Spring wild turkey season opens Saturday

The California spring wild turkey season opens Saturday and hunters are reminded that only toms can be taken.

Turkey hunting continues to be the fastest-growing hunting sport in the state. The good news is that the wild turkey population has continued to spread across the state and Lake County is one of the leading counties for hunting the colorful birds. As with all wildlife, knowing the bird's habits and biology can vastly increase your chances of success.

Wild turkeys are not native to California but have become one of the most popular game birds in the state the last 30 years. The state has three species of wild turkeys, the most common being the Rio Grande. These are the turkeys you see around local farms and houses. The Merriam turkey is a high-country bird and is normally found at elevations above 5,000 feet in the Mendocino National Forest. The other species is the Eastern, which is found in limited numbers along the North Coast. All three species interbreed where their ranges cross.

During the spring wild turkeys break off into small flocks consisting of three or four toms and up to 15 hens. The breeding season for turkeys begins in early March and continues through mid-May. It reaches its peak the last two weeks in April.

Much like all wildlife, turkeys are creatures of habit. Their day is pretty much the same unless hunting pressure or a lack of food or cover changes their behavior. During the spring breeding season a tom will start his day roosting in a tall tree. Normally the toms will roost in one tree and the hens will roost in a separate tree located nearby. Occasionally the hens and roosters share the same tree.

Just as the sky lightens up in the east the toms will start to gobble. Often at this time in the morning the gobbling sound will carry up to a half mile. Once one tom gobbles other toms in nearby trees begin to gobble. The gobbling can go on for up to 30 minutes. When the darkness fades and the turkeys can see, the hens will start to cluck and yelp. In a few minutes the hens will fly down and usually go to the tree where the tom is roosting. The reason the tom gobbles is to attract the hens. The tom will fly down and join the hens. They will gather in a flock and the tom, or toms, will strut around the hens. They fan out their tail feathers and gobble. They do this to attract a hen to breed. A willing hen will approach the tom and squat down. The tom will climb on top and the pair will breed. The actual mating only takes a few moments. That hen will rise and wander off and the tom will seek another willing hen.

Normally it's the dominant toms that do most of the breeding although young toms often stay at the edge of the flock and mate with a stray hen. Throughout the day the hens will stay on the move, looking for food. They eat acorns, seeds, insects and even young flowers. The toms will trail the hens and gobble and strut. The toms do feed but not as much as the hens. The turkeys often rest from noon until about 3 p.m. and then start to feed again. Late in the afternoons the turkeys will meander toward their roosting areas. They have favorite trees where they roost in and will return to them every day unless spooked. They fly up to the branches just before dark and settle down for the evening.

The hens stay with the flock but leave for a brief period each day to lay one or two eggs. The nests are normally located at the base of a tree or a log. Once the hen lays 10 to 12 eggs she will leave the flock for good and incubate the eggs. Baby turkeys are called poults and they hatch in approximately 26 days. The hen gathers her brood and leaves the nest. The primary food source of young poults includes insects and spiders because of their high protein value. At the age of five days the young turkeys are capable of flying up into the roost tree. The hen will fly up first and then coax her babies with yelps and putts.

As the spring progresses the number of hens in the flock dwindles and one morning the tom will fly down from his roost tree and there won't be any hens left. He then goes on a march to locate new hens, gobbling consistently. After a week or so of this behavior the tom realizes the breeding season is over and he resumes his normal behavior. This usually happens around the middle of May.