By Neil Farrell ~
It’s hunting season for game birds with goose, duck and now wild turkey seasons open at the same time.
Wild turkey is very healthy alternative to store bought turkey, as it’s low in fat and has no additives. You can’t get much more natural than that
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (formerly Fish & Game) opened the statewide fall wild turkey season Nov. 14 and it continues through Sunday, Dec. 13.
To legally hunt turkeys requires a state hunting license and special upland hunting stamp, which allows a hunter to take one bird a day and a maximum of two in a season, according to CDFW. Either sex is allowed to be taken but hunters prefer to go after the big, colorful, tom turkeys.
“Wild turkey is very healthy alternative to store bought turkey, as it’s low in fat and has no additives. You can’t get much more natural than that,” said Scott Gardner, manager of the CDFW’s Upland Game Program. “It’s harder to hunt it than buy one in a store, but any hunter will tell you it’s worth the extra effort.”
Wild turkeys are found in most areas of California including healthy populations in San Luis Obispo County, and can be hunted on private lands with the owner’s written permission or on public lands. Three areas in SLO County are listed where hunting all game birds are allowed — the Big Sandy Wildlife Area north of San Miguel off Hwy 101; the Carrizo Plains Ecological Reserve in California Valley; and the Morro Bay Wildlife Area, though Morro Bay wouldn’t be expected to have much turkey hunting as it is entirely on water in the Back Bay. That area is a brant geese and duck hunting area and that season ends Jan. 26.
The Top-5 areas for turkey hunting in California are Placer, El Dorado, Shasta, Sonoma and Tehama counties. Both a hunting license and upland game bird stamp are required to hunt turkeys, but the stamp is not required for hunters with junior licenses.
Turkeys are taken with shotguns, rifles, bow and arrow and even cannon nets, and require a big investment in camouflage clothing, blinds and gear, turkey calls, binoculars and even life-like decoys.
The statewide population of wild turkeys is estimated at about 250,000 birds, according to CDFW. The fall season is open statewide for wild turkeys and the State estimates that about 20,000 hunters bagged about 10,000 turkeys last fall. Proceeds from the special stamp are used to conserve wild areas and improve hunting.
The birds roaming the vast majority of California today are not native species. A now extinct California turkey species has been identified in the fossil record but modern turkeys are transplants from other areas including Mexico, and were introduced here as game birds starting in the 1870s.
In the early 20th Century, farm raising of wild turkeys began in the state and those birds were released as part of a program to develop a population for hunting. But those birds did not flourish and that program was eventually abandoned, according to information in CDFW’s “Guide to Hunting Wild Turkeys in California” (see: www.dfg.ca.gov).
That guide gives a look into the history of the birds here and the hunting of them, how to effectively hunt them, safety tips, suggested gear lists, and even a recipe for “Grandma’s Wild Turkey Soup.”
And this tidbit: “The first turkey hunt in California was a one-day hunt conducted in San Luis Obispo County in 1968. It was extended to a two-day hunt in 1969. The fall hunting opportunity continued to expand, and in 1971 a spring season was added.”
Turkey hunters, as with all hunting in California, are prohibited from using lead ammunition in all state and federal wildlife areas and ecological preserves.