Turkey Eyesight

[ICDEDTURKES]

This is kind of an odd question.. We see all the time that turkeys eyesight is 3x 5x 10x better than a human.. Or they can hear 2x as good..

Just how in the hell is this determined?

[redarrow]

Considering my eyesight and hearing that ain't nothing to brag about. Actually I have often wondered the same thing. I've never seen a turkey at the Kellogg Institute.I'm thinking some of these "observation " are just old hunter tales.

[guesswho]

You would think if they could see and hear 10x better than us, they wouldn't get their eye's and ears full of lead, or tss now-a-days.

[ICDEDTURKES]

Considering my eyesight and hearing that ain't nothing to brag about.

"Now Mr. Gobbler read me the tiny letters on the bottom row"

"Not a problem Doc"

[Turkey Talker]

Ocular motor movement determines distance levels. Rods and cones determine color vision and night vision.

Hearing tests are only assumed from behavior to stimulis at different ranges.

[Duke0002]

I've read where they can see 300 degrees. If true, that's amazing.

[Stinky J Picklestein]

They use a fancy ruler.

[drenalinld]

I once heard it explained this way. If you stepped into an open wood lot and it took you 8 seconds to scan the area, a turkey could scan it in 1 second. I doubt it is that much different and have never seen any scientific testing to back it up. With eyes on the side of their head they should scan an area quicker. We have all witnessed their keen vision at one time or another, but I think a lot of what is clamed is bunk.

[Grumpy]

All I know is if your eyes are on the front of your head, you are a hunter, eyes on the side of your head, you are the hunted.

[Matt Meyer]

All I know is that their eyesight and hearing are amazing. I guess it's truce; If turkeys could smell we would never get them

[hawglips]

I don't see and hear all that well, so if they haven't been eaten yet, that's probably proof that's they see and hear a lot better than I do.

[jims]

I've been hunting elk, antelope, mtn goat, sheep, and deer for years but am new to turkey hunting. Pretty much all big game species "tend to have" a lot better eyes than humans (bears and moose among others excluded) and I try to stay off the skyline and behind hills when ever possible. Even at 1 mile away it seems like big game can spot hunters, spook, and head off in the distance. I was pretty amazed on a recent Alaska dall sheep hunt when rams spotted me 2 miles away and spooked and I was being fairly cautious. I've stalked many antelope over the years totally out of sight...peered through blades of grass at ground level at 300 yards (downwind side) and they somehow spotted me....not bad eyes!

I'm curious if when hunting turkeys this same thing is true? If I can see turkeys with my naked eye I'm pretty sure they can probably see me and spook. What if I can see turkeys with my 10 x binocs but can't see them with my naked eye.....do I need to be concerned about them spotting me? Is it neccesary to stay out of site when 1/2, 3/4, 1 or ? mile away from turkeys when conducting stalks in fairly open country? From what I understand turkey's vision up close is 2nd to none for detecting movement, predators, etc....but what about long distance?

How good are turkeys eyes?

[jims]

I returned from my 2nd turkey trip last week. Found out that turkeys have just as keen eyesight as many big game animals I have hunted. The turkeys I was hunting tended to spook when walking out in the open 3/4 to 1 mile away with no brush for conceilment. I could barely pick them out as black specks with my naked eye at that distance. Now I know that it's important to stay conceiled at long distance from turkeys! I have new respect for those beady little turkey eyes!

[M Sharpe]

But yet they walk up to the ugliest hunk of plastic stuck up on a single stick that hasn't moved in over an hour.

I once called to within 50 yds of myself and my nephew, while standing in the wheel ruts of a logging road, two big gobblers. They where standing in the road about 100 or so yards when we step out onto the road. Instead of chancing getting busted by moving, he had his gun up and I started clucking and purring. Here they came right down that road. After holding his gun up for so long, which was getting heavy, he shot before they got into effective killing range for his gun. BTW, this was long before tss, heavy shot or any other of these super shells and chokes.

[Gobbler]

Don't you think that even though Turkeys have good eyesight. It is probably movement that is more critical. I know everyone on here has some kind of experience of Turkeys walking into their laps in both hunting and non hunting situations. I just thing they pick up movement very well.

[Grover]

I think movement is key in all prey's eyesight, however I think turkeys can see noises.

[3toe]

A turkeys eyesight is so good he can see whats on your mind.

