Wild Turkeys Of Montana

Wild Turkeys Of Montana
Watching a flock of wild turkey move across a Montana meadow is a fine sight. They forage, yelp and gobble, oblivious to the plight of millions of their domesticated brothers doomed to grace holiday tables. If you are a wild turkey living in Montana, it is extremely unlikely that you will ever wind up in the oven.
Once non-existent, Montanas wild turkey population is flourishing. Distinguished from other birds by their impressive size, iridescent bronze-colored plumage and naked bluish head, wild turkeys are a prized addition to the states diverse upland game bird population.
Though the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopova) is native to North America and was an valuable staple in the Native Indian diet regime across most of America, it is only in the final fifty years that the succulent bird could be located in Montana.
Merriam turkeys are truly native to Colorado and were introduced into central Montana in 1954 with 13 birds obtained from our Colorado neighbors. In 1955 a further 18 birds from Wyoming stock were introduced to Montana. The hardy new residents thrived and as their population grew surplus birds were trapped and transported to other components of the state.
Presently there are about thirty Merriams turkey flocks with huntable sized populations in about seven areas of the state. Hunted in Montana due to the fact 1958, wild turkeys have become a favored game bird. Montana has both a spring and fall gobbler season, but dont be as well worried about the turkey. Prosperous turkey hunting takes a highly high degree of ability and luck. Wild turkeys are wary, have especially keen hearing and eyesight and a seemingly magical capacity to disappear through hunting season.
Mt.gov, Montanas Official Site gives the following details and points for turkey hunters:
Montana has a spring gobbler season and an either-sex fall season. Hunters are needed to purchase a turkey tag in addition to a bird and conservation license. Hunters are allowed one wild turkey per particular tag holder per special season. Favorite hunting areas involve the Extended Pines and Ashland areas of the Custer National Forest and portions of Fergus County and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Certain information and facts on season hunting dates, open and closed places, and other knowledge on regulations can be obtained from the turkey regulations for the spring and fall hunts.
Regularly, productive turkey hunting for toms demands a high degree of skill. Wild turkeys are really wary and possess keen color vision and beneficial hearing capability.
Getting a spot to hunt turkeys in the spring does not present significant difficulties since a lot hunting in eastern Montana happens on either U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Bureau of Land Management land. But obtaining turkeys can present a dilemma. Preseason scouting for sign left by turkeys is the ideal way to find a very good hunting location. Signs to look for are roost trees, droppings, feathers, scratch and dusting locations. Also, listen for gobbling. Make a note of feeding places. In the timbered areas, preferred roost trees are tall, over- mature and dead ponderosa pines that are sheltered from high winds. A lot of the turkey range east of the Continental Divide is on private property. You should have permission to hunt turkeys on private property.
Climbing a high butte through late afternoon and scanning the open park regions with a spotting scope is a fantastic way to spot turkeys. If any toms are in the vicinity, chances are high-quality they will be out in the open going through their courtship display. Once you spot a tom, mark his place and arrive there early the next morning before he leaves the roost tree. Some hunters use an owl hooter for the duration of the early morning to get roosted birds to call back. Hooters are commercial mouth-blown devices that imitate a huge owl's hoot. Once a gobbler is positioned, the hunter can move in quietly, then hide and use his turkey call.
If you don't hear a bird gobble of its own volition, move via the woods and make quite a few hen yelps every single 300 to 400 yards. Such calling should be carried out only from a location where you can hide rapidly and also have a really good view of the surroundings.
Be in the woods by the crack of dawn due to the fact this is when the breeding-age toms begin sounding off with lusty gobbles audible half a mile away on a nonetheless morning. Breeding-age toms do most of their gobbling for the duration of the initial two hours of daylight, but through the height of the mating season, an occasional gobble could be heard at any time of the day.
If you hear way more than one tom gobbling, move in on the closest tom as rapidly as attainable. Stalking a extra distant tom could possibly result in a busted stalk.
When calling to a tom on the roost early in the morning, a couple of soft, sleepy clucks works improved than the hen yelp. A tom is reluctant to respond to a really like yelp so early in the morning.
Regardless of whether you wear camouflage or not, your clothes should blend with the foliage around you. Though some hunters swear by facial camouflage and clothes, other fine hunters are inclined to think one's movements spook turkeys.
Exactly where really should you take a stand? After a gobbler sounds, attempt to move within 200 yards of his position and then opt for a stand in a fairly open region. As a common rule, turkeys stay clear of thickets that could conceal an enemy. A turkey likes a particular amount of ground cover inside the timber to make it feel secure. On the other hand, the ground cover ought to be open adequate to instantly afford the turkey good vision, let it to walk devoid of touching or coming into bodily get in touch with with thick ground growth and assure it rapid wing action and passage if need be. Turkeys are like any other animals-their behavior is largely directed toward survival. When you are on a stand, sit nevertheless and be patient. Smoking, coughing and other unnecessary movements merely do not fit into the strategic strategy for hunting turkeys.
Try to get uphill and on the similar ridge as a gobbler. It's the easiest spot to call from. Turkeys are a lot less difficult to call uphill than downhill.
When deciding on a calling web page, appear for a tree with a very good thick base. Sit in front of it, and use it as a backrest.
