Turkey hunting is a sport involving the pursuit of the elusive wild turkey. Long before the European settlers arrived in North America, the Native Americans took part in hunting wild turkeys. [1]
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Turkey hunting is a sport involving the pursuit of the elusive wild turkey. Long before the European settlers arrived in North America, the Native Americans took part in hunting wild turkeys. [1]
By the early 1900s, the turkey population had been decimated in North America because of habitat destruction, commercial hunting, and wildlife regulations. Hunters, wildlife agencies and conservation organizations intervened and turkey populations rebounded dramatically. More than 7 million wild turkeys now roam North America, with populations in every U.S. state but Alaska. Wild turkeys are also hunted in parts of Mexico and Canada. [1]
There are two species of turkey pursued as game animals in North America, the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata). The wild turkey is further divided into six subspecies. To harvest a bird from the Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, and Merriam's wild turkey subspecies is known in turkey hunting circles as a "grand slam". [2] Harvesting a bird from all the subspecies in the "grand slam" as well as the Gould's wild turkey subspecies and the ocellated turkey is known as a "world slam". [2]
Depending on local rules and regulations, the wild turkey is hunted either in the spring or fall. [3] Spring hunts target gobblers (male turkeys) and fall hunts usually target either sex. Spring hunting coincides with the wild turkey mating season, where gobblers can be called into gun range with calls that mimic the sounds of a hen. [4] Fall seasons occur when turkeys are in flocks, and the typical fall hunt strategy is to "bust up" or "scatter" a flock of turkeys, and then use turkey calls to encourage the scattered birds to group back up together. [5]
The shotgun is a popular weapon for hunting wild turkey. Shotgun gauges used in turkey hunting include 10, 12, 16, and 20 gauge.#2, #4, #5, and #6 lead shot is often used in 2 3/4", 3", or 3 1/2" shotshells. Bow and arrow is starting to become popular among hunters. Common hunting broadheads are used for body shots while "guillotine" style broadheads are intended to remove the head with the shot. Some states even allow small caliber rifles to be used while pursuing turkeys. Turkey hunters usually wear full camouflage, from head to toe, to conceal themselves from the wild turkey's excellent eyesight. This includes pants, shirt, hat, boots, gloves, and a mask. Many hunters wear a turkey vest with a cushion to sit on and compartments to carry their calls and dead turkeys.
Calls used in turkey hunting fall into two categories, air and friction activated. Air calls include diaphragms, wingbone calls, Turpin yelpers, trumpet calls, and snuff tube calls. Friction calls include box calls, pot and peg calls, scratch boxes, and push pin calls. These calls are relatively easy to use and even a beginner can use them to call in turkeys. Common locator calls include owl hooters, crow calls, hawk calls, and anything that will produce a loud noise. This causes a turkey to "shock" gobble and give away his location.
Scent control also contributes to the turkey hunter's technique. While artificial or synthetic scents like those used by hunters of deer and other game are not typically utilized while hunting turkey, removal or masking of foreign scents from the hunter and his equipment is a technique which is commonly used by hunters of wild turkey. [6]
Turkey hunters will often "owl" to shock a gobbler into gobbling. To do this, you can either use your voice or you can even use a specific call to produce the sound. Crows will also shock a gobbler into gobbling. When the gobbler gobbles, he gives away his location so you can sneak up on him and get close and "call him up". In the past couple of years many turkey hunters have started using decoys to make it seem like a "jake"— a young gobbler— is trying to breed a hen. [7] When a dominant gobbler sees that, he gets territorial and aggressive because he wants to breed the hen rather than a youngster. There is no single decoy that covers every possible situation.
In a typical hunting scenario, either with a shotgun or a bow, the hunter waits for the dominant male, or "tom", to get within range. Oftentimes in the Spring, the dominant male will come within range while in "strut". The hunter will then wait for a time where the Wild Turkey is parallel to their position and the side of the head is exposed. This affords the hunter an opportunity to harvest the bird with a clean shot in order to make the harvest quick. Additionally, this has the benefit of ensuring that the "shot" from the shotgun does not penetrate the meat nor shred the feathers during the harvest.
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to exploit the animal's body for meat and useful animal products, for recreation/taxidermy, although it may also be done for non-exploitative reasons such as removing predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals, to eliminate pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or spread diseases, for trade/tourism, or for ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species.
The turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris, native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Males of both turkey species have a distinctive fleshy wattle, called a snood, that hangs from the top of the beak. They are among the largest birds in their ranges. As with many large ground-feeding birds, the male is bigger and much more colorful than the female.
The domestic turkey is a large fowl, one of the two species in the genus Meleagris and the same species as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoamerica at least 2,000 years ago, recent research suggests a possible second domestication event in the area that is now the southwestern United States between 200 BC and 500 AD. However, all of the main domestic turkey varieties today descend from the turkey raised in central Mexico that was subsequently imported into Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century.
The wild turkey is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey.
