Turkey hunting in the Sierra.
With Thanksgiving approaching, you may be considering hunting a wild turkey for your main dish. As one of the driest states in the Lower 48, Nevada is not known as a wild turkey hunting mecca, but every year between 100 and 130 hunting tags are awarded by the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Folks lucky enough to be drawn often are up against several challenges, though, including finding a flock, remaining concealed, and hitting the target.
Shawn Espinosa, wildlife staff specialist with NDOW, is familiar with the tribulations of turkey hunting.
“Sometimes people get lucky and will get [the tag] in the first few years,” he says. “Typically it takes seven to 10 years to get a turkey tag. We do have some private land opportunities where folks will go to landowners and can get tags that way; the landowners usually only give those out a few at a time.”
Across the state line in California, there’s much greater opportunity to find and harvest wild turkeys, and for details, Espinosa suggests visiting the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at Wildlife.ca.gov.
About the Hunt
For an effective day of stalking turkeys, sportsmen are out before dawn, listening for gobbles along river corridors or in juniper and pinyon pine trees.
“With a little bit of moonlight, you can see a flock of turkeys roosting,” Espinosa explains. “From there, watching their feeding habits will help. You may have to do some hiking and look for tracks. You often can determine areas where they might be strutting because you can see the wing lines from the males dragging their wings in the dirt.”
Once a flock is spotted, hunters must conceal themselves, set up a decoy or two, and get a call ready. Nevada regulations dictate that a shotgun or archery weapons may be used to kill wild turkeys, and it’s important to maintain safety protocols.
“Be aware of your target and surroundings,” Espinosa says. “It’s always good to carry something hunter orange to help indicate you’re a person rather than a turkey. Accidents during turkey hunting are more common than other types of game hunting, so it’s important to be vigilant.”
For tips and recipes for cooking wild turkey, peruse the National Wild Turkey Federation resources at Nwtf.org. To learn more about hunting in Nevada, visit Ndow.org.
Heidi Bethel loves wild turkey and is hopeful her husband, Masten, will pursue his goal of hunting them with a bow.