Weather circumstances play a large component in the achievement of the spring gobbler hunt. A day that starts with a clear, cool morning and no wind is a excellent option for hunting turkeys. Eastern Montana regrettably has its share of inclement weather throughout the spring turkey season. Cold climate-particularly when coupled with a foot of snow-commonly dampens the amorous attitudes of gobblers, generating calling just about useless. If such weather circumstances take place, remain home, practice your calls, read up on the life history of the wild turkey and hope for a far better day.
While rifles are legal, most turkey hunters choose working with a 12-gauge shotgun with a full choke and applying .two or No. 4 shot. Turkeys are massive, hard birds, and their crucial organs are tucked away beneath heavy, metallic-colored feathers. Breeding-age toms also have what is named a breast sponge, which acts like a flak jacket. It is a significant mass of fatty tissue that helps them stay in prime physical condition in the course of the breeding season. Wild turkeys also have blinding speed afoot, and even a broken wing seldom outcomes in a turkey in the oven. Given that a turkey's physique is nothing less than a miniature armored-tank, preferred places to shoot at are head and neck.
Selecting a call presents a bewildering issue for the beginner, especially if he asks for guidance - couple of turkey hunters are most likely to agree on a selection. This diversity is understandable, because calls differ widely in look and system of operation.
One of the most popular and easiest to use is the substantial hinged-sort box call. The best edges of the box are beveled and are chalked by the user. By drawing the paddle or lid rather slowly and gently across either lip, the low, seductive mating yelp of a hen can be imitated. Concentrate your efforts on understanding to imitate only the hen yelps and clucks. These are definitely the only two calls you have to discover for a prosperous hunt. The yelp is soft and plaintive and often uttered in a series of threes. Visualize it as: "kee-yuk, kee-yuk, kee-yuk . . . . crucial-yuk, crucial-yuk". It have to be accomplished pleadingly with medium-pitched sounds, and with every perk ending on a rising inflection. A calling sequence really should start off with four or five yelps.
The rhythm of the yelping sequence is far much more valuable than the tone, and this is what you should certainly try to excellent when calling. Surprisingly sufficient, some hens will produce yelps that are genuinely off key. When the hen is responsive to the gobbler, her call is snappy and to the point. As soon as you make some hen yelps, the tom will generally respond swiftly with a gobble. Make a second call soon following the very first to convince him that he truly heard what he thought he did. Then, stay quiet for a although, regardless of how substantially he keeps gobbling. You can be sure he has zeroed in on your position and can come straight to you, if so inclined.
If he is nevertheless gobbling from the exact same location 10-15 minutes right after you last known as to him, you may possibly try a couple of clucks each and every 5 or ten minutes till he comes in. If the bird is a 2-year old tom unable to collect a harem of hens, he will regularly move in swiftly after hearing your hen yelps. But if you are operating on a long-bearded old tom with a complement of hens in the vicinity, you are quite possibly going to have a frustrating expertise.
The hens in his harem might go to him soon immediately after he starts gobbling and your early morning efforts to lure him to you often will be futile. A little patience and a completely different call may perhaps turn the tables. Below such a set of circumstances, a gobble from your box call might spell the margin of victory. Various box calls have a crisscross arrangement of rubber bands holding the lid gently to the box best. If you hold the call bottom down in the palm of your hand, deal with pointed away from you, a quick shake will generate a gobble. This call quite often moves a hesitant tom into range for the reason that he thinks a rival gobbler is moving in on his hens. Use it with caution, having said that, simply because it also may call up an additional hunter.
Likely the preferred way to study the yelping sequence of the hen turkey is to listen to a really good caller or to a turkey-calling instructional record. If you are halfway significant about learning the standard calls, practice the yelping sequence outdoors all through the year and don't wait till the day ahead of the hunt to critique your calling instructions and to start practicing yelps.
Wild turkeys seem to choose open ponderosa pine woodlands however, Montanas wild turkey population is adaptive and they fare effectively across most of Montana. You will obtain turkeys in thick grasslands as nicely as regions with deciduous trees and brush coverage.
Foraging on the ground, wild turkeys consume a wide wide variety of flower heads, tubers, seeds and insects. When offered, the sweet seeds of the ponderosa pine are favorites of the Merriam turkey. In Northwestern Montana, wild turkeys also eagerly feed on snowberries, service berries, chokecherries as well as rose hips. The turkeys are valuable in keeping spider and grasshopper populations controlled, happily snapping up the invasive insects. Cultivated grains including wheat, barley and oats are also favorite foods. Some of the larger turkey populations have prospered in proximity to grain fields. When out there, wild turkeys will also feast on modest vertebrates such as snakes, frogs and toads. Survival by way of Montanas fierce winters is generally dependent on the kindness of neighborhood landowners that supplement their diets with corn and grain.
Wild turkeys commonly nest on the ground, searching for shelter under brush close to woodlands that adjoin an open meadow. Turkeys will typically roost in trees at night.
Males have a prominent bright red neck wattle, a beard and spurs on their legs. The male sports a proud plumage of brownish-bronze feathers, tipped in black. An adult male is about 48 inches in length and will weigh an average of 17 pounds. Rather drab, the much more demur female is smaller with the back and breast feathers tipped in yellowish brown or yellow. A female will typical about 34 inches in length and weigh about 10 pounds.