Hunting, the stalking and killing of animals, has been an American tradition since the Ice Age. Hunting of the wild turkey is a tradition held in the early fall, right around Thanksgiving time. With the turkey being the traditional meal on Thanksgiving it is common for families to enjoy their prize as a family meal.
The fall season has regained its popularity recently with the ever-increasing numbers of turkeys. Over 40 states now host fall turkey seasons and more and more hunters are discovering the excitement of hunting in the fall.
The North American wild turkey has a small, featherless, head, red and sometime blue in color. Long reddish-orange or grayish-blue legs and a dark brown or black body are the key features to the turkey. Most popular are the turkey’s long, fan-shaped tail and glossy bronze wings, but what people don’t often know is that the male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold, while the female has duller overall feathers.
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The turkey is often found in open fields, pastures, shrubby growths, and even quiet woods. People always wonder why such a hunted bird would be found in the open. The turkey has a very keen sense of sight, staying in the open allows the turkey to spot danger, and display itself to the female turkey. They tend to stay near the woods allowing for a quick escape when danger approaches.
Turkey hunting is traditionally a thinking man’s game. Concealing yourself from your surroundings and from your prey is the goal of most turkey hunters. Camouflage, turkey calls and decoys are the most popular items sold for turkey season. Getting the turkey in the open long enough to take aim and fire is the hardest part, that’s why patience is the number 1 key to turkey hunting.
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Learning to call turkeys is not difficult. Humans learn to converse with each other using different tones, volumes and words. Turkey’s speak similarly to that, using different tones and volumes to communicate. As humans may whisper for privacy and talk fast with excitement, the wild turkey may cluck softly to acknowledge the presence of another bird, yelp fast when lost from the flock, or use a loud sharp manner to warn of danger. Experts advice hunters to learn all you can about the communication of turkeys, listen, observe and soon you will be talking back to them.
There are many techniques to turkey hunting, but whatever way you decide to hunt, killing a mature longbeard turkey is no easy task. But, if you do, the reward is worth twice the work. Mounting the prize or enjoying it with your family on the table, you’ll be glad you went hunting for turkey. Gobble Gobble!!
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