Freestone County Turkey (Teague area)

Pulled the card out of my game cam last weekend and found a hen is visiting my feeder, or did two days in a row late last week anyway. Just the one lone hen so far. I did a quick search and found out that tpwd has a stocking program going on. Seems their release site is in the Trinity bottoms, which is an easy 20 miles from our property. I am truly excited to have her showing up, but know that if she's on her own it will do no good in the long run.

Anyone else seeing birds from this program?

I had a hen visiting my feeder in Panola county. There had been a stocking done that year in Henderson county easily more than 20 miles away and I assumed she came from that stocking. I had the same thought that if she was alone and that far away from the stocking property, she was going to be a loss to the program. As well, knowing how some of the local residents are in the area I hunt, she was not going to survive very long. She was only around a few days. Either kept roaming or was killed. It was the only wild turkey ever seen there ever and never seen one there again.

I’m all over the back roads and lease roads between Fairfield and Franklin and haven’t seen any….

We share a border with the WMA and have had big flocks of them. I hope they stick - they have been releasing a ton of them and I don't think their outlook is too promising from general discussions with the biologist on the WMA. Would love it if they do hold on and grow a self sustaining population.

By Richland Chambers dam?

they transplanted some onto our property (west of 45, not near Richland Chambers) about 10 years ago. we saw them a few times, but havent in a long while.

I think there are just too many predators (bobcats, racoons, in particular) to have a thriving population. plenty of habitat, though.

They are a really peculiar species. Heck in Dallas where I live we have feral peacocks that number 40-50 just North of White Rock Lake makes you wonder why a native species couldn't survive there. Around Hagerman NWR they have tons of turkey and there is no way they have less predators/hogs there and fragmented small parcels. I was on the King Ranch recently and they don't do any predator control and turkeys were as thick as I have ever seen down there and roost on highlines and small oak mottes. They always seem to do better West of 35, still just a strange deal.

It baffles me how the Eastern Turkeys thrive all across the south, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas., Alabama….. with the same predators, habitat and outlaws but can not survive in East Texas. I wish a biologist could explain the difference. I hope in my lifetime to see wild Turkeys roaming Houston county.

East Texas folks🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Some years back when I was hunting the WMA's pretty often, one of the biologists at
one of the places was talking to me about the stocking that had been done, and he
was saying how all the predators were the biggest obstacle to growing a huntable
population of the eastern birds in east Texas.

I've never doubted that because I only personally know of a handful of hunters
that try to trap predators in their area and where they hunt.
I've read probably thousands of posts online at the different forums I
visit, and many complain about the trash varmints raiding their deer feeders,
but probably 50% or less will bother to trap or will declare " I ain't spoiling
my hunt to shoot a varmint. . . " or " I like to watch the coons and possums
frolicking. . " or " I like to listen to the coyotes at night. . . "

Just me- I'll choose deer and small game animals and game birds over
varmints any day. No varmints get a pass

The predator population in west central Louisiana is no different than east Texas. There were turkeys all over my lease in Louisiana. I got friends that kill Toms north of lake Charles and in Alexandria every year

We border the Trinity River outside of Fairfield. I've hunted my in-law's land for about 12 years now and have never seen (in person or game cams) or heard a single turkey on our place.

I see them fairly often in Cayuga. I roam the lease roads and county roads as well from Cayuga to Franklin and never seen them south of Cayuga/tennesse colony

Cayuga would make sense, since the release site is undoubtedly in Richland WMA. Cool you're seeing them regularly though.

Yea it’s not weekly by any means but at least monthly probably I see a group of 3-4 along the road

My place is in Anderson count on Catfish creek, backing up to Gus Engling and we are pretty covered up

Man this is great to see some success finally with the restocking.

Its really cool seeing them. I first saw one about 25 years ago out there. In the last 5 years or so they have really seemed to explode. I really just started running multiple cameras in the last few years so I am definitely seeing more because of that.

agree. I always say I'd shoot over an 8 points back to kill a coyote.

The release site was on the Gus Engling WMA, and a private ranch to the north of Gus Engling as well, and a third ranch to the north of there on the Henderson county side. Theses releases were between 2014 and 2017, and the birds are actually doing fairly well in those areas. Both easterns and rios were released on all 3 sites to the west of HW 19. Every release to the east of hw 19 gets only easterns stocked as the area west of 19 is a transition area for the two subspecies.

There has been several other releases of easterns in Anderson and Cherokee counties, and my site just passed our final evaluation along the neches river on both the Anderson and Cherokee county sides. Most of these sites are doing fairly well because there's a lot of prescribed burning taking place as well as predator control practices. If you live near any of these areas, I'd suggest you start thinning out predators and working to improve your habitat with thinning, mulching and prescribed fire. Turkeys will avoid all that thick underbrush and predators will catch and kill every one of them by ambushing them in the tick stuff.

There are programs that will help landowners with the implementation of these types of practices through cost sharing and even educational sites through parks & wildlife. There are actually quite a few turkeys in east Texas, but only the areas where management practices are regularly implemented are where most of these are being seen. If your avoiding shooting predators out of fear of ruining your deer hunt, or if you're not trapping, or if your woods are thick and nasty because your afraid of fire, and all you do is fill a deer feeder before deer season, then your chances of seeing turkeys are slim. Been working with landowners and parks & Wildlife on this for years, and have harvested a number of eastern turkeys in east Texas so I'm just talking from experience and what I've seen over the years since 2014..

Im still seeing lots of toms. Need to get spoonplatoon out for a prescribed burn

That’s Anderson County. Didn’t see many sure deer season and was worried

i seen 6 on Fm 59 just north of crossroads in henderson county last week. About 2 miles south of Anderson County line.