Could you imagine if the wild turkey was our National Bird? What species of turkey would it have been? Eastern? Merriam’s? Thanksgiving would have looked a whole lot different as well.

These are just some of the topics/debates we have around this time of year, especially now that we are all penned up in our homes during this pandemic. But its Spring, and that means, its time to talk turkey hunting. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at chasing these beautiful and witty birds, then be sure to follow along this month as we start with a basic over view of turkey hunting and then dive into calling methods, hunting tactics, and even show off some of our favorite Wild Turkey Recipes!

Turkeys abundantly live in almost all lower 49 states. Their habitat ranges from pine and magnolia forests in the south, to the great hard wood forests of the north there are five main species of turkeys that are found within the United States (Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Gould’s, and Merriam’s). They can be found almost everywhere walking around and feeding. They mainly eat plants and tend to forage in flocks for insects, nuts, and berries.

Believe it our not, turkeys do actually fly,… just not for long distances. At dust, turkeys will fly onto lower limbed trees and move upward jumping from limb to limb to a higher roosting spot where they will stay for the night away from predators. In the morning, they fly down (anything but gracefully) and begin the day again buy walking and foraging. This behavior is typically year-round, but the spring brings on a different behavior.

The spring months (April-May) are the main breeding window for wild turkeys. During this time, Tom’s (males) will be courting Hen’s (females) for breeding. Tom’s will start to gobble and ‘strut’ by puffing up their feathers to attract females and nothing gets a turkey hunter going like a loud gobble on a quite morning in the woods. During these months are where you as a hunter can employ your hunting tactics which we’ll cover this month. Because although turkeys have a brain the size of a pea, they have some of the best defense mechanisms.

A turkey’s eyesight is its’ most effective defense against predators. They can see about three times sharper than a human with 20/20 vison and can see nearly eight times further. Wild turkeys see in color and have exceptional daytime vision. We as humans can only see in 180 degrees, since our eyes are positioned on the front of our heads. A turkey’s eyes are located on either side of its head giving a field of view about 270 degrees. Not only that, turkeys have almost double the amount of sight receptors in their eyes than ours. While humans have four receptors (one rod, three cones) a turkey has seven receptors! (one rod, four cones, and two double cones). What this means from a bigger picture is that turkeys can see a much wider spectrum of colors to include ultraviolet light (UVA). If you want to know what UVA light is, shine a black light onto something white and you’ll see.

While the debate of UVA color checking your clothes and buying UVA free brightener detergents helps you in the long run, there is another debate we recently had some experience in. There are some people who believe that wild turkeys can see the electrical energy field produced from your heartbeat and muscle movements. With this thought in mind, there are companies who have designed a clothing option with an interwoven faraday cage to block your energy. A faraday cage is usually a mesh or screen of conductive material creating a shielding effect to block energy. There are now clothing to be worn for hunting, scuba diving, and other close animal interactive activates and have shown to be pretty effective. While some believe this to be no more than snake oil, it doesn’t look passed the fact that turkeys have incredible eye sight.

Turkeys are beautiful and extraordinary animals and can frustrate the heck out of you if you’ve ever hunted them before. but if you learn more about them, you can uncover some of their flaws and weaknesses, like calling and using decoys. We’ll be releasing more on that coming up, so stay tuned!

Turkey Hunting Basics: the Ins and Outs of the Wild Turkey