Cow patties and turkeys.

chefrific

Senior Member
While hunting out west, it was the first time I've hunted with cattle around. The rancher said to look for areas where you see a lot of dried cow patties flipped over and you will see turkeys. To my surprise, he was correct. Where ever we found a spot with a lot of cow patties flipped over, we found a ton of turkey droppings, tracks, etc.
Our guess is that they are flipping them over to look for bugs. I didn't witness a turkey actually flipping over one, but I'm positive that's what is going on.
I did notice that the birds I shot smelled strongly of cow manure and sage. A lovely bouquet, lol.
So my question is to you guys that hunt them here in Georgia and for that matter anywhere else. Is this a common practice for turkeys?
 

Dinosaur

Senior Member
Yes it is. The best turkey ground I ever hunted was a cow pasture. They can hold high numbers of turkeys because of the available food and space. There is also usually some spilled feed around somewhere as well as grains and feed in the manure sometimes. I would love to be able to hunt another cow pasture at some point.
 

Curtis-UGA

Senior Member
Yep, they love to flip the patties. If you feed the cows whole corn they like it even better!
 

PappyHoel

Senior Member
My dog likes them too. Apparently that and chicken poop is tasty. Never heard of birds flipping them though.
 

Dinosaur

Senior Member
Yep, they love to flip the patties. If you feed the cows whole corn they like it even better!

I was hunting a pasture one year and the turkeys went to the same spot everyday. After I had killed a few, I decided to go check it out and see what the big deal about that spot was. It was where the farmers had been feeding the cows! There was all kinds of grain and corn they were dumping down there. I had been hunting over bait and never had a clue.
 

Curtis-UGA

Senior Member
I was hunting a pasture one year and the turkeys went to the same spot everyday. After I had killed a few, I decided to go check it out and see what the big deal about that spot was. It was where the farmers had been feeding the cows! There was all kinds of grain and corn they were dumping down there. I had been hunting over bait and never had a clue.

They will pass a lot of the whole corn and its not considered bait then.

I'm actually not sure the spilled grain where the cows are being fed would be considered bait. As long as its a normal agricultural practice.
 

Dinosaur

Senior Member
They will pass a lot of the whole corn and its not considered bait then.

I'm actually not sure the spilled grain where the cows are being fed would be considered bait. As long as its a normal agricultural practice.

I didn't know that about passing the corn. I need to start a cow heard and feed them a strict diet of corn in the spring I guess.:rofl:
 

turkeykirk

Senior Member
Dairy farmers in NY where I hunt keep their cows in the barns in the Winter. Come snow melt, spread all that manure on the fields. Draws the turkeys like a magnet.
 

Killdee

Senior Member
They will pass a lot of the whole corn and its not considered bait then.

I'm actually not sure the spilled grain where the cows are being fed would be considered bait. As long as its a normal agricultural practice.

Normal agricultural practice can be widely interpreted.



No offense to my local GW's, I saw this on FB and thought it was funny!!!!
 

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badcreek

Senior Member
I hunted the West Texas Hill Country this year for the first time and saw the exact same thing. My friend that invited me said to pay attention to the flipped over cow patties. He was right, the more we saw the more turkeys that were in the area.
 
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