Wild turkey menace: Angry birds are pecking cars, deflating kiddie pools and harassing the elderly

[MineralMan]

22. A couple of years ago, a wild turkey tom decided that

the parking lot at my local ACE hardware was HIS territory. Customers would drive in and park, and Tom would run over to their cars and threaten them when they tried to leave their cars to enter the store. The staff in the store thought that was really amusing, which surprised me, because some of the people just left to go a few blocks to the Home Depot.

I'm not afraid of any Tom turkey, though. So, I pulled in and he ran over to block me from getting out of the car. I ignored old Tom and used the door to push him out of the way so I could get out. That appeared to enrage the big gobbler, who thought it would be a good idea to go for me after I was standing on the pavement

I wasn't having any of that, so I raised my arms so they were straight out from my shoulders, stamped my feet, and rushed poor old Tom. The turkey turned around and scampered away in the face of my challenge. I was a much bigger turkey and was clearly coming for him. He ran off and hid behind the Propane refilling station. But I followed him, and chased him around the parking lot, making loud noises and flapping my arms wildly as I went.

Poor Tom Turkey. When he was fled to the vacant lot next to the parking lot, I went into the store to get what I came for. The store staff was laughing loudly. I guess I put on quite a show for them. Anyhow, the next time I went to that store, one of the employees told me that the turkey had stopped bothering people in the parking lot, but was still hanging around.

The same trick, I found, works for geese, too. Just become a bigger, meaner bird and go after the challenger.