Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs Wild Turkey Science Podcast??

Thanks! I’m about to listen to it now……Before I do though just let me point out again my premise……Its not JUST coyotes and predators……It’s the structural design and layout that we humans have created on the landscape that is giving predators like the coyote a tactical advantage…….Coyotes and bobcats make a living running road and edge for miles and we have set the nesting hens right out there on the edge for them to exploit……Ideas that work in areas of Texas and Oklahoma don’t work the same here because our understory growth is so much denser, taller, and faster growing…….We are supposed to have grazers that thin out this thick vegetative growth which allows interior use of the stands by animals like turkeys……We don’t have those though…….and so we basically have a structural flaw that’s giving the predators a big advantage……It isnt just simple predator-prey relations

I’ve posted this pic before but this is blackbelt soil…….You can see the issue that arises from really productive soil and a lot of rain……Its gets thick and unusable in the interior……Any hen that nests here is likely right on the edge of the stand where she’s highly vulnerable to the high density of predators that this type understory is supporting……Its structural…..its 2x4’s….2x8’s….foundation blocks…….and the spacing of it all……….Predators, especially coyotes and bobcats, are exploiting the structural framework that we’ve created on the landscape…….