flyers,s and have no trouble flying out of a small pen, I think it is the same principle of why deer dont like to jump 2 fences that are set 3-4' apart.

Ever notice wildlife biologist trapping turkey? they dont build a pen, or funnel pen, they shoot a net over them in an open feed area.

I worked a ranch outside Leander Texas back in the early 80's also, the only place the toms would fly into around the barn was in the arena (rodeo arena size)

I think I read on here once that if you lay a wide plank across a corner of the pen the turkeys will hop up onto it and hop off in the pen, then exit the same way. Give it a try and see if it works.

Somewhere I read that the ideal turkey feeder that was also hog proof sat on a raised platform that provided them a place to land. Couldn't find it on the web tonight. I know that it looked lke a major project and I passed.

I wish we had your problem. If so, our feed bill would probably go down considerably. I counted 120 turkeys from one of my stands one morning. That many turkeys don't leave much corn for the deer to eat once the turkeys show up.

I think I read on here once that if you lay a wide plank across a corner of the pen the turkeys will hop up onto it and hop off in the pen, then exit the same way. Give it a try and see if it works


I have a round pen with 6 hog panels. How should I put a wide plank on this. Any ideas??