by John Jefferson

 

Ben Franklin is said to have wanted to make the wild turkey the American symbol. I’m glad he wasn’t successful.

If shooting a whooping crane can get you a $10,000 fine and a year in the can, I can’t imagine what shooting the National Bird would cost you.

But thankfully, the only worry this year is finding a gobbler to shoot.

Some think the Valentine’s Day Weather Massacre might have frozen the toes off turkeys as it did with doves. We’re not sure how turkeys avoided it, but somehow they did. Maybe those big turkey feet are tougher than doves’ toes.

Jason Hardin is the TPWD Program Leader for Wild Turkeys. I called him last week to get his appraisal of prospects for the forthcoming turkey seasons. When he answered, I asked if he were still in South Texas trapping turkeys as his boss had told me he was.

“We’re through trapping,” he told me, “and I’m in a truck heading to northeast Texas with a load of birds to release, there.” He didn’t say where in South Texas he trapped them, but I’m wondering if it was the same ranch my wife and I have been invited to hunt on. From what the ranch owners have told me, they have more than enough turkeys to allow some to be trapped. See attached photo.

Now, those are turkey HENS in the picture. The photographer titled it “Watching the Girls Go By.” Some might wonder why I’m using a picture of a flock of hens when most hunters are after gobblers.

The answer to that could be explained by considering why a turkey hunter uses a call that imitates a female turkey when he’s hunting a male. The females – the hens – are the attraction for the gobblers. If hunters yelping with a mouth call, scratching on a box call, or dragging a striker across a circular chunk of slate, sound enough like a hen, a gobbler’s apt to come to check it out. And it really doesn’t have to be a turkey-calling-competition sound either. The fact that I have successfully called a number of turkeys attests to that!

Just get a call and an instructional DVD and practice until your family invites you to go elsewhere.

Hardin mentioned one trapping that caught twenty-seven juvenile hens. Those were hens hatched in 2021 AFTER the freeze. That indicates a decent hatch. Most of Texas enjoyed that. The Sand Sheets near the South Texas coast had excellent hatches. The Hill Country was very good, but the Rolling Plains and the Panhandle had below average production. That’s being studied. Agriculture changes from wheat to cotton may have hurt.

Generally, RIO GRANDE TURKEY spring season is open April 2-May 15 (North Zone); March 19-May1 (South Zone); April 1-30 (One turkey counties). EASTERN TURKEY season is April 22-May 14 (East Texas). There are MANY COUNTY EXCEPTIONS to bag limits and seasons (some closed). SEE TPW OUTDOOR ANNUAL PAGES 80-95.

The season will be here before you know it!

JJ