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Raccoons Predation on Wild Turkey eggs


Flhawghuntr

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Hey guys I need your help!

 

A couple three years ago I think in one of the NWTF Mags I read how the coons were really bad on eating eggs. They were talking bout how they trapped them in a area where they had a large number of coons and the turkeys responded by populations increase of a 200% in that area.

 

Does anyone remember seeing that article or know where I can find similar articles.

 

My buddy runs a WMA here in Florida as he is a State Biologist but is hard headed and it is easier putting facts in front of him to read. We have a major coon problem in this WMA due to no hunting of any type except Turkey, Hogs and Deer due to it use to be a DEP property now the Game Commision owns it.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Mike

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flhawg,

 

did you try contacting the NWTF and asking them about the document???

 

i have seen similar articles in publications and recall a university study a few years ago on raccoon, skunk and oppossum predation. my uncle began a bobcat elimination program on his place in KY and after removing nearly 20 cats over the last 3 years his turkey population increased dramatically....bobcats are very hard on the poults not the eggs but if your friend does a little research he will find the data out there!

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http://www.nwtf.org/cgi-bin/htsearch?config=&restrict=&exclude=&method=and&format=builtin-long&sort=score&words=turkey+predators seems your friend might be smarter than you give him credit for? from what i read in only a couple of articles they have a LIST of predators and it all says its best not to mess with mother nature? But coon is real good on the BBQ grill if you boil him for a long time first!!
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Hog makes a valid point and some claim varmint control is a bad thing. However, having raised livestock and poultry all my life we have to eliminate the pesky coons every couple of years or our birds and eggs suffer! Some researchers claim if you kill 3 coons 6 more move in to replace them...I don't see it here on the farm! We live trapped 14 in one spring and only get a couple each year since then...same with coyotes and fox we got a few the first year (2000) but not many since. Rabbits were scarce until we did varmint control but they are on the rise now. We see most predation from hawks and owls on our place today! These birds get a free pass and their numbers are way up,too.

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we used to use coons to clean our boats when we would come in from running our strings of YoYo's and trot lines when i lived in Arkansas and those little fellas would not even care if you were there or not they would go thru your boat if they thought the could get their hands on a live minnow! here in NM at a camp site they will ruin your food unless it is in a box and locked up! i remember what they would do to field of corn that was ready to harvest, looked like a heard of elk went in and bedded down after they got thru with it!! Amazed me how a few of those guys could tear a corn field UP!

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we used to use coons to clean our boats when we would come in from running our strings of YoYo's and trot lines when i lived in Arkansas and those little fellas would not even care if you were there or not they would go thru your boat if they thought the could get their hands on a live minnow! here in NM at a camp site they will ruin your food unless it is in a box and locked up! i remember what they would do to field of corn that was ready to harvest, looked like a heard of elk went in and bedded down after they got thru with it!! Amazed me how a few of those guys could tear a corn field UP!

 

I hear ya, hog! I have two small steams that border both sides of my property (coon magnets) and i gave up planting sweet corn a couple of years ago....even after "thinning" the herd those rascals seem to know when the corn is ready and will come in at night and wipe out a 1/2 acre of corn! On the first "real" camping trip with my son when he was about 6 years old we put a box of food in the tent before going to look for firewood....the box had chips, marshmallows, bread, etc. When we got back to camp it was nearly dark and our flashlights caught a half dozen pairs of eyes on the nearly picnic table! we also had a trail of bread, marshmallows and chips leading from the tent toward the nearby lake....we counted 9 of these masked bandits in the campsite at one time!

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