Turkey hunters open the spring hunting season Saturday and from all indications it should be a good season. Wild turkeys aren’t native to California but were first introduced in 1877 on the island of Santa Cruz. While the first birds didn’t survive, the Department of Fish and Wildlife successfully stocked wild turkeys in several counties beginning in 1959. Whereas 25 years ago it was rare to see a wild turkey in Lake County, now they are so common many rural residents say they are becoming pests by eating flowers and leaving droppings on decks and driveways.
Lake County has two species of wild turkeys. The most common is the Rio Grande, which can be found in the lower elevations. The turkeys around Lakeport and Clearlake are Rio Grandes. They can be identified by the buff-colored tips on their tails. The other species 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, such as near Hull Mountain. The Merriam can be identified by the white tips on their tail feathers and wings. 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 its 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 tail feathers.
With rare exceptions a tom has what is called a beard protruding from its breast. The beard is actually a set of stiff feathers that grow 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 gobbling sound.
All turkeys roost in trees at night. They fly up to the higher branches just before dark and stay there 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 10-12 hens, a dominant gobbler and several young jakes. The jakes usually hang on the fringe of the flock looking for an opportunity to breed one of the hens when the dominant tom is busy.
During the day the hens will readily breed with the tom. They then go off by themselves and lay one or two eggs in a nest after which they return to the flock. When the hen has laid between eight and 10 eggs, she leaves the flock for good and incubates the eggs. The chicks hatch in 28 days. At the age of about 10 days the chicks are capable of flying to the tree and roost with their mother.
In addition to the hunter, the primary predator of turkeys are mountain lions, coyotes and golden eagles. A turkey can live as long as 10 years but most are lucky to survive five years in the wild because of predation and disease.
Despite what many think, a turkey is not an easy bird to hunt. Turkeys can see in a 300-degree arc without turning their heads and are one of the wariest creatures in the woods.
The best call for a tom in a tree includes a series of soft yelps and putts. You also can make what is called the “fly down” cackle to get the tom more excited. Actually, the first 30 minutes of the day are when the tom is most vulnerable. Later in the day when he teams up with his hens it can be almost impossible to call him in.
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 return 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 to breed with. The tom will then go on the march looking for new hens. This is the time when he is vulnerable to a call and it often takes only a yelp or two to bring the tom charging at 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 3 (there is an extended archery-only season from May 4-17). 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.
