Chasing turkey

Hunting wild turkeys has been an annual subject of this column. The fall general turkey season has been the target.

This year this season runs from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 in Game Management Units 101 through 154 and 162 through 186. These GMUs cover a great amount of area in the far eastern area of Washington.

The limit during this season is two beardless and two either sex birds, four turkeys total. This means the hunter can take four hens, which are beardless birds, or two hens and two toms, which have a beard. The hunter can take any combination of the four birds, as long as only two toms are in the bag.

Introducing wild turkeys into Washington State is a great success story for Fish and Wildlife. At first the limit was one tom during the spring season. As the population expanded, the limit increased. Today, some landowners consider turkeys to be a problem, because there are so many of them.

Now there is a limit of two toms in the spring. Two more birds can be taken in the fall. Or, if a hunter doesn’t hunt in the spring, four birds, as mentioned above, can be taken in the fall.

My hunting buddies and I started hunting turkeys when the fall season was established, several years ago. At first it was a novelty, as none of us had shot a turkey.

The fall season is a different hunt than the spring hunt. The toms are looking for mates in the spring. Hunters usually set decoys in areas where they expect toms to come looking for mates.

Hunters use various calls to lure the male to the decoy, usually at a range of 40 yards or less. Fall turkey hunting is a bit different. The hens are not getting ready to make a nest and sit on eggs.

Garnet’s first turkey involved a blind and a few decoys on a fall hunt. A landowner in the Colville area invited us to hunt his land. We had a tom and three hen decoys in front of the blind.

A group of six toms, one with a 10-inch beard and the others were young toms, called jakes.

The group ran to the decoys and the show started. The older tom wouldn’t let the youngsters get near the decoys. When the mature tom was alone, Garnet dropped him. The jakes gathered around the downed bird and they all began to kick him.

The turkey population remains high. This provides more opportunities for hunters to be in the field.

Tomorrow: Dave Vedder indicates an interest in turkey hunting.