caseysmom
03-12-2009, 02:07 PM
Holly A. Heyser
CSUS journalism instructor and hunter Holly A. Heyser with a prize bird.
Let's talk turkey
ShareThisBy Holly A. Heyser
Special to The Bee
Published: Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1D
Last Modified: Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009 - 11:05 am
For most people, turkey season ended more than two months ago when they took down their holiday lights and slapped the last of the leftover Butterball between two slices of bread. In my house, it began last week with a message on Facebook from our friends who have a vineyard in Napa County:
"We heard gobbling this morning."
The reaction was immediate and visceral: It's time.
While almost every other form of hunting in California has ended by this time of year, March 28 heralds the arrival of California's encore season: the spring turkey hunt.
Any legal game at this time of year would get hunters a little wound up. Once you've become addicted to the challenge of putting meat on the table the hard way, going to the grocery store just isn't the same.
But there's something about turkeys that winds us even tighter. What is it?
"Call and response," said my friend Phillip Loughlin, a Bay Area hunting blogger and occasional turkey-hunting guide, invoking the metaphor of perhaps the most compelling style of sermon there is. And he's right.
The essence of spring turkey hunting is using calls to sound like a lonesome hen and lure gobblers away from their harems and into your range. You call. A tom gobbles in the distance. You call again. He responds again, this time a little closer, making the hair on your arms stand up. You keep at it until he struts into range, tail fanned out, chest puffed up, his coarse, hairy-looking beard jutting from his chest. And then you dispatch him.
Everywhere and nowhere
At least that's the fantasy we chase. The reality is that turkey hunting is not a slam-dunk. According to surveys by the state Department of Fish and Game, hunters bag only one turkey for every five days of hunting in the spring. While other game birds such as ducks, geese, pheasants and doves are harvested in the hundreds of thousands each year, California hunters bag only about 25,000 wild turkeys annually.
This might surprise the casual observer. Anyone who spends any time on the American River parkway has probably spotted wild turkeys. Although they are relatively recent transplants to the state – first introduced in 1877 on Santa Cruz Island – they have thrived in prime habitat all over California. They like places with open grass for feeding and trees for roosting.
"They're everywhere," said Neal Kolesar, assistant hunting manager and the resident turkey hunting expert at Sportsman's Warehouse in Rocklin. "But just because they're there doesn't mean you're going to get them."
For starters, turkeys have fantastic eyesight and can detect minor movements at a substantial distance. Kolesar recalled a hunt with his father once at the state-operated Spenceville Wildlife Area. When they saw turkeys 100 yards off, his dad moved his foot just a few inches to set up for the shot, and that was it – the birds took off.
Ryan Mathis, regional wildlife biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation, says that turkeys' eyesight and hearing are their best defenses. "When I'm giving turkey-hunting seminars, I tell people the best camo is to sit still."
That, of course, is easier said than done – particularly if your gun isn't pointed in the right direction when the gobbler comes into sight, as I learned while hunting at our friends' Napa vineyard last spring.
Tension builds: Ready?
I sat with my back pressed against the trunk of a scrub oak, listened as the sounds of gobbling kept moving closer to me, and kept my shotgun raised and pointed where I thought the birds would appear. Finally I saw it - that gnarled red head bobbing through the grass out in front of me.
The turkey ambled closer, just 20 yards away – check! A perfect distance. He turned sideways and showed me the outline of his scraggly beard – check! It's got to have a beard to be legal game in the spring.
But my gun was not pointed in the right direction. My hair was in my eyes. The hood of my jacket had twisted and obscured my field of vision. And if I moved to fix any of that, he'd bolt and be out of range before I could shoot.
ShareThis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holly A. Heyser teaches journalism at Sacramento State and blogs about hunting at www.norcalcazadora.com.
Continued on next page » 1 2
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CSUS journalism instructor and hunter Holly A. Heyser with a prize bird.
Let's talk turkey
ShareThisBy Holly A. Heyser
Special to The Bee
Published: Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1D
Last Modified: Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009 - 11:05 am
For most people, turkey season ended more than two months ago when they took down their holiday lights and slapped the last of the leftover Butterball between two slices of bread. In my house, it began last week with a message on Facebook from our friends who have a vineyard in Napa County:
"We heard gobbling this morning."
The reaction was immediate and visceral: It's time.
While almost every other form of hunting in California has ended by this time of year, March 28 heralds the arrival of California's encore season: the spring turkey hunt.
Any legal game at this time of year would get hunters a little wound up. Once you've become addicted to the challenge of putting meat on the table the hard way, going to the grocery store just isn't the same.
But there's something about turkeys that winds us even tighter. What is it?
"Call and response," said my friend Phillip Loughlin, a Bay Area hunting blogger and occasional turkey-hunting guide, invoking the metaphor of perhaps the most compelling style of sermon there is. And he's right.
The essence of spring turkey hunting is using calls to sound like a lonesome hen and lure gobblers away from their harems and into your range. You call. A tom gobbles in the distance. You call again. He responds again, this time a little closer, making the hair on your arms stand up. You keep at it until he struts into range, tail fanned out, chest puffed up, his coarse, hairy-looking beard jutting from his chest. And then you dispatch him.
