Some gamekeepers have roost trees, water source, mast crop, food plots and bugging areas all going for them, yet wonder why they don’t have turkeys but their neighbors do. The answer is probably "grit!"
A KEY ELEMENT FOR MANAGING WILD TURKEYS
Grit is one of the most overlooked elements of a sound turkey management plan. Think about what your neighbor has that you don’t. Maybe it’s a river or creek bed, a washout with course sand or gravel exposed, or simply a gravel roadway. Turkeys need grit to aid in their digestion by grinding up tough seeds and nuts in their gizzards. Most of the time all it takes is a small truckload of gravel distributed at several strategic places throughout your property, but don’t expect to hold wild turkeys in the area without it.
Each spring, when the moment of truth arrives and we end an off-season of anticipation with a shotgun blast, we take for granted the story of survival that turkeys have made. Few animals face as perilous a trek through their life as the wild turkey. From the day a wild turkey is laid as an egg until they die, some form of a predator is trying to have them for dinner. There are a number of ways to protect poults, which includes creating a better habitat.
