OT: Hunt Your Own Thanksgiving Turkey

Oct 25, 2022 Last reply: 3 years ago 12 Replies

Starting to see grocery store ads for Thanksgiving turkeys, I got to thinking about what it would be like to head out into the woods and hunt my own.



But in my state, while big game and small game hunting seasons are in the fall/winter-- turkey hunting season is in the spring.



Wonder why that is. Why don't we hunt turkeys in the fall along with the other critters?


Google sez:

"The spring hunting season for wild turkey depends on the region. Hunters like pursuing turkeys in the spring because males gobble to attract females. Hunters are often able to draw the birds to clearings by mimicking these gobbles."

Same rational for deer hunting in the fall.

I don't know the answer. There is a fall turkey season in Nebraska, though.

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Pheasant season starts Saturday.

There's this cool resource called "a search engine".

"agencies generally try to open the turkey season after mating has begun. The fittest turkeys mate first in the season. After mating, the hens lay on their eggs in solitude. With these hens quietly rearing the next generation of turkeys, hunters take to the woods to take turkeys."

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Michigan has spring and fall turkey seasons.

2022 Turkey Season Dates Spring April 15 – May 31

Fall September 1 – January 1

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The spring season is gobblers only. One year a flock showed up the scavenge around the bird feeders. By spring they had established their network of trails through the snow. It was fun watching the toms strutting their stuff.

I don't know why but that was the only winter where they hung around. I've seen a flock about a quarter mile down the road and another one on the way to town. There was a flock hanging around the range too. I was prone with a .22 when I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. It was a flock casually strolling by.

While charcoal grilling turkeys is popular, 9 out of 10 libturds warn that charcoal grills cause climate change.

PA also has a spring and fall season.

I turkey hunted one spring at friend's PA camp because the previous fall bow hunting deer there there were turkeys all over the place.

That spring for the three mornings I hunted, I did not see or hear a turkey or any shots fired.

The neighbors get so weird when we unload with a shotgun. You'd think shot going through their windows would be no big deal.

You don't just bow-hunt them in the yard ? :-) We had them in our little rural neighbourhood about 5 years ago - - I swear you could have hunted them with a sling-shot ! - but they disappeared - haven't seen any in a few years. ... did the avian influenza affect game birds ?? John T.

Just the deer...

I've seen a couple of flocks but not right at this area. The bighorn sheep herds had something like ovine pneumonia that reduced them considerably. There was a herd that grazed on the rifle range but I think they are all gone.

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FWP has been working with the problem for over 10 years. The second link has a photo of the sheep being relocated. I imagine they were thrilled. Still it's gentler than problem beaver disposal.

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I often see turkeys in my yard for a week or two each year. This year one saw his reflection in a low window and was hitting it with his beak. I ran him off 3 or 4 times . Finally put a board over the window and left it there for 3 days. Removed it and he was back at it the next day. Put the board back up for 2 weeks and removed it and he has not been back.

ROTFLOL

Not a turkey, but I had a bird that kept flying into the 2nd floor bedroom window where I have my office. Noise scared me the first few times. Didn't think to put up a board, but that would have to be on the outside, right? Have to get a ladder, then again to take it down, plus I iddn't think of it. He stopped after two or three days, after his neurologist told him to.

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