Everywhere and nowhere
At least that's the fantasy we chase. The reality is that turkey hunting is not a slam-dunk. According to surveys by the state Department of Fish and Game, hunters bag only one turkey for every five days of hunting in the spring. While other game birds such as ducks, geese, pheasants and doves are harvested in the hundreds of thousands each year, California hunters bag only about 25,000 wild turkeys annually.
This might surprise the casual observer. Anyone who spends any time on the American River parkway has probably spotted wild turkeys. Although they are relatively recent transplants to the state – first introduced in 1877 on Santa Cruz Island – they have thrived in prime habitat all over California. They like places with open grass for feeding and trees for roosting.
"They're everywhere," said Neal Kolesar, assistant hunting manager and the resident turkey hunting expert at Sportsman's Warehouse in Rocklin. "But just because they're there doesn't mean you're going to get them."
For starters, turkeys have fantastic eyesight and can detect minor movements at a substantial distance. Kolesar recalled a hunt with his father once at the state-operated Spenceville Wildlife Area. When they saw turkeys 100 yards off, his dad moved his foot just a few inches to set up for the shot, and that was it – the birds took off.
Ryan Mathis, regional wildlife biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation, says that turkeys' eyesight and hearing are their best defenses. "When I'm giving turkey-hunting seminars, I tell people the best camo is to sit still."
That, of course, is easier said than done – particularly if your gun isn't pointed in the right direction when the gobbler comes into sight, as I learned while hunting at our friends' Napa vineyard last spring.
Tension builds: Ready?
I sat with my back pressed against the trunk of a scrub oak, listened as the sounds of gobbling kept moving closer to me, and kept my shotgun raised and pointed where I thought the birds would appear. Finally I saw it - that gnarled red head bobbing through the grass out in front of me.
The turkey ambled closer, just 20 yards away – check! A perfect distance. He turned sideways and showed me the outline of his scraggly beard – check! It's got to have a beard to be legal game in the spring.
But my gun was not pointed in the right direction. My hair was in my eyes. The hood of my jacket had twisted and obscured my field of vision. And if I moved to fix any of that, he'd bolt and be out of range before I could shoot.
ShareThis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holly A. Heyser teaches journalism at Sacramento State and blogs about hunting at www.norcalcazadora.com.
Continued on next page » 1 2
Comment Guidelines
Dear Readers,
Thank you for coming to sacbee.com. We welcome your participation in our commenting boards and forums, but we ask that you follow a few simple rules to keep the boards open and the discourse civil.
We reserve the right to delete comments that contain inappropriate links, obscenities or vulgarities, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, plagiarism or copyright violations. You can help notify us of potential abuses by flagging comments that you find offensive. Action will be taken against users who repeatedly or flagrantly violate the rules. Keep it clean and you should have no problems.
Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first
@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:
@Nyx.CommentBody@
@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@
Related Stories
Holly Heyser: Writer and hunter of turkey - 11:05am
Get your fishin' hat – it's derby time - 5:33pm
Blind Everest climber's odyssey on DVD - 5:36pm
Climbing legend Beckey will step up to speak - 5:39pm
Outbound Escapes: Annual River Festival - 5:32pm
Fishing line - 10:39pm
Most Viewed Blog Posts Most California residents polled say no to a split state
State Worker: Jobs hinge on May 19 ballot measures
Feds say Folsom investment firm was Ponzi fraud
Sacramento mayor, council patch things up
Asylum trial focuses on Sacramento law firm
Teachers, students brace for San Juan school district cuts
21Q: Schedule Shuffle at Capital Public Radio
Shop Cheap: Easy meals for St. Patrick's Day
Appetizers: Timothy Hollingsworth: back from the Bocuse d'Or
The Frame photo blog: Iditarod
I-Tool Tips: Bee interactive maps highlight economic woes
Home Front: Feeling crummy?
Quick Job Search
Enter Keyword(s):
Enter a City:
Select a State:
All United States Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Select a Category:
All Job Categories Accounting Admin & Clerical Automotive1 Banking1 Biotech1 Broadcast - Journalism1 Business Development Construction Consultant Customer Service Design Distribution - Shipping Education Engineering Entry Level Executive Facilities Finance General Business General Labor Government Health Care Hotel - Hospitality Human Resources Information Technology Insurance Inventory Legal Legal Admin Management Manufacturing Marketing Nurse Other Pharmaceutical Professional Services Purchasing - Procurement QA - Quality Control Research Restaurant - Food Service Retail - Grocery Sales Science Skilled Labor - Trades Strategy - Planning Supply Chain Telecommunications Training Transportation Warehouse
Advanced Job Search | Search by Category Sacramento Bee Top Jobs »
SALES Moving Co. seeks motivated ...
SPEECH THERAPISTS EMPHASIS IN PEDIATRICS ...
Therapy Management Opportunities ...
G A M I N G C ...
RECEPTIONIST Front Office ...
Accounting
Four year ...
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