We have turkeys all over urban Minneapolis. It is easy to get them irritated. I keep my distance and steer clear of them because once they go into fight mode they do not back down.
I was impressed how well they adapted. Compared to rural turkeys I've encountered they were quite calm.
Luckily, turkey psychology is easy - if the tom perceives you as a manly turkey, you're another tom, and we need to fight to establish who is the bigger turkey. If you're perceived as a lady turkey, you're a potential date, so I'm going to inflate my gross head penis (aka snood) at you to impress you.
So all I had to do was whack them in the wings with a putter when they tried to hit me with them, until they admitted I was indeed the biggest turkey.
Although they still kept showing their obscene snood to my wife for a bit, until I convinced them that she was my lady turkey, and off limits.
And just yesterday, driving through the tangle of 35/94/55, my wife pointed out a dead turkey on the side of the road.
They don't usually ask for a second or third fact after that.
Do you pick the duck-sized horses or the horse-sized duck?
On a golf course.
>> I should think the head/bill area would be hard to hit and painful.
Significantly harder to hit but significantly less painful than a human head.
Plus geese lead with their heads. Classic boxing mistake.
I didn't hurt the bird, but a good pop did make him and his two buddies rethink trying to attack me for daring to come within 200yrds of them on the fairway. I've seen some people get upset about pace of play, but this was the first time I saw the forward group come after the back one.
I went with a punch instead of the golf club I had in my hand because I didn't want to kill the bird.
Filed that one away.
Edit: Dumb question. I can think of a few who would most likely love the publicity...
Most people - especially in cities - aren’t used to wildlife and are easily scared, just as those turkeys aren’t used to a dog chasing after them.
The first time I was in NYC there was a raccoon in the center of a trail in Central Park, just kind of chilling. Everyone was giving it a ridiculously wide berth and people looked at me like I was crazy for walking right by it. It’s just a raccoon. As long as it’s not rabid it’s less potentially dangerous than many dogs.
Of course, there’s the flip side of the coin where people think it’s OK to approach large wildlife in national parks…
Thing is, if a raccoon is just chilling and isn't terrified of people near it, there's a very real chance it is rabid.
People feed squirrels and raccoons, and then some random passerby ends up getting attacked by the habituated animal who wants food. Squirrels can easily draw blood.
As god is my witness, I thought turkeys couldn't fly?