The Wild Turkey
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CHAPTER TWO The Wild Turkey The wild turkey is an amazing and challenging game bird to hunt. It has very keen eyesight, able to see in color and notice even the slightest of movements. Turkeys can run fast, fly long distance, and swim if necessary. By learning the behaviors and abilities of the wild turkey, hunters stand a better chance of success when pursuing these shy and weary birds. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Upon completing Chapter Two, students will be able to: Identify the physical characteristics of male and female wild turkeys. Identify the sub-species of wild turkey found in North America. Explain of the basic biology of the wild turkey. Describe wild turkey behavior. Identify the key components of wild turkey habitat in Pennsylvania. Identify the types of wild turkey habitat in North America. List several wild turkey management strategies. Describe the North American model of wildlife management. 11 Pennsylvania Game Commission (January 2011) CHAPTERCHAPTER TWO TWO TheThe Wild Wild Turkey Turkey The wild turkey is a shy, permanent resident of Pennsylvania’s woods and mountains. Infiltrating a flock of these big birds is no easy feat, and when the hunter or naturalist is finally discovered, he’s treated to a spectacle to how the flock breaks up. Turkeys flap upward on loud wings. Some run full tilt, heads extended on serpentine necks. Others sneak along through the understory. Eventually, quiet returns to the woods. And, with time the first tentative calls of regrouping birds break the silence. Before a hunter can enjoy pursuing the largest game bird in North America, one must become familiar with the features, behaviors and characteristics of the wild turkey. Proper identification is important for turkey hunting due to gender harvest restrictions at certain times of the year and to ensure safe experiences while afield. What Does an Eastern Wild Turkey Look Like? Adult males, known as toms or gobblers, normally weigh between 16 and 24 pounds. PGC Photo Females, known as hens, are smaller than males and usually weigh between 8 and 10 pounds. PGC Photo 12 Pennsylvania Game Commission (January 2011) SUCCESSFUL TURKEY HUNTING! Feathers Both males and females have fleshy growths on Males: Gobblers have iridescent red, green, their heads copper, bronze and gold feathers. They use known as these bright colors to great advantage when ‘caruncles’. attracting females during breeding season. NWTF Photo They both have snoods, fleshy protrusions that hang over their bills and can be extended or contracted at Females: Hens have drab, usually brown or will. gray feathers. They make great camouflage and hide hens when they sit on their nests. PGC Photo The ‘snood’ of an Head adult male is usually much larger than that Males: Males have brightly colored, nearly of a female. featherless heads. During breeding season the color of their heads alternates between red, white and blue, often changing in a few seconds. PGC Photo No one knows for sure what these growths are for, but both probably developed as Hens: A hen’s head is gray-blue and has some ways to attract small feathers for camouflage. mates. PGC Photo 13 Pennsylvania Game Commission (January 2011) CHAPTER TWO The Wild Turkey Beard The longest beard on record is more A male turkey grows a cluster of long, hairlike than 18 inches long. feathers from the center of its chest. This cluster is known as the turkey’s beard. On adult males, these beards average about 9 inches long. 10 to 20 percent of hens also grow beards. NWTF Photo Legs The longest spurs Wild turkey legs are reddish-orange. on record are 2.25 inches long. They have four toes on each foot. Male wild turkeys grow large spurs on the backs of their lower legs. These spurs are pointed, bony spikes and are used for defense and to establish dominance. Spurs can grow up to 2 inches in length. NWTF Photo The color of the bands in the tail varies by Tail subspecies. Wild turkey tails are usually 12 to 15 inches long and are banded at their tips. Male wild turkeys fan their tails when displaying to attract a mate. Difference between an adult male (tom) and a juvenile male (jake) turkey is found in the tail. All tail feathers of adult males are the same length. NWTF Photo Feathers forming the center of a jake’s tail are usually longer than the rest of the tail feathers. 