Turkey hunters open the spring hunting season Saturday and from all indications it will be one of the best seasons in years. In fact, many of the county”s rural residents are saying turkeys are becoming pests by eating their flowers and leaving their droppings on decks and driveways.
Lake County has two species of wild turkeys. The most common one is the Rio Grande, which can be found in the lower elevations. The turkeys around Lakeport and Clearlake are Rio Grandes, which are identified by the buff-colored tips on their tails.
The other species in the county is rarely seen and that”s the Merriam. This is a high-country turkey and the only ones in the county are located in the Mendocino National Forest. The white tips on its tail feathers and wings identify the Merriam. Both species were introduced into the county a number of years ago.
Male turkeys are called toms and the females are called hens. An immature tom is called a jake and an immature hen is called a jenny. A jake can be identified from an adult tom by the non-symmetrical tail when the tail is fanned out. The center feathers on a jake are about an inch longer than the rest of the feathers in the tail.
With rare exceptions a tom will have what is called a beard that protrudes from its breast. The beard is actually a set of stiff feathers and grows continually throughout the bird”s life. Occasionally a hen also has a beard, but it”s normally smaller than a tom”s. The tom also has spurs and only the tom is capable of making a gobble sound.
All turkeys roost in trees at night. They fly up to the higher branches just before dark. They stay in the roost tree until daylight.
The breeding season for turkeys starts in March and continues through May. The tom gobbles, struts and fans out his tail to attract a willing hen. Most of the flocks are made up of from 10 to 12 hens, a dominant gobbler and several young jakes. The jakes usually hang on the fringe of the flock, looking for an opportunity to breed with one of the hens when the dominant tom is busy.
During the day the hens will readily breed with the tom. They will then go off and lay one or two eggs in a nest, after which they return to the flock. When the hen has laid eight to 10 eggs she leaves the flock for good and incubates the eggs. The chicks are hatched in 28 days. At the age of about 10 days the chicks are capable of flying to the tree and will roost with their mother.
In addition to the hunter, mountain lions, coyotes and golden eagles are the primary threats to the turkey. A turkey can live as long as 10 years but most are lucky to survive five years due to predation and disease.
Hunting wild turkeys is the fastest-growing hunting sport in the state. Despite what many people think, a turkey is not an easy bird to hunt. They have a viewing range of 300 degrees without turning their head and are one of the wariest creatures in the woods.
Turkeys are normally the most active from daylight until 11 a.m. and then late in the afternoon from 2 p.m. until dark, when they head to the roost tree. This is the time when you will hear the most gobbles and when they will answer a call. Turkeys often rest in thick cover during midday.
By mid-April, many of the hens have left the flock for good and the toms are basically running out of hens. The tom will then go on the march looking for new hens. This is the time when he is vulnerable to a call from a hunter and it often takes only a yelp or two to bring the tom charging to you.
By the first week in May, just about all the hens are sitting on nests and nature tells the tom the breeding season is over.
The season runs through May 1 (there is an extended archery-only season from May 2-May 15). The shooting hours are a half-hour before sunrise to 4 p.m. The limit is one bearded turkey per day and a total of three for the season. In addition to a current hunting license, all hunters are required to possess an Upland Game Stamp.