From my experience turkeys seem to pick out movement and colors extremely well. They may see that lump sitting against the tree and study it for a long while. But, as long as it doesn't move in the slightest I think they tend to disregard it which we know if a fatal mistake. It has been shown in studies that certain colors will spook turkeys because they associate it with danger. Timber marker tape, trail markers, etc. Over time they will get used to it being in the same place and disregard it, but initially will treat the area with caution.

Their hearing is exceptional and I have read a few studies on it. If I remember, and I am going from memory, the reason is due to tiny fibers on the inside of the canal going into the head are able to pick up higher frequencies than a human can. I know I have softly tree called to a bird over 100 yds away and have him pitch out and about land in my lap because he could tell exactly where that sound came from, even at levels almost inaudible to me.

[guesswho]

Their eye sight is extraordinary. Their ability to decipher what they see, not so much. Movement helps them to decide if what they see poses any danger. A turkey can see a blind in the middle of a field that wasn't there yesterday. They know it's there but don't see it as a threat. From inside the blind move it two feet one way or the other while turkeys are present and see what happens.

[The SPURSUADER]

Long before I first started Turkey Hunting, I had always heard that a Turkey could see you blink at 100 yards? So maybe it is more movement than sound? I do know that they can see very very very good!!!! Again..They will walk up to a blind that's stuck out like a turd in a punch-Bowl and brush against it but the slightest movement inside will spook them away. This year on the youth opener, The Gobbler was in our face (Less than 25 yards) and completely unaware of our presence and my Daughter let the weight of the Gun on the window shake the blind very little..No more that wind would do and he left like a ostrich running...5 hours later the same Gobbler gobbled his way right back into our set-up and she killed him...Blind in same position, however I did move the decoys a little when we got out and moved on him once..Did he forget that quick? I don't know but I have belly crawled to a wide open fields edge and scanned it and seen nothing, only to stand up and have a flock 400 yards away clear the field running!!!!

[tomgirl]

I have a few turkey poults that I am raising and it is very interesting to watch their behavior. At a few days old they spotted a tiny pee ant crawling about 5 foot away and all 4 went running to get the ant and was fighting over it,lol.That is pretty darn good eyesight. They really do notice and study everything. I had black and white newspaper in their cage and a few days later I used a colored sales paper to line the bottom of their cage and they went crazy and would not get near the colored part.I had to take it out to get them to calm down.They are very smart and observative birds. Spursuader told me once that they would even notice a branch on a tree broke that wasn't broke the day before and I thought he was crazy,lol. Now I'm starting to rethink that.

[ICDEDTURKES]

TFrom inside the blind move it two feet one way or the other while turkeys are present and see what happens.

Ok and I think I know where you are going with this but... I had a friend 2 years ago in a blind with a gobbler out of gun range, he and his girlfriend picked it up and actually moved into gun range like the old cartoon bad guy with a bush trick and killed the turkey..

[guesswho]

Ok and I think I know where you are going with this but... I had a friend 2 years ago in a blind with a gobbler out of gun range, he and his girlfriend picked it up and actually moved into gun range like the old cartoon bad guy with a bush trick and killed the turkey..

Sounds like a Merriam.

[ICDEDTURKES]

Ok and I think I know where you are going with this but... I had a friend 2 years ago in a blind with a gobbler out of gun range, he and his girlfriend picked it up and actually moved into gun range like the old cartoon bad guy with a bush trick and killed the turkey..

Sounds like a Merriam.

Nah Osceolas, well easterns in osceola county MI.. But none the less probably most pressured birds in the country and they still fell for it..

[ICDEDTURKES]

Ok and I think I know where you are going with this but... I had a friend 2 years ago in a blind with a gobbler out of gun range, he and his girlfriend picked it up and actually moved into gun range like the old cartoon bad guy with a bush trick and killed the turkey..

Sounds like a Merriam.

Nah Osceolas, well easterns in osceola county MI.. But none the less probably most pressured birds in the country and they still fell for it..

[Jaybird]

Don't you think that even though Turkeys have good eyesight. It is probably movement that is more critical. I know everyone on here has some kind of experience of Turkeys walking into their laps in both hunting and non hunting situations. I just thing they pick up movement very well.

True. My experience with 16 Jakes last year, as I kneeled in plain sight, dressed in leafy wear was cool. Ranging from 10 feet to 20 feet in front of me, they scanned the woods behind me intently for 10 plus minutes, looking for the Hen that had been calling. I was in a kneeling, shooting position not moving, but I moved my hand a tiny bit to get a better grip on my gun, and 4-5 Jakes spooked a bit, while the others stared at me, finally deciding that everything was okay. They key on movement, so if you keep still, you are just part of the landscape, great eyesight or not.