It’s never too soon to start talking turkey. The ticktock of the turkey clock is already gobbling up the calendar.
With most major hunting seasons now behind us, anticipation of spring turkey season is underway for many as the deadline for limited license applications lands Feb. 12. In practical terms, that’s three weeks from Thursday, or about a week less than the span between Black Friday and Christmas.
Now is the time to get your wish list together.
“The hunting areas that are draw units are more desirable because the turkey populations tend to be very high, and particularly in the eastern part of the state there is a limited amount of public land. The chances of success in those draw units are much higher than just buying over-the-counter tags,” said Zach Roth, Littleton-based regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation. “Successful public land turkey hunting is absolutely realistic though. I got one on public land for the past two years.”
There’s no denying the reality that success in drawing one of Colorado’s limited licenses for spring gobblers will a hunter’s odds of success in the field. Statistics compiled by Colorado Parks and Wildlife for the 2012 season (the most recent available) showed hunter success rates of more than 2-to-1 for those holding limited licenses versus over-the-counter tags. Among the limited license holders, 55 percent reported harvesting a bird, while only 25 percent of the OTC hunters sampled accomplished the goal.
Some of that disparity might be attributed to the , however. The NWTF has documented nationwide growth in the discipline in recent years, and the trend has been reflected in Colorado since 2010. The influx of newcomers is bound to dilute success rates among OTC license purchasers yet to accumulate the preference points needed to target turkeys in the more densely populated limited license units.
“The popularity of turkey hunting is definitely growing,” Roth said. “I’ve taken eight to 10 people turkey hunting for their first time in the past year-and-a-half. All of them were elk hunters, and they could really relate to the strategy, the tracking, calling the birds in and hunting on a lot of the same terrain. A lot of big game hunters get into it because it is so similar and not a whole new skill set being learned.”
Although wild turkeys don’t qualify as a genuine apples-to-apples comparison to Colorado’s big game animals, the Merriam’s turkey sub-species is often found in the hilly big game habitat comprising much of the state’s abundant public lands.
“Anywhere that people hunt elk, there are probably turkeys there too,” Roth said. “Most of the turkey hunters I know go into our national forest and seem to do all right. It’s like any other hunting on public land — you get out of it what you put into it. If you do your due diligence and do your homework, your chances of success are much better.”
Although scouting the transient turkeys in the heart of winter is unlikely to increase a hunter’s odds much, there are a few trade secrets worth sticking in the bag of tricks you pull out in .
Among them, go ahead and apply for that limited license — not just for spring, but for the fall season as well. Hunters can gain two preference points in one year that way, often enough to gain access to a less-pressured hunting unit. Fall license applications are accepted from May 21 through July 9.
If you plan to apply for the limited draw, Roth suggests first checking in with the local CPW office managing the unit you want to hunt for information on local turkey populations. A reliable topographic map and a GPS program indicating property boundaries and public access areas are also good ideas.
“Probably the best tool that I use is Google Earth,” Roth said. “There are a few things that I really look for that will support turkeys. Areas that are in lower elevation relative to the surrounding geography — small canyons and ravines — are good spots to look. You also want to look for deciduous trees among the conifer forest, meadows and water sources. It’s similar to elk hunting in that sense. Turkeys will roost in the deciduous trees and they are often fruit bearing, with the acorns and seeds they feed on.”
While many turkey hunters will focus their attention on the Rio Grande species that dominate the river bottoms of Colorado’s eastern plains, several counties west of I-25 hold flocks of Merriam’s renowned for their genetic purity. Those willing to venture beyond the familiar terrain of the Front Range to find birds on public land might consider hunting North Park near Walden, or Buffalo Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass on the way to Steamboat. There is a good population of birds between Durango and the New Mexico border, Roth said, and hunter success rates are high in the national forest and state wildlife areas on the West Slope surrounding Delta.
Wherever you land, it’s likely to fall into the golden age of modern turkey hunting.
“It’s our last opportunity to hunt before summer,” Roth said. “I think that has something to do with the growth in popularity. And the fact that the turkey population has really gained traction in the past 10 years. Having more available increases people’s interest.”
