Eye on the Outdoors

Wild turkeys have proven to be versatile birds

Bob Ballantyne

POSTED: May 10, 2010

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Fact Box

Natural Facts
Incidents of wild turkeys laying eggs in grouse nests have been recorded, but evidence of successful hatches is lacking.
Turkeys have been observed swimming, but they do so poorly. A Montana canoeist once photographed one going over a low waterfall and surviving.
Turkey poults are good fliers by the age of six weeks, but suffer high mortality between hatching and that skill development.
The scientific name of the wild turkey, Meleagris gallapavo, was given to the bird in 1758 by the originator of the idea of two-part scientific names, Carolus Linnaeus. It means “guinea fowl-peafowl,” suggesting that Linnaeus was himself confused as how to classify the bird.

It was in mid-May last year, and the Hunting Digest showed the opening moment for spring gobbler hunting to be 5:14 a.m. That fact forced me out of bed at the hunting camp early enough to enter the greening Pike County woodland just after 4 a.m. Personally, I like to give the woods as much time as possible to settle down after my trek, guided in the dark by the GPS to a favored stand. In addition to the obvious advantage to the hunt, such a predawn arrival allows one to enjoy an experience second only to bagging a spring gobbler, that of being able to listen to the woodland at sunrise.

A few whip-poor-wills were singing uphill from me in the waning darkness, and just as the first dim light formed against the eastern sky, the rustle of the critters of the night returning to their dens could be heard throughout the forest. Only occasionally would one come close enough for its shadowy form to be seen, but past experiences allowed one to picture in the mind’s eye skunks, raccoons, opossums, or porcupines, all scurrying home for a day’s rest after foraging during the night.

With the first true light came the music of the songbirds, my favorite being the singing of the wood and hermit thrushes. Those songs were mixed with warblers, vireos, and a host of other males defending their territory. Geese were honking overhead from some distant “V,” and the persistent cawing of crows came from a multitude of compass points. As the sky lightened, however, I paid more attention to the task at hand. My ears strained for the reverberating sound of a treetop gobbler, but this morning was to be one of silence. As 5:30 drifted to 7 a.m., no male turkey spoke of his presence, and doubts about a successful hunt became more pronounced.

Fortunately, the hope that springs eternal in the mind of the sportsman kept me seated in my selected hideout, and eventually, a heart-accelerating gobble was heard, one coming from a direction I did not expect. This bird was going to have to cross a paved road that bisected the section of state forest in which I sat. He went silent but responded immediately to a stroke of my box call, an act he would repeat with each well-spaced sounding. I had a bit of a sense of selfishness born of the knowledge that no other calls were heard, and I thus knew I had the forest to myself. With each answer, I could tell he was obviously getting closer, but success was not to be. On this morning, this gobbler apparently collected a harem, ignored my feeble pleas, and circled around heading for a strutting ground well out of my sight.

Such behavior is one characteristic among many that enables this species to survive in the face of hunting pressure, for no gobbler will leave a gathering of hens to track down one clucking female resistant to joining the party. Other characteristics also assist in survival, not in just dealing with the human hunter, but with other predators in its domain. Incredible eyesight is one of them, and it has been my hunting experience that it might be second only to that of a groundhog’s visual acuity among hunted species. Also, better than the groundhog in one area is the fact that turkeys have color vision and are extremely acute at detecting motion.

Predator avoidance is enhanced by their coloration, which provides a measure of camouflage, as does their ability to run at over 12 miles per hour. Many reports indicate turkeys can fly at over 35 miles per hour, but some studies claim that value is as high as 55 miles per hour. Roosting in trees is another behavior that contributes to survival of the population. Also the act of traveling in flocks may confuse predators as to which bird to pursue, giving the group a jump on fleeing an enemy. Prolific reproductive capacity is also a survival trait of value, and the ability of females to re-nest after destruction of a clutch contributes to that reproductive success.

The gobbler I was working that morning, along with the harem of hens I am sure he had collected, eventually moved well off in the distance and ended his morning talk. I rose from my location, donned some fluorescent orange, and walked to the area where I perceived he had headed after ignoring my calls. There I found an open area with the telltale signs of scratching and, perhaps, some strutting. That location will be an area for a possible setup on some future hunt.