Diet

Wild turkeys are opportunistic omnivores, eating a variety of plant and animal matter wherever and whenever available. Poults eat large quantities of insects and other animal matter to get protein needed for rapid development. Poults double their weight each week for the first 4 weeks. As turkeys grow older, plant material becomes the primary food source. About 90 percent of the mature turkey's diet comes from plants, including green foliage of grasses, vines, and forbs; acorns; buds; seeds; and fruits of various types.

Wild turkeys eat a variety of cultivated crops, including soybeans, corn, sorghum, wheat, oats, ryegrass, chufa, and clovers. Often these species are planted in food plots. While food plots are controversial in their actual benefits to wild turkeys, they are more biologically sound than are supplemental feedings. Supplemental feeding can be detrimental to turkey populations, because it tends to concentrate flocks, making them more susceptible to poaching, and facilitates the transmission of parasites and diseases.