Field spraying impact?

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
i see some here posting dont consider spraying ag fileds the kiss of death that i do.
My bias is on fields sprayed to kill whatever has come up green since harvest. i have no clue the chemical used.
its been like a switch immediately in terms of turkeys using. I just move on not checking back because by then i am moving north to hunt.

so does it just cause a temporary issue or does it remove it from use for some time (weeks?) in your experience?
 

timber

Twelve Pointer
Haven’t noticed spraying to burn down the fields really makes any difference on turkeys using the fields. There are several different combinations they use. Some i know using roundup, 2-4D and valor
 

Woods and water

Ten Pointer
I have seen it move a hundred bird's off of one farm last week. Bird's there Monday morning, farmer sprayed Monday evening and hasn't been a bird back until yesterday evening. In my experience it will cause them to leave a field for about a week but they don't go far and are still killable in the surrounding woods .
 

TrkyJedi

Eight Pointer
I had the same result as woods & water. I had 4 toms and 13 hens for a month in a field, got sprayed last week but haven't came back yet. They moved next door to a sand field ridged for sweet potatoes. They just stand out there for god and everybody to see them. When the sun comes up Saturday morning, there will be 15 blinds surrounding that sand field. Look like a dove shoot. SMH
 

wolfpacker

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
The field birds i hunt really seem to like to eat the seed heads of the annual blue grass that comes up. After spraying the spend more times eating in the ditches.
 

wolfman

Old Mossy Horns
Hunted a field the first week of turkey season several years ago that was frequented regularly by turkeys. After it was sprayed I never saw a turkey in it or sign for the remainder of the season.
 

csmacken

Four Pointer
I have been told by some older wiser turkey hunters that when ag fields are sprayed before planting, its all the insects that leave that turkeys like to feed on. Im guessing that when the weeds die the insects leave as well. Ive seen this first hand in Moore County.
 

JoeSam1975

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
If it does move them I am screwed. They sprayed every field on my home farm Saturday. Just have to hunt the woods more.
One turkey I killed last year towards the end of season was killed on a sprayed field that had been no tilled and planted in cotton. I think after a couple of weeks they go back....I hope anyway!!
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
i see some here posting dont consider spraying ag fileds the kiss of death that i do.
My bias is on fields sprayed to kill whatever has come up green since harvest. i have no clue the chemical used.
its been like a switch immediately in terms of turkeys using. I just move on not checking back because by then i am moving north to hunt.

so does it just cause a temporary issue or does it remove it from use for some time (weeks?) in your experience?
The main reason why I do not hunt Northampton county. I still have lots of land with permission to hunt on thankfully, but the farmers went to the no till and spraying which reduces the food sources for Turkeys during the Spring. I can remember when they still tilled everything and chufa grew wild up there. Man you could ride around and see dozens of turkeys in the field late in the evening, making it alot easier to hunt. Well when the farmers started that no till and spraying the birds started to move around alot. One day you might have a gobbler to hunt and the next day he has done moved with his hens down the road...
I got tired of driving 2 plus hours to hunt a ghost bird when I can do the same thing here in Harnett.
 
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nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
Turkeys love chick weed, when the famers in Gates County would spray our fields a couple of weeks before the season we quit seeing birds in the fields...I had several years we were screwed when it came to field birds...They will return in a few weeks (like after the season goes out) when you get new growth...Our farmers would use Roundup or a generic version...
 
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