TALKIN' TURKEY; TIPS AND TIDBITS FROM THE HUNTING FIELD.Byline: BRETT PAULY Dozens of tough-looking guys - and gals - in camouflage. Camo everywhere, from special suspenders designed to hold binoculars to ``safari stalkers'' - bizarre boots with fuzzy fur bottoms to silence the hunter's footsteps. You're not much of a turkey shooter without camo, and the 100 or so in attendance during Saturday's turkey-hunting seminar at Tejon Ranch Tejon Ranch Company is the largest private landowner in California. It was incorporated in 1936 to organise the ownership of a large tract of land originally comprised of four Mexican land grants, and began ranching in the 1840's. knew it. Gobblers have powerful peepers - eyesight 10 times greater than a human's - and they'll quickly spot the shooter whose calling them if the hunter isn't carefully disguised. The audience at the National Wild Turkey Federation event had come to hear Garden Grove Garden Grove, city (1990 pop. 143,050), Orange co., S Calif., a suburb of Long Beach and Los Angeles, on the Santa Ana River; founded 1877, inc. 1956. Many of its residents work in nearby aerospace and defense installations, and there is light manufacturing. turkey shooter Jimmie Rizzo speak. The Mississippi transplant is revered for his hunting skills. Though a Southland resident for 12 years, his thick drawl drawl v. drawled, drawl·ing, drawls v.intr. To speak with lengthened or drawn-out vowels. v.tr. is hard to miss. What he had to say should help beginners and veterans alike bag a bird - and come home to tell about it. A word on scouting: Scout before you hunt to find where turkeys are or have been by scouring scouring characterized by scour. scouring disease a colloquial name for secondary nutritional copper deficiency. for tracks, scratchings, feathers and droppings - and pick more than one site. If not, don't be disappointed come opening morning, when six other cars are sitting in front of the perfect little turkey hole you found. ``When you are out looking around, take into consideration the vegetation. If it's green, match your camo to it; if it's brown, match your camo to it.'' Sometimes the locales will have dead leaves on the ground and green foliage higher up, so wear brown camo pants and a green-camo jacket. Pattern your shotgun: Once you've found your hunting spot, get the tightest choke for your shotgun and shells with shot size No. 4, 5 or 6 and make sure your gun's aim is true. ``It's real important that you understand that your shotgun is not necessarily shooting where that bead (sight) is.'' Adjustments can be made. Next, determine your maximum effective distance, that is the length at which you can shoot accurately at a turkey's head or neck area - the kill zones of the tough birds. Rizzo doesn't recommend anybody shooting more than 40 yards at a turkey. Try some calling: There are numerous friction calls - namely wooden box calls or calls made of slate, aluminum and Plexiglas - and air-operated options called mouth diaphragm calls. All can be perfected - with practice, ``preferably in your car, if you're married.'' But only use the call of a hen in the spring mating season mating season n → época de celo mating season n → saison f des amours mating season mating n → , when most hunters are gunning for a gobbler gobbler male turkey. Called also tom. , or tom - the dominant male. Hen calls bring gobblers in; gobbler calls bring hunters in. Problems in the field: More hunters get shot during turkey season than in any other game season. A big reason is that hunters track turkeys by what they think is their call, but what turns out to be a hunter making a call. ``Don't go to the call; let the call come to you.'' Don't yell: ``In the event a turkey hunter does come to your call, do not jump up and down, wave your arms or shout real loud.'' That turkey hunter could swing his gun on you thinking you're the turkey whose call he is tracking. ``Instead, call out of name - Bill, John, Dave, anything - just so that person knows immediately when he hears that that's coming from another person.'' About colors: ``Do not go out (in the field) with red, white, blue or black on. This is the color of the turkey; you'll get shot.'' Also, pack an orange hat and vest and a white game bag. Use them if you shoot a bird; do not carry the bird out on your back. ``All of us know that there are not very many 6-foot-tall turkeys walking along in our local mountains. But that doesn't mean that you aren't going to get shot at with a turkey on your back, even though the bird is upside-down and six feet off the ground. Everybody wants to show off their trophy turkey; just make sure it's you showing it off, not one of your next of kin The blood relatives entitled by law to inherit the property of a person who dies without leaving a valid will, although the term is sometimes interpreted to include a relationship existing by reason of marriage. Cross-references Descent and Distribution. .'' Other turkey news: While 63 wild turkeys were released last month in the San Bernardino Mountains San Bernardino Mountains, part of the Coast Range, S Calif., extending c.60 mi (100 km) NW and SE through San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Notable peaks are San Bernardino Mt. (10,630 ft/3,240 m) and Mt. San Gorgonio (11,485 ft/3,501 m). - augmenting a state program to ensure a healthy permanent population of the birds there - hunters won't be bagging any of the newcomers this spring. All the transplanted turkeys with beards had them removed before the birds were introduced to the mountain chain by the Department of Fish and Game. Only birds with beards are legal to hunt. ``We want to give the new birds a chance to orient to their new surroundings and provide a generation of offspring before they reach the dinner table,'' said DFG DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council) DFG Department of Fish and Game DFG District Factor