Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum State Wide Deer Harvest

I would imagine this concept probably holds true for most animals but it would seem like for sure with deer and turkeys that if a female has success giving birth to and raising young in a certain spot then they’ll return to that same spot the following year to do it again versus just randomly seeking another area. It may be a combination and totality of these late fire factors but the one that may be having just as much impact on reducing the success of their reproductive cycle as any is if they return to that spot the following season and at the last minute suddenly they have all the good cover taken away from that spot through fire that made them successful the year before. It would force them to have to seek out sudden secondary locations that may not be as favorable.

I remember working in my aunt and uncles chicken houses as a kid and the egg production could be finicky about the things that would throw it off……like if there was something that was majorly spooking the whole house and upsetting them on a given day then it could result in a drop in egg production for the next pull of eggs. I’m sure turkeys probably arent too different in that they are likely finicky to swings in variables. I think in a similar manner the more we can help hold the variables stable for the turkeys the better off they’ll be. Last minute fire has to be a major disruptor to the process. I’d imagine that for highest success these habitat changes actually need to be made well ahead of the turkey hens ever making a pattern change prior to nesting…..whatever date that might be……and again, the smaller the squares the more potential for max production. When that hen returns to where she previously had success and finds it black…..how far does she have to go to find a new cover spot if you’re on a two year burn rotation?? In which scenario are the variables held more stable from the hen's perspective?