Wild Turkeys
My three brothers, my sister and I were raised on a small truck farm in southern West Virginia. We usually had two milk cows, a few hogs that received all the kitchen scraps, and always several chickens. The extra butter, milk and eggs were sold as cash income. Calves and a large part of the pork were sold. White corn was raised for corn bread and vegetables, fruit and potatoes were plentiful. Dried pinto beans, limas and blackeyes were major sources of protein.
We grew up hunting and fishing. Wild game and fish were important to our diet as supplemental protein. The two most important wild animals were squirrels and rabbits. Fish were caught from the local stream except for the three winter months.
Squirrel hunting is my most favorite of all hunting. We knew the location and timing when certain trees would have ripe nuts that would bring the squirrels to feed. We would first have to wade the river and climb a steep hill to that tree. We would arrive at daybreak, sit down and wait. Many mornings the fog would be so thick that we couldn’t see the squirrels in the top of the trees. Later in the season, when the leaves were falling, the woods are dry; there is a breeze, and seated on the ground with my back against a tree, I was in heaven. There is no more comforting, contented, daydreaming environment to be had. Killing a squirrel is only of secondary importance.
The squirrels were cooked in salted water for some time as older squirrels have very tough meat. When the meat is tender, gravy is made around the meat. Add buttermilk biscuits and that is great eating.
Wild turkey and bear were not present in southern West Virginia until much later. Poachers kept the deer population very low. Pennsylvania led the northeastern states in restoring native game populations. Wild turkey were shipped from there to other states including West Virginia. They are now very abundant over all of the state. With the passing of an older generation of poachers, deer populations have exploded. Bear are seen in many counties and there is a season in several eastern counties. Bobcat are seen and coyotes have moved in.
While a graduate student at Penn State University, I went squirrel hunting. I was seated with my back to a tree, daydreaming and had a squirrel jump on my back which startled me so much that I missed it. I remained seated and later killed a wild turkey which had wandered up close.
When we moved to Ohio we found we were surrounded by farmland with just a scattering of woods. That fall I chose to go hunting and learned that I could not get out of the sight of a house nor out of earshot of cars on the highway. I tried again the next year and decided that I wouldn’t buy any more Ohio hunting licenses. From then on, many a fall at hunting season I would drive 400 to 500 miles to go hunting on a Saturday and return on Sunday. Being a teacher, there was no other alternative as vacation times did not coincide with the hunting seasons.
Last week I traveled to my home area in West Virginia and it was open season for spring gobblers. Early one morning with the temperature at 38 degrees, my brother and I walked about a half a mile to a site on an uncle’s farm where turkey had been seen. It was still dark when we arrived at the site, about 5:30 AM . We had intended to cross the river but found it too high. As we neared the river, we heard a gobbler in a tree across the river. Wearing camouflaged clothing, we hid in some brush and hoped the gobbler would fly across the river and feed in the area where we were. We stayed at this site 3 hours, only moving a little when we became numb. We had both forgotten our turkey callers and we had no shot at a turkey.
Spring gobbler season occurs after the hens have all started sitting on their eggs full time. One year old hens will nest. The gobblers are now not needed to increase the population, in fact their activities may decrease the population. They are still amorous and are destructive to the nests.
In early spring the two year old or older gobbler will declare a territory and fight other gobblers for that territory. The hens in that area will come to the gobbling male and will lay up to a dozen eggs or so. They will then set on the eggs for 28 days, only coming off the nest in the warm afternoon for short feeding periods.
The one year old male turkeys, known as jakes, are not involved in the breeding cycle and will gather in large groups. Up to 25 jakes have been seen at one time near where we were hunting. The jakes have a short one inch beard whereas the beard of a mature gobbler may be 4 or 5 inches long. Hunting is allowed only in the morning when the jakes and gobblers are moving.
Wild turkey have been introduced into two sites in Seneca County. One is the Miller Conservation Farm about six miles east of Tiffin on State Route 101 Many turkeys have been sighted in that area. Several southeastern counties have the same open gobbler season as West Virginia does.
Wild turkey is perhaps the most elusive game animal of all. Their eye sight is superior and they are alerted to the slightest movement. From time to time they were nominated as the national bird of the United States.
-- Percy