Columnist Barb Henderson: Hunters go wild: It’s Turkey Time for holidays

Barb Henderson

Friday, Oct. 18, 2002 | 9:42 a.m.

Barb Henderson is an outdoors enthusiast, freelance writer and producer/host of outdoors radio television programming. Her column appears Friday in the Sun.

Holidays are fast approaching, a time to gobble up a traditional feast complete with turkey and all the trimmings.

The call of the wild has hunters who drew a fall turkey tag heading outdoors to enjoy an American hunting tradition with hopes of harvesting a wild turkey for their festivities.

To become eligible to hunt for this magnificent bird in Nevada, hunters had to fill out an application. The computerized drawing system determined which applicants received one of the limited number of tags. Nevada has a spring and fall wild turkey hunting season.

The adult male turkey is called a Tom or Gobbler; a young male a Jake; an adult female a Hen; and a young female a Jenny.

Fall hunters can hunt either sex bird. Usually hens and younger birds will stay together. Hunters will use the "kee-kee-run" (an assembly call used when the flock is separated) and wait for the birds to reassemble. A diaphragm call sounds best.

Spring hunters can hunt only the Tom. They use decoys and a variety of calls including "fly-down cackle," "cutting" (the sound of an excited hen) and yelps and purrs utilizing a slate, diaphragm or box call.

Five subspecies of wild turkey are found throughout North America: Goulds, Meriams, Eastern, Osceola and the Rio Grande.

In 1973, when the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) was founded, there were an estimated 1.3 million wild turkeys and 1.5 million turkey hunters. Thanks to the work of federal, state wildlife agencies and the NWTF's volunteers and partners, there are now an estimated 5.6 million wild turkeys and approximately 2.6 million turkey hunters.

Rio Grande wild turkeys were first introduced into Nevada in 1987. A total of 477 wild turkeys have been released in Southern Nevada in 1988, 1989 and 1990. The Nevada Chapters of the NWTF goal is to release an additional 500 turkeys in Nevada next year.

Brett Johnson, Regional Director for NWTF, reported the release of 50 Rio Grande wild turkeys from Utah along the Nevada/Utah border in the Deep Creek Mountains this past winter (more specifically, 15-Mile and Chokecherry Creeks, respectively).

Early indications show the birds are doing extremely well with good polt production this spring. The birds have already dispersed into several adjacent drainages.

Another supplemental release is planned later this winter.

Healthy populations of wild turkeys (predominantly Rio Grande) reside in Lamoille, Paradise Valley, Yerington, Caliente (Rainbow Canyon), Fallon, Beowawe, several stretches along the Carson River, Overton and the Elko area.

Nevada has four active NWTF chapters: Las Vegas (Las Vegas Strutters), Elko (Ruby Mountain Rios), Ely (Great Basin Gobblers) and Reno (Silver Sage).

For more information on the NWTF, visit the www.nwtf.org website or call 1-800-THE-NWTF.

Outdoors briefs

The 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation found that Nevada's hunters and anglers paid $28.7 million in 2001 in state sales and fuel taxes related to their outdoor activities. Anglers and Hunters support 5,200 jobs in Nevada that provide salaries and wages of $142 million annually.

Until next week, enjoy the Great Outdoors.