Published: November 13, 2008 11:29 am      

Nothing like hunting turkeys

I’m fascinated with wild turkeys.

I’d rather harvest a big gobbler than a good buck. I think Benjamin Franklin should have had his way to make the wild turkey our national bird. But the bald eagle won out.

There are primarily four subspecies of the wild turkey in the continental USA. All four range throughout different parts of the continent. The Eastern turkey is the most numerous (about 5.2 million) and inhabits the eastern half of America. This big, colorful bird prefers forests and woodlands rather than open range.

The eastern third of Texas is perfect eastern turkey habitat. But, until a few years ago, there were no wild turkeys in East Texas. But the re-introduction of the eastern bird into East Texas counties has been extremely successful. Birds trapped in Missouri were traded to Texas for bass fingerlings. Today, most East Texas counties have a hunting season for eastern gobblers.

I have enjoyed the privilege of hunting these big majestic birds in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas. Regardless of where they are hunted they present a real challenge. A big gobbler is always a wise, cunning animal with eight-power binocular eyesight.

The Osceola subspecies is found only in the Florida peninsula. They number about 90,000 birds. My brother Bill, on his first turkey hunt, shot two Osceola gobblers with one shot.

The turkey that most of us see from our deer blinds or along the roadsides is the Rio Grande. These beautiful birds, numbering a little over a million, range through the central and western parts of Texas, and up into Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.

They prefer more arid, open range than their eastern cousins. The Rio has disproportionately long legs and stands about four feet tall. They are very mobile, running at speeds up to 25 mph. Their tail feathers and tail-rump covers are tipped with yellowish-buff or tan color rather than the medium or dark brown color of Easterns and Osceolas. But these same feathers are darker than the western subspecies of Merriams-thus the scientific name Meleagris gallopavo intermedia.

Rio Grande hens are smaller in size than the males, averaging about eight to 12 pounds. Big gobblers may weigh about 20 pounds at maturity.

The Merriam is the western subspecies. Their numbers are estimated at about 340,000 birds and are found along the Rocky Mountains and neighboring prairies of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. Last fall, my wife Beth and I filmed two Merriams in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

The ultimate quest of avid turkey hunters is to harvest the grand slam — all four subspecies. I once met a New York hunter who was out to get all four species in one spring season. He had his Osceola and got his Rio on the hunt that I was also on. The next day he was flying West after the Merriam. I asked him about the Eastern.

“No problem,” he answered. “They’re thick in New York where I live. I’ll get him last.”

Last week, my brother Wayne and I camped out on our turkey — hog — dove lease near Panna Maria. We were joined by Noah Gallaher, his sons James and Joseph, and grandson Carson. It was a great campout. Noah grilled pork chops over an open fire and made egg and bacon breakfast tacos the next morning. That would have been worth the trip but the hunting also turned out great.

Armed with a .45-caliber handgun, a .17-caliber rifle and two 12-gauge shotguns loaded with OO buckshot we gave the wild hogs a rough night. Four of them will not eat any more of the rancher’s cattle feed.

But the highlight of the hunt was the Rio Grande turkey that Wayne shot. Two big gobblers were moving toward his corn feeder. It looked like a real set up. Then, for some reason, they stopped before coming into shotgun range, turned and walked away.

“They just sensed that something wasn’t right,” Wayne said. “I was behind a big tree and I’m sure they didn’t see me.”

Disappointed, Wayne decided to walk slowly in the direction that they had disappeared. Walking quietly through the pecan grove in the creek bottom, suddenly, a big gobbler flew out of the top of a big pecan tree.

Wayne swung the shotgun barrel ahead of the big bird and squeezed the trigger. The gobbler collapsed. It was only the second turkey that he had ever harvested.

It was a beautiful bird with a long beard and long sharp spurs. The iridescence colors of red, green, copper and gold all glittered in the morning sunlight.

Wayne now has his Thanksgiving bird in the freezer. I’m still pursuing mine.

Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show call God’s Great Outdoors.