Wild Turkey

[Carlodabroads]

Went out to cranbrook area a couple o' weeks back for some fishin fun. cruisin down the Highway, I saw a big bird just off the road. Thought it was a pheasant so I pulled off to see if I could snap a shot or two. Boy was I surprised when I ducked into the forest only to find near to 50 of the ugliest mofo's around. Remind me of Costa Rican Vultures. I had never seen these dudes before so it was kinda neat, and do they ever make a loud racket!

 

 

[Glenbow]

Ya, there's stacks of 'em out that way. They're all over the highway sometimes.

[dryfly]

Nice find.

Yum!

And close to Turkey weekend too.

Free range.

Organic.

Fed on native wild berries. (And maybe Cheezee crumbs dropped out of passing cars.)

 

They are really neat to watch. We saw several on the Maycroft road 12 days ago. I've counted 60 in the "Burmis flock" at one time. They are usually split up.

[Carlodabroads]

Cool! I was thinking the same thing, I bet they are delicious.

[Inconnu]

I remember years ago when they first planted them in the area. Twenty or so showed up on a friends farm and looked like they were staying so Fish and Wildlife came and took them away.

[Taco]

I've got a buddy whose corrals are visited by a flock of turkeys every time he feeds grain to his horses or cattle. The cattle don't mind but the turkeys seem to have a tendency to irritate the horses, at least once a year a horse will kick the head clean off a gobbler and my buddy, being the thrifty rancher that he is, hates to see that grain fattened bird go to waste, will eat the victim. Good eatin', far better than store bought.

[dryfly]

Geez ... wonder how long it took Rancher Bob to teach ol' Trigger THAT trick. "Trigger ... behead bird"

 

I was sort of thinking .22 shorts. Well, you know...were I a rancher and the damn birds were harassing my cattle.

[HenHackle]

All this reminds me of a story my dad told me about farm turkeys, not the most intelligent of birds. Dad grew up dirt poor on a farm near Bowden and his dad was a strict old guy - definitely not one to spare the rod in disciplining his own kids. Anyway, one day when my dad was about 7 years old, he was being chased by a turkey (they can be bullies). As the bird closed in, dad turned around and slapped his chaser in the head, killing him instantly.

 

Well, he thought he was in it deep then, and in tears took the dead bird over to his dad. Grandpa listened to his son's story and then said. "Don't worry about it kid. It was only a stupid turkey."

[bigbowtrout]

[Taco]

Geez ... wonder how long it took Rancher Bob to teach ol' Trigger THAT trick. "Trigger ... behead bird"

 

I was sort of thinking .22 shorts. Well, you know...were I a rancher and the damn birds were harassing my cattle.

 

:D T'was kinda strange that the "wreck" as it were, has a tendency to happen right about this time of the yr :rolleyes:

[rhuseby]

Not trying to pirate the thread, but when I was at Royal Roads Military College in the 70's, they had a bunch of peacocks running around. They are are the noisiest damn birds in Dcemeber (breeding season) right when you're cramming for exams. One of the guys (not me thank god) was going down to play tennis and gave of the males a light smack with his racket for all of the disturbance. Yep, dead as a doornail. Talk about crap hitting rotating blades. We didn't get to eat the bird though. Great shots of the birds by the way. There is a flock west of Turner Valley, usually on the Bar N ranch, but I've seen them in Sandy McNabb as well.

[Guest Rocknbugs]

Went out to cranbrook area a couple o' weeks back for some fishin fun. cruisin down the Highway, I saw a big bird just off the road. Thought it was a pheasant so I pulled off to see if I could snap a shot or two. Boy was I surprised when I ducked into the forest only to find near to 50 of the ugliest mofo's around. Remind me of Costa Rican Vultures. I had never seen these dudes before so it was kinda neat, and do they ever make a loud racket!

 

 

 

Sweet pic's man, I had my first wild turkey siting this year as well. My Dad & I were playing golf at Mackenzie Meadows early in the year when we saw a huge cock pheasant come walking out of the trees on the left hand side of hole#5 well a few seconds later the biggest bird ever comes walking out after it, we are looking at each other saying "thats not a hen pheasant" to our surprize it was a huge wild turkey and she definately wanted a piece of that poor rooster, she was all over him like a cheap suite. Of all the times to not have a camera, my dad I have hunted roosters almost my whole life and either of us had ever seen a wild turkey before. Again sweet pics man you dont see those everyday.

[SilverDoctor]

Humm looks like great fly tying materials also.

[BlueNorther]

We saw 5 turkeys down on Drywood creek last week when elk hunting,2 big toms and 3 jakes.Sure wished they'd expand the zones and allow more tags than 50 in the spring.Merriams (which we have here) are the nicest and biggest of the five species in N.A.

[Hawgstoppah]

I see them often about 20km north of Waldron bridge on hwy 22..