Group DFG Data Flow Graph DFG Difference Frequency Generation DFG Diode Function Generator DFG Dog Faced Gremlin wildlife biologist ''' The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. A wildlife biologist is someone who studies wild animals and their habitats. Jim Davis. The beards will regrow Re`grow´ v. i. & t. 1. To grow again. The snail had power to regrow them all [horns, tongue, etc.] - A. B. Buckley. Verb 1. in time for the spring 2000 hunting season, and those birds will be fair game. Some 200 Merriam's-strain wild turkeys have been translocated to several sites along the mountains' north slope North Slope, Alaska: see Alaska North Slope. since 1987, when the DFG began this program in the San Bernardino National Forest San Bernardino National Forest has two main divisions which are the San Bernardino Mountains on the easternmost of the Transverse Range, and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains on the northernmost of the Peninsular Range. . The last plant - 28 Merriam's - took place in early 1996 at Crab Flats. The most recent birds were imported from South Dakota South Dakota (dəkō`tə), state in the N central United States. It is bordered by North Dakota (N), Minnesota and Iowa (E), Nebraska (S), and Wyoming and Montana (W). , with the National Wild Turkey Federation - an Edgefield, S.C.-based education and conservation group - footing the entire bill. To contact the National Wild Turkey Federation, call (800) 843-6983; a local affiliation - the Tri-Valley Longbeards chapter - can be reached at (805) 520-9711. BAGS OF BIRDS Statewide totals of spring wild turkey takes from 1992 to 1997 - the latest year from which such statistics are available: YEAR STATE BAG HUNTERS 1997 10,600 15,680 1996 6,958 12,230 1995 9,277 13,286 1994 8,998 18,404 1993 14,917 15,285 1992 8,507 18,769 Note: During this period, spring turkey hunters averaged between four and five days in the field. Source: Department of Fish and Game, Wildlife Management Division SPRING REGS REGS Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme The number of wild turkeys that can be taken during the usual 37-day spring season has been increased from two to three. Other hunting regulations: Season dates: Saturday through May 2. Shooting hours: 30 minutes before sunrise to 4 p.m. Limit: One bearded turkey per day; three per season. (To be legally targeted, a turkey must have a beard visible through its breast feathers; males and 12 percent of females have beards.) Paperwork: Shooters must possess a current state hunting license ($27.55) and an upland game-bird stamp ($6.05). Shot: Cannot be T-size steel (a goose-hunting load) or larger than No. 2. Information: For a copy of the Department of Fish and Guide's free ``California Turkey Hunter's Guide,'' call (916) 653-4263. SCOUT AHEAD Get out and scout before you hunt to improve your chances of finding a locale where spring wild turkeys congregate. In Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , the best spots are often found in the San Bernardino Mountains. Sites where turkeys traditionally have been found: Mojave River The Mojave River is a river in the Mojave Desert, California. Source The river's source is in the San Bernardino Mountains near Hesperia. The West Fork of the Mojave flows into Silverwood Lake, formed by Cedar Springs Dam, which overflows in the Mojave River Forks Reserve drainage, Willow Creek Willow Creek may refer to: In Christianity:
n. Informal A chaise. [Back-formation from chaise (taken as pl. )] Noun 1. Mountain, Deep Creek drainage at the confluence of Holcomb and Coxey creeks, and the Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River begins in San Bernardino County, California in the San Bernardino National Forest. Its highest source lakes are Dollar Lake (9220') and Dry Lake (9065'), both on the northern flank of San Gorgonio Mountain (11,502') in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. drainage from Seven Oaks Dam The Seven Oaks Dam is located on the Santa Ana River, 4 miles (6 km) northeast of Redlands, California. It was constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers as a flood control dam. to Onyx Summit - particularly around Sugarloaf Mountain, Sugarloaf Meadows and Staircase Canyon. Where gobblers have been seen more recently: Muddy Springs below the town of Skyforest (caution: extremely rough, steep terrain), Miller Canyon south of Silverwood Lake and Cleghorn Ridge west of Silverwood Lake. Information: San Bernardino National Forest, (909) 383-5588. SPECIAL HUNTS There is a set of five free guided turkey hunts this spring at Tejon Ranch in Southwestern Kern County offered through the Department of Fish and Game's Game Bird Heritage Program. The dates are April 17, 21, 24, 28 and May 1. Applications must be received by 5 p.m. Friday for hunters to be eligible for a drawing that will determine who gets to attend. The easiest way to register is via the Internet at www.dfg.ca.gov/reg4/turkey/turkey.htm, or to print out the application from the site and fax it to (559) 243-4022. Or send by way of overnight mail your name, address, daytime and evening telephone numbers, 1998-99 hunting license number and the name (Tejon Ranch) and date of the hunt you prefer to: Game Bird Heritage Program Turkey Hunt, Department of Fish and Game, 1234 E. Shaw Ave., Fresno, CA 93710. Information: (559) 243-4005, ext. 132 or 133. - Daily News CAPTION(S): 3 Photos, 2 Boxes PHOTO (1--Color) no caption (Couple in camouflage gear) Jody Kurash/South Florida Sun-Sentinel (2--Color) Crouched by a tree, a turkey hunter takes aim while a camouflaged couple returns from the field with a prize. Such disguises are key to successful hunts. John Higley/Special to the Daily News (3--Color) no caption (Wild turkey) Armin Neubert/Special to the Daily News BOX: (1) BAGS OF BIRDS (see text) (2) SPRING REGS (see text) |
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