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Joe Pelonio
10-06-2008, 7:51 AM
I was born in San Francisco and lived in the Bay Area for 40 years before moving here to the Seattle area. In the time I never saw a wild turkey.

This weekend we were down there for a wedding. First, at my sister's home in Walnut Creek we saw probably a dozen of them in the front yard. Then, at a friend's home in Castro Valley, near where we used to live, we saw another 6-8 of them on the sloped part of the back yard. On the way to a winery in Sunol, there were a few more at the side of the road. Where did all these come from? We asked our friends and they had no idea, said they had started to show up 5-6 years ago.

David G Baker
10-06-2008, 8:55 AM
Joe,
We must still live in parallel universes. I was born in Michigan and left when I was 14, never saw a deer or a wild turkey. Left California without seeing either. Returned to Michigan 42 years later, deer and wild turkeys are all over the place.
I have been back here in Michigan for around 7 years. During Winter we feed as many as 25 deer every night in our front yard but have yet to see a living buck with antlers. Three years ago I returned to California to visit family in the Sacramento area and took a side trip to Folsom Prison to check out the craft shop. On the long winding road to the prison we saw over 50 wild turkeys and when we reached the prison parking lot there were 5 or 6 deer roaming around that had unbelievable racks.
When I was a kid I spent days roaming around the hills surrounding Folsom Lake and never saw any critters other than a few rattlers and a jack rabbit or two.
I have only had one wild turkey show up at my place but they are almost every other place I go.

Rod Torgeson
10-06-2008, 9:05 AM
Just yesterday coming home from my weekly shopping in town(The Dalles, Oregon) I came around this corner and there were about a dozen or so in the middle of the road. If I hadn't slowed down I would have hit one or two. They scattered every which way. I see them every now and then when I am going or coming from town(its about 25 miles one way). I see deer all the time.

Rod<---in Appleton, WA

Craig D Peltier
10-06-2008, 10:16 AM
Back in SE Massachusetts as well ,loaded with turkeys that were never there 5 or less yrs ago. Had to stop twice in 10 days on road for turkeys.

Then something I never saw there in the wild I saw here last week. Two ring necked pheasants , they were there in the morning then when i was back at 5pm just off of a parking lot.

98143

98144

Bob Rufener
10-06-2008, 10:58 AM
The state of Wisconsin did some kind of swap with Missouri in 1976. I don't remember what was sent to Missouri but we received a bunch of wild turkeys. They have reproduced in huge numbers and now cover most of the state. A few winters ago, I saw over 100 birds in a cut corn field about 4 miles from our house. We occasionally have from 1 to 12 birds under our bird feeder. We had one a few years ago that spent half the summer around the house and frequently came on our deck to peck at the intruder turkey image she saw of herself in the patio door glass. I enjoy hunting them and have bagged 2 toms and a jake (young tom). Not as good eating as the domestic but a challenge to hunt. My last bird taken was over 24 lbs and had the misfortune of walking toward my decoys just as I awoke from a nice nap. The beard was about 11 inches long and the spurs were 1 1/4" long. His tail, beard, and spurs now reside on the wall in our sun room.

Mike Wilkins
10-06-2008, 1:25 PM
I have seen a few wild turkeys and drank a few wild turkeys here in eastern North Carolina. Its getting that time of year when both will start to be seen all over the place, including the highways.
Keep your eyes open guys.

Joe Pelonio
10-06-2008, 2:01 PM
Not as good eating as the domestic but a challenge to hunt.
I wondered about that, because people have been chasing them away rather that catching them for supper.