The ocellated turkey is a species of turkey residing primarily in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, as well as in parts of Belize and Guatemala. A relative of the North American wild turkey, it was sometimes previously considered in a genus of its own (Agriocharis), but the differences between the two turkeys are currently considered too small to justify generic segregation. It is a relatively large bird, at around 70–122 cm (28–48 in) long and an average weight of 3 kg (6.6 lb) in females and 5 kg (11 lb) in males.
Bait is any appetizing substance used to attract prey when hunting or fishing, most commonly in the form of trapping, ambushing and angling.
A shotgun shell, shotshell, or shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired through a smoothbore barrel with a tapered constriction at the muzzle to regulate the extent of scattering. A shell can sometimes also contain only a single large solid projectile known as a slug. The hull usually consists of a paper or plastic tube often covered at the base by a metallic head cover which retains a primer, and the shot charge is typically contained by a wadding/sabot inside the case. The caliber of the shotshell is known as its gauge.
Shot is a collective term for small spheres or pellets, often made of lead. These have been projected from slings since ancient times and were the original projectiles for shotguns and are still fired primarily from shotguns and grenade launchers, while it's less commonly used in riot guns. Shot shells are also available in many handgun calibers in a configuration known as "birdshot", "rat shot", or "snake shot".
Waterfowl hunting is the practice of hunting aquatic birds such as ducks, geese and other waterfowls or shorebirds for food and sport.
Upland hunting is an American term for a form of bird hunting (fowling) in which the hunter pursues upland birds including quail, pheasant, grouse, woodcock, prairie chicken, chukar, grey partridge, and other landfowls. Unlike aquatic and semiaquatic bird species, upland birds are terrestrial and tend to be found strictly on the dry lands above the high mark of waterbodies, often hidden in heavy groundcover, so hunters generally employ the use of gun dogs to locate, expose and retrieve game. The average group consists of 2-4 hunters with 1-2 dogs. Normally, if there is one dog the owner usually handles the dog while the others focus on shooting.
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 Adventures is a 2004 hunting video game published by Activision Value for Microsoft Windows, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance. It is also a backwards-compatible title for the Xbox 360. It is the first story-driven hunting adventure game.
Deer hunting is hunting deer for meat and sport, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food source of animal protein that can be obtained through deer hunting. There are many different types of deer around the world that are hunted for their meat. For sport, often hunters try to kill deer with the largest and most antlers to score them using inches. There are two different categories of antlers. They are typical and nontypical. They measure tine length, beam length, and beam mass by each tine. They will add all these measurements up to get a score. This score is the score without deductions. Deductions occur when the opposite tine is not the same length as it is opposite. That score is the deducted score.
The term turkey call can refer to either the different vocalizations of the turkey or devices designed and used to imitate these sounds.
Reindeer hunting in Greenland is of great importance to the Greenlandic Inuit and sports hunters, both residents and tourists. Reindeer (caribou) are an important source of meat, and harvesting them has always played an important role in the history, culture, and traditions of the Greenlandic Inuit. Controlled hunting is important for the welfare of reindeer, the quality of life for Inuit, both as food, and part of their culture and Greenlandic culture in general, and the preservation of tundra grazing areas. Therefore, scientific research is regularly performed to determine the quotas needed to maintain a proper ecological balance.
Bear hunting is the act of hunting bears. Bear have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur. In addition to being a source of food, in modern times they have been favored by big game hunters due to their size and ferocity. Bear hunting has a vast history throughout Europe and North America, and hunting practices have varied based on location and type of bear.
A duck call may be either the sound-imitation process used in waterfowl hunting, by which a hunter lures waterfowl, or the actual tool which the person uses to do so. Early duck call tools were basic woodwind instruments, while later innovations are constructed of rubber and plastic, and allow the hunter to adjust the volume and tone of the calls with reeds. Today's duck calls usually fall into three main categories: single, double, or triple reed call with many variations, although the triple reed is rare. The goal of a duck call is to sound like a realistic live duck, in attempts to decoy, or fool a duck into believing the decoys that are seen by a duck, and the sound that is heard appears lifelike.
The National Wild Turkey Federation is an international non-profit organization whose mission is 'the conservation of the wild turkey and the preservation of our hunting heritage.' It currently has more than 250,000 members in the United States, Canada, Mexico and 14 other countries.
Romania has a long history of hunting and remains a remarkable hunting destination, drawing many hunters because of its large numbers of brown bears, wolves, wild boars, red deer, and chamois. The concentration of brown bears in the Carpathian Mountains of central Romania is largest in the world and contains half of all Europe's population, except Russia.
Hunting is a popular recreational pursuit and a tourist activity in New Zealand with numerous books and magazines published on the topic. Unlike most other developed countries with a hunting tradition, there are no bag-limits or seasons for hunting large game in New Zealand. Hunting in national parks is a permitted activity. The wide variety of game animals and the limited restrictions means hunting is a popular pastime which has resulted in a high level of firearms ownership among civilians.
Australia has a population of about 25 million, with the Commonwealth Government's 2019 survey estimating there are 640,000 recreational hunters in the country. There are around 5.8 million legally owned guns in Australia, ranging from airguns to single-shot, bolt-action, pump-action, lever-action or semi-automatic firearms.