|
California Turkey
It's about 5:00 am and shooting light is still 30 minutes or so, away. Stillness is just starting to settle back into this clearing after I've disturbed the natural rhythm of things, while easing into this blind. Now it's wait and listen time.
Things aren't quite the same as last year. Same spot, no snow. Same season, no skiers. Same quarry, no gobble. Is all to quiet? The roost is about 150 yards along the ridge and there should be more volume coming from that direction. There was last week when we were here scouting this flock. Did I spook them on my way in? No, there, a little wake-up gobble. OK!, now relax, breathe, just another 15 minutes.
Its getting light and they should be flying down just about any time. Oh, another gobble for all the hens, jakes and challenging toms. This gobbler is letting everyone know who's boss. Relax, settle down, get that heartbeat down to less than 100, wait, just wait. Ok, don't move. They're coming. Breathe. Slower.
Although native Americans have been hunting wild turkey as a food source for the last 4,000 years, wild turkey were absent from California for about 10,000 years. In 1908 the fish and game commission re-introduced 22 Rio Grande turkeys into the San Bernardino Mountains.  It was the beginning of a conservation effort that is still evolving today. After a couple of false starts and development problems a turkey population that numbered about 30,000 birds nationally in 1930 is now at a record 5 million birds in Canada, Mexico and every state but Alaska.
In 1973 when the National Wild Turkey Federation was established the estimated population if wild turkey was 1.3 million birds nationally. The spectacular growth to today's population levels can be attributed to the 300,000 member NWTF, their state agency partners and the 120 million dollars spent on approximately 10,000 "on-the-ground" habitat restoration programs.
Currently, in California, there are few counties without a population of one of the five sub-species of Meleagris gallopavo(wild turkey). Several counties are home to more than one, and San Diego County has its own hybrid. From sea level to the tops of pine covered mountains, turkey can be found in many habitats. Grassy oak foothills, high forested mountain ridges, and most geographical points in between offer roosting, nesting and brood rearing cover in addition to a dependable food and water source that can be home to one of the Rio Grande, Merriam's or Eastern subspecies.
In California, the first hunting season opened for turkey in 1968. The hunting unit was located in San Obispo County and the season lasted 1 day. In 1969 the season was extended to 2 days. Today the season is open statewide for 1 month in the spring and several weeks in the fall. In San Diego County there is no fall season and several sportsman organizations want to extend the fall closure to San Bernardino County also.
Today 2.5 million sportsmen consider themselves turkey hunters. The appeal is not based for the most part on harvesting a wild turkey, but rather on the method in which it is taken. Turkey can be hunted in the spring or fall, called or still hunted with your weapon of choice, bow or shotgun. Which ever flavor you prefer, a working knowledge of turkey behavior is required. Patient scouting is highly recommended and persistence is mandatory. The challenge of turkey hunting is that your most excellent plan will rarely work as expected.
When you think it's time to implement your best strategy, the first item on that plan had better be Safety. According to the National Safety Council, hunting has the lowest annual rate of outdoor recreation-related injuries requiring hospital emergency room treatment. Statistics show that you are more likely to be killed by lightening when outdoors than to be killed in a hunting accident. In a normal season, more hunters die from heart attacks than hunting accidents.
These same statistics also point to the fact that more hunting accidents are related to turkey hunting than to all other hunting activities combined. Think Safety first when turkey hunting. Never wear Red, White or Blue garments or underwear. Carry your decoys in an orange bag.
Never assume the answer you are receiving is from a turkey. Never assume the movement coming toward you is a turkey. Always identify what you are shooting at.
The "what you are shooting at" on a turkey should be the head and neck. They are a tough bird to bring down. On most gobblers, the exposed head and neck area is the preferred target for a load of No. 4, 5 or 6 shot. Because the target area is relatively small, some pre-season pattern work is necessary. You want the distribution of shot to center where you aim. You'll be amazed at where your favorite scatter gun prints compared to where you aim it. Different loads print to different areas and the center to center group spread can be 15" or more. Enough for a clean miss or a wounded bird. A scope, red-dot sight or the newer true-glow sights are a big help.
You may be wondering now about the rest of the activities and tricks that successful turkey hunters employ. A call to your local NWTF chapter will put you on the appropriate path to some useful knowledge and an insight toward your new endeavor. There are 1600 chapters nationally and 45 chapters in California. In addition to acquiring a little learning, some new friends and a new hunting experience, you can get actively involved in conservation projects that restore habitat, transplant birds or participate in studies that identify habitat preferences.
One of these mornings I'm going to convince that longbeard that I'm just the one he can't ignore. I'm going to use the right call at the right time and that big gobbler is going to strut and gobble his way into my sight picture. But not this morning. It's now time for plan "B". References:
|
