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TURKEY HOLIDAY PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON WYOMING’S BRIGHT TURKEY HISTORY

CHEYENNE – The gobbling of the famed and glamorized first Thanksgiving took nearly three centuries to resonate to the Equality State. But it rings loud across much of Wyoming now but is far from reaching a crescendo.

It wasn’t until 1955 when hunters could harvest the historic wild turkey in Wyoming, and its hunting interest has continued to gain momentum since.

In 1935, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department swapped some sage grouse to New Mexico for 15 Merriam’s turkeys. The imports thrived in the Laramie Peak area northwest of Wheatland under the auspices of ranchers and G&Fers and were estimated to number over 1,000 by 1947. These Wyomingites had nearly as much reverence for the bird as famous statesmen and inventor Benjamin Franklin did by touting the turkey as our national bird.

Those Laramie Peak birds served as seed stock for several futile reintroduction attempts across the state until wildlife managers sowed the birds into the fertile habitat of the Black Hills in 1951-52. Thirty-three Platte County turkeys along with 15 more New Mexico transplants found new roosts near Redwater Creek in the northwest Black Hills. When combined probably with some transplants that strayed over from a South Dakota Black Hills release, the introduction served as the foundation for Wyoming’s most recognized turkey hunt area.

Fall turkey hunting is a different ballgame than the camouflaged calling of the spring. With hunters searching for birds and corresponding big game seasons underway, veteran turkey hunter Harry Harju, urges all fall turkey hunters to wear orange for safety.

He suggests hunters listen for birds coming off their roosts and to look for tracks, scratching and droppings to begin the search. “Hens will often respond to a call which can help pinpoint a stalk, but they won’t come to calls in the fall,” he said.

The larger flocks that hunters tend to find in the fall are usually hens and their young, adds Joe Sandrini, Wyoming Game and Fish Department wildlife biologist for the Black Hills. “The largest birds in these flocks are normally the juvenile males or ‘jakes’ at this time of year,” he said. “Groups of big toms are smaller and harder to find, and tend to be more reclusive this time of year.”

In line with that, Sandrini says many fall hunters think they have taken a hen, when in reality they have harvested a young tom.  These birds do not yet have visible beards or brightly colored heads, but they can be identified by the dark edging on breast feathers in the field, and spur nubs on their legs when in hand.

Compared to domestic turkeys, wild turkeys have less fat and consequently tend to be a little drier. Harju suggests using a “cooking bag” to help the fowl retain its natural moisture. Another technique is to strap bacon strips across the breast, covering with foil and then removing the foil a few minutes before serving to brown the bird.

Guests will detect the longer legs and a proportionally smaller, more angular breast and the fuller flavor most people enjoy hands down over the commercial variety.

The taste is primarily the result of the birds’ forest buffet. Traditionally “mast” or hardwood nut eaters, Wyoming turkeys seek hawthorne and scrub oak nuts plus chokecherry, plums, currants and buffalo berry. Seasonally the birds will also pluck tender grass shoots and buds.

Juvenile turkeys garner the favor of farmers and ranchers by feeding almost exclusively on grasshoppers their first summer. Adults snare hoppers, too, when the insects are real abundant. Ranchers often return the favor by letting the birds use their yards as winter refuge from deep snow.

As spring approaches, birds start inching up elevation and flocks of gobblers or adult males start disbanding. Come March, gobblers start establishing areas or “strutting grounds” along the edge of creek bottoms or forest. With loud gobbles and strutting posture, males amass a several-hen harem and drive smaller rivals off.

Hens nest in the strutting ground vicinity and close to reliable water. The females lay about two eggs every three days until a clutch of 10 to 13 is produced. After about 28 days of incubation, with no help from the gobblers, the chicks meet the world. Within a week the chicks start flying and roost in trees thereafter. Hens and their brood, often joined by like combos, stay together until the next breeding season.

This life history has received an additional injection of diversity beginning in 1996. The National Wild Turkey Federation has sponsored annual releases of the southern Rio Grande subspecies into the Equality State.

The Oklahoma birds, which prefer more open terrain than Merriam’s, were released near Pine Bluffs, Chugwater, Laramie, Glenrock and several Big Horn Basin locations. The habitat was wholesome enough that some of these releases are already producing limited hunting. 

Last fall 1,871 hunters put 1,205 turkeys on the table in Wyoming.

All signs are indicating the traditional entrée will become even more of a tradition in the Equality State. And licenses are still available this fall in several hunt areas. Call the Game and Fish at (307) 777-4600 for more information.

(contact: Jeff Obrecht)

-WGFD-