Turkey Hunting >> Turkey Hunting Tips

The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is the heaviest member of the Galliformes, and is one of two species of turkey ( the other is the Ocellated Turkey, found in Central and South America). Adult wild turkeys have a small, featherless, bluish head; a red throat; long reddish-orange legs; and a dark-brown body. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles; in excited turkeys, a fleshy flap on the bill expands, becoming engorged with blood. Males have red wattles on the throat and neck. Each foot has four toes, and males have rear spurs on their lower legs.

Turkeys have a long, dark, fan-shaped tail and glossy bronze wings and as with many other species of the Galliformes, turkeys exhibit strong sexual dimorphism. The male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence. Female feathers are duller overall, in shades of brown and gray. Parasites can dull coloration of both sexes; in males, coloration may serve as a signal of health; the primary wing feathers have white bars.

Wild turkeys have 5,000 - 6,000 feathers and the feathers of the tail reach the same length in adult birds but different length in the young. Males normally have “beards” which consist of adapted feathers that protrude from the chest and they normally measure 9 inches. In some groups, 10%-20% of the females have beards, generally shorter as well as thinner than the males’. The typical weight of an adult male pheasant is 8.2 kg (18 lb) while an adult female’s is 3.2 kg (8 lb).

Turkeys are amazingly lively fliers and extremely sly, nothing like their domestic equivalents. In the air they are capable of reaching 50 mph (80 km/h). They regularly fly near the ground for just a quarter of a mile (400 m). In the early spring, the males, also known as gobblers or toms, guzzle to declare their being there to females as well as rival males. Males also release a low-pitched pulsation sound whereas hens “yelp” with the purpose of letting gobblers know of their location. Toms frequently yelp just like females and hens are capable of gobbling, although they hardly ever do so.

Even though turkeys regularly feed in the woods, for mating the birds move toward areas that offer visibility, like open woods, pastures, fields and even calm roads, by use of their exceptional eyesight to observe danger. The open areas around woods or brush offer displaying males as well as females they draw a rapid means of getaway. Hens usually nest on ground at the foot of a tree or bush, or in soaring grass and at nighttime, they settle in trees. Turkeys that live close to lakes can roost on tree branches overhanging water.

Wild Turkeys, which do not migrate, have benefited from reintroduction programs across the United States, where not hunted or harassed, they often become accustomed to human proximity. Turkeys have taken up residence on golf courses and are reported to be established in New York City’s Central Park. City dwellers and suburbanites have generally welcomed this influx, though a few view turkeys as interlopers. Although every spring media reports make much of turkeys crossing city streets, wandering into buildings or up fire escapes, and standing their ground against humans, such incidents hardly represent the norm.

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