David G Baker
10-06-2008, 2:23 PM
On several occasions I have had free range turkey and found it delicious. I have only had wild turkey once and found it to be very good but haven't had enough to make a judgement call on how the meat compares with commercially raised turkeys.

mark page
10-06-2008, 8:58 PM
Got them in my area by the scores. Not uncommon to see flocks of 20-30 of them at a time. In fact there is one hen that is bound and determined to take my windshield out appx 4 times a week. I have to take it slow and easy driving within a few blocks of the house.
As for eating, there is nothing better than wild turkey. Breast it, slice it like tenderloin and either fry or deep fat fry it. Whatever you do, don't bake it like a thanksgiving turkey. As for the spirits, it ranks up there pretty high too:D.

Jim Becker
10-06-2008, 10:54 PM
Wild turkeys have "come back" from the brink of extinction and are pretty numerious these days. They are also bolder (by necessity) due to the shear amount of development since they still need to gather food to live. (a big part of their diet is acorns) Development also affects their travels negatively...the large flock that we used to have visit doesn't come by anymore since a big development of McMansions went up nearby. It's distrupted their feeding trails in a major way. 'Shame as I love watching and feeding them.

Justin Leiwig
10-07-2008, 6:34 AM
I have one on my way to work that is determined to make me have a heart attack. In the morning sometimes she will fly right across the road in front of me, and in the afternoon coming home I always seem to get stopped where she runs into the side of my car charging the image of herself.

Butch Edwards
10-07-2008, 2:40 PM
..nothing like hearing a Gobbler @ daybreak, on a crisp spring morning... been huntin' 'em for over 25 yrs... it's spiritual I tell ya. if you ever get the chance to go...go..if for nothing else, you'll hear nature at a time that no other season can offer.;)

Jim Becker
10-07-2008, 9:31 PM
Justin, I used to have a big male that loved to admire himself in the chrome bumper of the Tundra I used to drive. (Just like our Cocketiel loves to show off for that "other Cocketiel" in the mirrors in his cage) I actually was able to walk within about 6 feet of him several times (without getting attacked). I suspect he remembered who was putting out the sunflower seeds...LOL

Cliff Rohrabacher
10-08-2008, 8:20 AM
We had a whole passel of 'em in our back woods a few years ago.

They were so charming and cute wandering out of the woods all over the driveway. Till they started to crap everywhere.

Same with Geese.
In the north country you'd be out late at night in the fall when the snow was falling and hear the geese flying by moonlight heading south. Sometimes you catch a glimpse of one of nature's cooler wonders as they flew past the moon. In the drear cold days just before winter's heartless grasp caught everything up, the Geese flying overhead was a wonderful sound. You'd look up and see that georgous wonder of the Wedge of Geese winging their way south.

But in wet New Jersey, geese are synonymous with crap all over the place and lakes that stink all summer.


Something about crap all over the place just takes the shine off things.

Terry Achey
10-09-2008, 10:53 PM
..nothing like hearing a Gobbler @ daybreak, on a crisp spring morning... been huntin' 'em for over 25 yrs... it's spiritual I tell ya. if you ever get the chance to go...go..if for nothing else, you'll hear nature at a time that no other season can offer.;)

You're so right, Butch! Nothing.... nothing in the woods compares to the sound of spring gobblers at daybreak. I just finished turning some new slate calls tonight. ;)

Terry

Andy Pedler
10-10-2008, 12:07 AM
Where did all these come from?

Joe, here in the Bay Area the turkey population is booming and they are actually becoming a nuisance. The reason is the urban sprawl that has pushed out predators like coyotes. With the coyotes gone the turkeys flourish.

Don't worry about hunting them. Lots of people do, and if anything, it likely helps the ecosystem, as the populations of most large predators are way down, so fewer turkeys are being eaten by coyotes, wolves, etc.. Turkeys have never been, and likely never will be, near extinction. They are relatively common birds over a large part of the country.

Andy - Newark, CA

John Keeton
10-10-2008, 4:49 AM
My last bird taken was over 24 lbs and had the misfortune of walking toward my decoys just as I awoke from a nice nap. The beard was about 11 inches long and the spurs were 1 1/4" long. His tail, beard, and spurs now reside on the wall in our sun room.