14 Pennsylvania Game Commission (January 2011) SUCCESSFUL TURKEY HUNTING! Comparing a Wild Turkey Gobbler to the... VARIOUS REDS, WHITES & BLUES MINOR CARUNCLES SNOOD -fleshy protrusion, possibly used to attract mates The largest wild turkey on record weighed 37 pounds. DEWLAP - flap of loose skin PGC Photo MAJOR CARUNCLES - small, fleshy growths turn red during mating ...Wild Turkey Hen GRAY-BLUE COLOR -more drab than male SNOOD -smaller than male’s DEWLAP - flap of loose skin CARUNCLES GRAY-BROWN PLUMAGE PGC Photo -more drab than male 15 Pennsylvania Game Commission (January 2011) CHAPTER TWO The Wild Turkey Sounds of the Wild Turkeys Turkeys make a wide range of sounds. The following list is a summary of the common calls that can be heard. Students will receive more focused instruction on how to reproduce these sounds during the hands-on training event. Cluck The cluck consists of one or more short, staccato notes. The plain cluck, many times, includes two or three single note clucks. It’s generally used by one bird to get the attention of another. It’s a good call to reassure an approaching gobbler that a hen is waiting for him. Putt The putt is a single note, generally associated as an alarm. It could be several sharp or rapid notes and usually means they have seen or heard something, and are alerting others of the danger. Plain Hen Yelp The yelp is a basic turkey sound. It is often delivered in a series of single note vocalizations and can have different meanings depending on how the hen uses it. Tree Call The tree call is usually a series of soft muffled yelps given by a roosted bird. Sometimes it picks up in volume as fly down time nears. It may be accompanied by soft clucking and is generally acknowledged as a call to communicate with others in a flock. Cutting of Excited Hen A series of fast, loud, erratic single notes is referred to as cutting. It’s a modified cluck and is a distinct, abrupt call with a somewhat questioning nature. It can be heard at a great distance and is PGC Photo often used by a single turkey looking PGC Photo for companionship. Adult Hen Assembly Call The adult hen assembly call is a series of loud yelps used to assemble her flock or young poults. 16 Pennsylvania Game Commission (January 2011) SUCCESSFUL TURKEY HUNTING! Kee Kee The kee kee is the lost call of young turkeys and variations made by adult birds. It’s often associated with fall hunting, but can be used successfully in the spring. A variation of the call, the kee kee run is merely a kee kee with a yelp. Fly Down Cackle The cackle is generally associated with movement. It can be heard when a bird is flying up or down from a roost, flying off a ridge, or flying To hear examples across a creek. A cackle of these calls, log usually consist of three to 10 onto the National irregularly spaced notes. It’s a PGC Photo Wild Turkey movement call, so use it Federation’s sparingly. website at: www.nwtf.org Purr Purring is a soft, rolling call turkeys make when content. It can usually be heard by feeding birds. This is not a loud call, but is good for reassuring turkeys as they get in close to your position. Cluck and Purr The cluck and purr is a single note or notes often associated with flock talk or the feeling of contentment. It is sometimes amplified. It is a cluck followed by a rolling, almost staccato call. Gobbling The gobble is one of the principal vocalizations of the male wild turkey and is used primarily in the spring to let hens know he is in the area. Owl Hooting (Locator call) The eight-note hoot of the barred owl is often used as a call to locate gobblers in the PGC Photo early morning or late evening hours. 17 Pennsylvania Game Commission (January 2011) CHAPTER TWO The Wild Turkey Wild Turkey Biology North American turkeys, including the domesticated bird, belong to the single and highly variable species Meleagris gallopavo. Taxonomists recognize at least six subspecies; the variety found in Pennsylvania is known as the Eastern wild turkey and ranges the entire eastern half of the United States. Turkeys are gallinaceous, ”chicken-like” birds (order Galliformes), related to grouse, quail, pheasants and chickens. Between 5,000 and 6,000 feathers cover the body of an adult turkey in patterns called feather tracts. A turkey’s feathers provide a variety of survival functions. They keep him warm and dry, allow him to fly, feel and show off for the opposite sex. The head and upper part of the neck are featherless, but if you look close, you can see little bumps of skin on the bare area. The gobbler, or male turkey is more colorful. Plumage is an overall rich brown. In shadows, PGC Photo turkeys appear black. In bright sunlight, their feathers exhibit a metallic glittering, called iridescence with copper, blue, green and mahogany highlights. A hen’s plumage is duller and not quite as iridescent to camouflage her with her surroundings.