Alberta Turkey
 

I've always seen the part in the hunting regs for turkey, but do people really hunt them that much? I dont know anyone who has hunted them here, or havent even seen much anout them on this site about them, does anyone here hunt them? Depending on how succesful they are doing I wouldnt mindgoing after one in a few years, can you guys give me any info on them?

Hi, My husband's Uncle went for the Merriam's Turkey 2 years ago...they are in the Porcupine Hills near Calgary. You hunt them in the Spring, limited Entry only. He said it was a great hunt, as you can hunt for so may hours that time of year. I am hoping to get in the draw for that one of these years, the Hills there are gorgeous, open pine forest.

jennifer

ps he said it was fairly easy to call them in

Do you know how hard it is to get drawn?

You get drawn about every 4 years with the current tag levels.

I was drwn in 2007. One of the hardest hunts I have been on. What I mean by that is the turkeys are not necessarily on every hillside. In that regard they are more like elk, than deer. Just because it is good habitat, doesn't mean there are birds there. However, that doesn't mean the next ridge over, isn't covered in them. If it is raining hard, or blowing hard, they won't hear your calls and you will not hear them respond. The suckers often want to be on top of the ridges and not down along the creeks like I suspected they would be. Lots of hiking and climbing.

Yes there is lots of hunting time in May. I left my house in Calgary at 3AM, was hunting by 530AM, legal light ended at 10PM, I got home at 1230AM. That, my friends, is a very long day!

I was rained out the first day. By 930AM, I was looking for some gopher wood, it was raining so hard. Some of the trails in the Porkies quickly become impassable if it rains much. The next day I hunted, I hunted all day, but it was so windy, never could hear anything. The third day, hooked up with a friend from Pincher. Almost thought we had one. For some reason the bird flew to another mountain. Ran out of daylight to go get him. I was next rained and snowed out. Finally on the 28th, I finally got one, I guess you would call it a jake, or adolescent male.

Would I do it again? It was fun, and got me out of the house when the hills and mountains are sure beautiful, but I was so determined to be one of the few who are sucessful, I was actually stressed out about it. It really helps to have a local experienced person to help out. As I said, the birds aren't on every hill.

I used my remchoke 20" slugbarrel, with a extrafull turkey choke installed and a red dot scope on top. It worked well. However, I would go to #5 or #4 shot in the Winchester XX 3 inch mag. I used #6 and found that the pellets didn't penetrate that well. He was at 40-45 yds and wasn't crossing the fence to come any closer. It was shoot or go home. I shot. And shot, and shot, and then my friend had him by the legs and wrung his neck. Tough birds. Maybe something like heavy shot would work better? It was about maximum range. Or, maybe when I had to completely disassemble the shotgun after the torrential rain, when the barrel went back on, the zero was off? Dead is dead though, just disappointed it wasn't a bang flop.

I will put in again. I have 3 years to decide if I want to do it again.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...x/21100021.jpg

O'Hagen Turkeys
 

Saw these turkeys last week along the O' Hagen Road. Saw the same six birds 4-5 times. They give us a wide berth only first thing in the morning, after that they didn't seem to care. They sure can move quickly for big birds.

We used to camp and ride alot in the Porky's and always saw a few turkey,actually had several almost pets in our campsite a few years ago.
Never really had the urge to shoot one of them though!

Does anyone know if they are a native species down there or are they introduced? Just curious.

Introduced and flourishing. in the last couple of years they've increased the tags and opened up new areas. There's a bunch around Turner Valley now. i figure they should be in the Wild Cats in another 5 years. I'm thinking about bugging some people I've met from Grand Forks to see if they will host me and my son on a hunt next spring.

Do you guys have any idea of how many tags are handed out esch year?

We saw these guys while out looking for black bears this spring out in the foothills. Neat looking birds. Maybe I might get the chance to hunt one of these guys if I didn't keep missing to apply every year.