Bob, that is a nice bird! You and the others are correct about hunting them. I have deer hunted for years, and 6-8 years ago had friends urge me to turkey hunt - but it didn't seem to interest me. Went once, and got hooked! I hunt the spring season with a shotgun and sitting under a roost at daybreak is pure enjoyment. I bowhunt deer in the fall/winter, I usually am able to get a bird or two that happen by my stand.

As everyone has noted, the population is thriving everywhere. Coyotes and development do have an impact, but weather is probably the biggest factor. A really wet spring/summer is hard on the poults and effects the survival rate.

The breast is really the only part worth eating, and I usually slice them into fingerlets, dip them in maple syrup, roll in flour (w/salt, pepper, a little cayenne), and skillet fry them in peanut oil. You can get the peanut oil a little hotter without smoking. That keeps the meat more moist and prevents it from absorbing as much oil.

Jim Becker
10-10-2008, 6:33 AM
Turkeys have never been, and likely never will be, near extinction.

Sorry, Andy, but that's not true. Wild turkeys were indeed at risk and at very low population until just before the Great Depression. At that point, you would have been hard pressed to see one anywhere except in some very remote areas. A number of US states, such as MA, had no wild turkey populations by then. (A quick Google search will bring up quite a bit of information on this topic)

They have certainly rebounded, however...to the extent that in some areas, you could easily agree that there is overpopulation due to lack of predation and an easy food supply. Now, I just wish "my flock" would start visiting again. I love to watch them, but with so much development, their feeding pattern has been disrupted.

Joe Pelonio
10-10-2008, 7:01 AM
Our friends and relatives that have them now say they have only been around for 5-6 years, and wish they would go away. They are a nuisance because they leave a mess on the decks and patios, and damage plants and vegetable gardens. Unfortunately these are in areas with city or county ordinances against shooting within their limits. They do allow a special depredation permit to kill them but then you have to use something other than firearms. I have never seen a wild turkey around here in WA but then we do see coyotes all the time.

Cliff Rohrabacher
10-10-2008, 8:55 AM
Turkeys have never been, and likely never will be, near extinction.

And all one needs do it turn in CSPAN to see proof of this.

Jim Becker
10-10-2008, 7:53 PM
And all one needs do it turn in CSPAN to see proof of this.

Very true, but a different species, despite being "wild" sometimes... ;)

Terry Achey
10-10-2008, 11:15 PM
Jim is absolutely correct about turkeys nearing extinction. Same with the whitetail deer in the NE around the turn of the last century. National Wild Turkey Federation is responsible for capture and transfer of wild turkeys (not pen raised) accross many state lines of the past three decades or so. Wonderful recovery story. Coyotes still take their fair share of birds even in and around populated areas. As many as half or more of broods are taken by predation each spring and summer. Hawks and owls love to dine on young poults, too. Jim, I gaurantee you have coyotes traveling through your property. They're masters at staying virtually undetected and unseen by everyone. Nonetheless, the sign is there and so are they. They've learned to adapt to population densities quite well.

Terry

James A. Wolfe
10-13-2008, 1:32 AM
Wild turkeys are one of the success stories. A lot of forward looking Wildlife Departments worked together on swaps and reintroduced them in a number of areas. I live 10 miles south of Cincinnati and see turkeys nearly every day. I've seen up to 40 in a large gathering but generally 3 or 4 is the norm. Thought about taking one this season but....
Jim

Butch Edwards
10-13-2008, 7:40 AM
You're so right, Butch! Nothing.... nothing in the woods compares to the sound of spring gobblers at daybreak. I just finished turning some new slate calls tonight. ;)

Terry
oooooh... pics please!! and where can a man get one?

John Keeton
10-13-2008, 8:06 AM
oooooh... pics please!! and where can a man get one?
And, those are the words a craftsman lives for!! I would be interested as well, Terry.