Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs The Numbers

You know of a tract that killed 225 gobblers on 1500 acres? That is a gobbler per 6.66 acres. I am not familiar with a population that is that high for gobblers hens and jakes total. even 75 per 1500 is a gobbler per 20 - maybe what the total population is on most places I am familiar with that is excellent.
4 per 400 is more realistic of good turkey densities. I am familiar with a place that killed 16 on 3,000 acres and had at least 15 left at the end of the season that were still gobbling so undoubtedly more. That was a high harvest in alabama to me - a gobbler per 190 acres. Good places should sustain a gobbler per 1-200 acres in most years.
Winter flocks are good indicators of populations but are also reflective of LARGE acreages. These winter flocks of 50, 75, 100 birds spread out in spring over thousands of acres. On one property I work with, in the heyday, I saw 2 flocks of 30+ hens/poults, one flock of 30+ gobblers and one other flock of 75 hens/poults I got pictures of in one afternoon in deer season in one field (ironically called the 200 acre field along a large creek). That is the most turkeys I have seen in a small area and is close to a bird per acre in that field. Funny that in the spring there were 3-4 gobblers gobbling along the creek bottom, same as there was most years. This place is about 1,500 acres and still kills about what they killed in the 90's - 5-7 gobblers per year. What I saw was probably the spring turkeys for the 5-7,000 acres surrounding it.