Minnesota's landscape has changed markedly over the past century. Farms have replaced wetlands and woods, mostly to the detriment of wildlife. But there are exceptions. White-tailed deer and geese thrive in farmed lands. And so do wild turkeys.
Farms provide corn, an excellent winter food source for wild turkeys.
Left on the stalk in food plots, corn remains above even deep snow. The birds also scratch for the kernels in manure spread by dairy farmers in windswept fields. In counties where the natural landscape once produced too little food for wild turkeys to survive, the conversion to agriculture has helped the big birds to thrive. Wildlife managers now believe that wild turkeys could live in Minnesota as far north as corn is grown as an agricultural crop. The ideal habitat is an oak woods next to a cornfield.