For generations, understanding “What Do Turkeys Eat” meant venturing outdoors, observing nature, and studying the subtle signs of wildlife. Forget Google searches; the real answers were found in the woods, deciphering scratch marks and examining fields for clues in the landscape itself. Experienced hunters knew that a valuable tip was right under their feet – manure, rich with undigested corn and seeds, a veritable feast for turkeys.
If you’re seeking a quick answer to the question, “what do turkeys eat?”, here it is upfront: Turkeys are omnivores with a diverse palate, consuming nearly anything available. Their preferred foods include insects, tender greens, acorns, berries, corn, soybeans, sorghum, milo, sunflowers, chufa, and various other seeds and grains.
However, for dedicated hunters and wildlife enthusiasts, a deeper dive into the intricacies of wild turkey diets offers significant advantages. Drawing upon 29 years of spring turkey hunting across nine states, coupled with insights from biologists and habitat management practices, this comprehensive guide reveals the nuanced answer to “what do turkeys eat?”. This knowledge is not just academic; it’s a practical tool that can dramatically improve your success in the field.
What Do Turkeys Eat? Table of Contents
- Understanding the Four Core Food Groups for Turkeys
- Insects: A Turkey’s Protein-Packed Meal
- Tender Greens: Essential Springtime Forage
- Mast: Hard and Soft Nuts and Berries
- Seeds and Grains: A Reliable Food Source
- Leveraging Turkey Diet Knowledge for Hunting Success
Understanding the Four Core Food Groups for Turkeys
Wild turkeys are remarkably adaptable creatures, inhabiting diverse environments across North America, from the United States (excluding Alaska) to Mexico, Central America, and southern Canada. This wide distribution is mirrored by their highly adaptable diet, which shifts with climate and seasonal changes. Despite this dietary flexibility, wild turkeys consistently rely on a set of favorite food groups, regardless of their habitat. For turkey hunters, understanding these core foods – whether discovered through online searches for “what do turkeys eat” or firsthand observation – is a significant advantage in locating and hunting these birds. Here are four essential food categories that form the foundation of a turkey’s diet and should be key areas of focus for turkey hunters.
1. Insects: A Turkey’s Protein-Packed Meal
Insects are a vital food source for turkeys, particularly during late spring and summer when they are most abundant. Hens require the high protein content of insects like grasshoppers, beetles, and grubs for egg production. Newly hatched poults rely almost exclusively on insects for their first few weeks of life, fueling their rapid growth and development. Ideal brood-rearing habitat is characterized by open areas – such as hayfields, food plots, and early successional habitats – that provide easy access to insects, combined with nearby escape cover for protection from predators.
A hen turkey guides her poults through a greenfield in search of insects, a crucial protein source for young turkeys.
Turkey foraging for insects isn’t limited to the spring and summer months. Whenever weather permits, turkeys can be observed actively pursuing invertebrates. During the early spring hunting season, scouting locations with early green vegetation is highly recommended. Sunny creek bottoms and south-facing slopes are prime areas as they warm up and green up first, attracting insects and, consequently, turkeys. These areas, teeming with early insect activity, are where turkeys are sure to be found.
Related: Top Turkey Shotguns for the 2024 Season
2. Tender Greens: Essential Springtime Forage
Alongside the insects found in sunny, early spring locations, turkeys eagerly consume tender green vegetation. Legumes such as clover and alfalfa are highly favored, making food plots and hayfields doubly attractive to turkeys, providing both insects and succulent greens. Speaking of food plots, newly sprouted cereal grains like wheat and oats are particularly irresistible. In natural settings, turkeys graze on many of the same forbs that are preferred by whitetail deer. Consequently, during early spring, identifying areas with fresh, green shoots – whether in agricultural fields, food plots, or naturally occurring forbs – is an effective strategy for locating turkeys.
3. Mast: Hard and Soft Nuts and Berries
Many fall turkey hunters experience a frustrating shift in turkey behavior. Flocks that were predictable in September often seem to vanish in October. Deer hunters are familiar with the challenge of tracking whitetails when acorns become abundant during a good mast year. Similarly, turkey flocks can become nomadic and less predictable in Eastern hardwood forests when mast, both hard and soft, becomes readily available. The sudden abundance of these preferred foods causes turkeys to concentrate on mast-producing areas.
Wild turkeys extensively utilize both hard and soft mast as a primary food source during the fall season.
Similar to whitetails, turkeys exhibit a preference for white oak acorns above other varieties. Beech nuts are also highly sought after, typically falling to the ground in early to mid-October in eastern hill country. Mast isn’t limited to tree nuts in the fall; turkeys also consume soft mast like blackberries, mulberries, and other berries throughout spring and summer. In the Nebraska Sandhills, cedar berries are a common food source during the spring turkey season. South Texas turkey hunters know that chiltepin peppers, small but potent, attract Rio Grande turkeys with remarkable effectiveness.
4. Seeds and Grains: A Reliable Food Source
In farm-rich regions of the Midwest and Great Plains, turkeys congregate in large winter flocks. These flocks rely heavily on waste grain found in harvested corn and sorghum fields. They also scratch for seeds in hay bales stored for livestock and glean undigested grain from cow pies. (Refer back to the initial tip about manure as a food source).
Land managers outside of agricultural areas can create food plots to support turkeys during winter. Standing corn, along with soybeans, sorghum, milo, sunflowers, and chufa, provides essential food resources, keeping turkeys and other game birds well-fed and thriving throughout the colder months.
Leveraging Turkey Diet Knowledge for Hunting Success
When planning a turkey hunt, prioritize locations where hens are likely to feed, as these areas will also attract gobblers.
A fundamental and highly effective turkey hunting strategy is to call turkeys to locations they are naturally drawn to. These preferred locations are, first and foremost, areas where turkeys find food. This principle holds true even during the breeding season when gobblers are primarily focused on mating. Hens, however, still need to feed, and gobblers will be found in proximity to these feeding hens.
For spring turkey hunting, this means focusing on areas with the earliest tender greens and the insects that accompany this new growth. Look for scratch marks on sunny slopes, indicating recent turkey feeding activity. Locate these food sources, and turkeys will be nearby. When you hear a gobbler calling and are deciding where to set up, remember these areas rich in tender greens, insects, and scratchings. These are precisely the locations where a tom expects to find a hen. Now that you’ve explored “what do turkeys eat” in detail, you possess the knowledge to not only understand turkey diet but also to effectively locate them based on their food preferences, significantly enhancing your hunting success.
