TIME FOR TURKEYS
Anyone who hasn’t seen a wild turkey this year probably hasn’t been out of the house – or even looking out the windows.
“We have a lot of turkeys, too many turkeys,” said Jim Hayden, Idaho Fish and Game Department regional wildlife manager in Coeur d’Alene. “They’re in the woods, in the fields and even in the neighborhoods.”
Sportsmen in Idaho and Washington soon will be doing their best to help the situation during the spring turkey hunting seasons. The general seasons in both states open April 15, but youngsters get the first shot in a special two-day youth-only season next weekend.
“The kids-only season is the best thing going,” said Bruce Hubbard of Colville. “Last year I took out seven kids who got their first bird that weekend. Since the dads can’t shoot, there’s no temptation to make the hunt anything but all about the kids.”
The Colville chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation has scheduled its fundraising banquet on Saturday at the Colville fairgrounds so hunters can hunt with their kids in the morning and come to the banquet and tell stories in the evening, Hubbard said.
“Last year, Clark’s All-Sport had a weigh-in the first morning of the youth season, and when I arrived first thing in the morning there already were nine kids there grinning from ear to ear.”
That doesn’t mean that bagging a turkey is automatic, even in the special youth season.
“The gobblers are with the hens all day, so they can be hard to call in,” said Art Meikel, a Spokane turkey federation member who signed up nine youngsters for early season outings at a hunter rendezvous last weekend at Landt Farms Sporting Clays.
Indeed, dominant toms have little reason to leave their flock of hens in March. However, sub-dominant toms and jakes sometimes can be clueless to danger on the youth opener.
“We dress the kids up, take them out and stick with it – until they get cold,” Meikel said. “As soon as they start shaking, we call it a day and go in for breakfast. That’s always a highlight in itself.”
The youth hunt is a hit even if you don’t bag a bird, said Barb Baker, who’s organizing the Spokane County Spurs turkey federation banquet for April 7 (Today is deadline for tickets; call 244-3938).
Baker has fond memories of taking her daughter, Nicole, out for the youth hunt when the girl was 15.
“Did we get one?” she said, repeating the question. “Heavens no. It wasn’t a textbook hunt. But being together and hearing the gobbles with nobody else in the woods was a great bonding experience.”
Baker said she and her daughter, for some reason, have had more success filling their tags during the fall seasons.
Adults are just as likely to find great challenge in hunting turkeys, which can seem like easy prey one day and be the wariest of game then next.
“I equate spring gobbler seasons with hunting elk during the rut,” Hubbard said. “There’s something fascinating about calling an animal that calls back.”
Gobblers will always be a challenge to hunt because they don’t always follow the book, he said.
Washington extended its spring season two weeks this year to give hunters more time to fill up to three tags.
“My experience is that most of the gobbling is over by mid-May,” said Curt Wood, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement agent, turkey hunter and member of the Lincoln County Longbeards. “But every now and then you can still find an active, lonely tom later in May.”
The cost of hunting Washington turkeys has increased this year, since a turkey tag no longer comes free with purchase of the prerequisite small-game hunting license. (The exception is hunters younger than 16, who still get a free turkey tag with their discounted small-game license.)
“There was support for that change from the National Wild Turkey Federation members, who felt that turkeys weren’t getting the respect they deserve,” said Mick Cope, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department upland bird manager. “They reasoned that having to invest in a tag would weed out some of the careless hunters who were hunting turkeys only because the tag was free.”
The cost starts to even out for hunters who buy multiple tags, since the price of each Washington turkey tag has been reduced from $19.71 to $15.33.
Idaho has never given out free tags, but state Fish and Game officials are considering a proposal to reduce turkey tag prices for the 2007 fall seasons.
“We have too many turkeys and not enough hunters to take care of the situation at the price we’re charging,” said Hayden.
While Idaho’s turkey numbers may still be growing, Washington’s exponential turkey population growth has leveled off in recent years, Cope said. “That’s good,” he added. “Things go wrong when they’re overpopulated.”
Yet with turkeys apparently at peak numbers after being introduced to this region in the 1960s, they still pose a stimulating challenge for hunters.
Indeed, the hardest part about turkey hunting may be explaining why buying a turkey tag doesn’t automatically mean you’ll come home with a turkey.
Two of every three turkey tags purchased in Idaho went unfilled last year.
“They can seem so dumb feeding beside the road in the off-season,” Hubbard said. “But a few minutes after they’ve been hunted each spring, the challenge is on.”