Hunting: Going Gobble over Wild Turkey

Hunters across North America getting very little sleep as they count the days until the turkey-hunting season opens. In most American states the season opens around the middle of April. As for me I have reason to get double gobble exited, my home province of British Columbia has for the first time ever scheduled a spring turkey season. What’s so exiting about this is that the turkey is truly a North American success story.

Only 25 years ago the North American turkey was in danger of going the way of the Dodo. Then the hunters got together and founded the National Wild Turkey Federation and the rest is history as they say. Not only has the turkey rebounded from his near extinction but surpassed his former numbers. Today the North American wild turkey can be found in all American states other than Alaska and Hawaii. For the last 5 to 6 years the turkey has entered and settled in Canada too. Canada never has been a traditional home to turkeys, beavers yes but turkeys no. Alone this fact speaks volumes for the success of the conservation program of the National Wild Turkey Federation. In British Columbia, one of the last southern Canadian provinees of gobbler settlement, the turkey has now reached numbers that warrant a hunting season to keep the population stable.

This tremendous success could only happen thanks to concerned hunters who not only generously gave money for restoration programmes but also of their time. The National Wild Turkey Federation membership is made up by 90% of hunters from all walks of life and from across North America. It is a shining example for what hunters do, which is a lot more than can be said of the many organizations that want to outlaw hunting or portray hunters a wicked baby killers.

In next few contributions I will discuss what strategies are best to hunt North Americas favourite Upland bird. So stay tuned and come back here soon, so you too can get your gobbler this spring, wouldn’t that be great. By the way the spring is a perfect time to take a child along to the woods, field and streams and teach it natures ways and the significance of our hunting and conservation heritage. Spring is a great time to be out and watch nature rejuvenating itself, the cycle of live begins again.