Tag Archives: merriam’s turkey

Earth Day/Turkey Day

The shrill gobble carried across the 1/2 mile stretch of the valley with ease.

Positioned on a tall hill (by East Texas standards) my friend Josh Slone and I were pumped to get a response to our first call and it was loud!

The space between these hills and the creekbed below had been clear cut in the last six months and while that practice has questionable merit, the first year or so of a clear cut provides lots of new growth for turkeys, whitetails, and many other creatures.

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The decoy is set up, Josh is calling but once the gobbler saw the two hunters he was done. Hunting turkeys is anything but easy. (Photo by Chester Moore, Jr.)

This was a better start to the day than a public land hunt the day before where we saw plenty of sign, but no birds. My friend Derek York got a good luck at a gobbler and two hens but that was while he was transitioning between locations and wasn’t ready to take a shot.

Check out Derek York’s killer podcast “Impact Outdoors” here.

The same thing happened to me and Josh here on a private lease as later in the morning after seeing a couple of hens, we decided to move toward where we had heard the gobbler earlier and as soon as we went to stake out the decoy there he was.

At about 1/4 mile away he popped out of the woods and popped right back. A turkey’s vision is astounding and once he saw us we knew there was no chance he was coming back out no matter how much we called.

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A 2019 eastern turkey release in Titus County, Tx. (Photo by Chester Moore, Jr.)

This was a very special couple of days as we were hunting eastern turkeys in the Pineywoods of East Texas. A limited season for this subspecies exists in a handful of counties where restoration efforts by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) have boosted eastern numbers from near zero to around 10,000.

Restoration efforts continue with “super stockings” that are putting upwards of 80 birds in key locations to see eastern numbers expand in this vastly forested region.

On the way back from day two’s hunt, I realized we had been turkey hunting on Earth Day.

To me, it was a fitting way to celebrate the environment and enjoy God’s creation in a fun, exciting way.

In my opinion, as turkeys go, so do America’s forests.

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Until last year the only turkeys the author had hunted were Rio Grandes in his home state of Texas. He took this big eastern gobbler on a farm new Cato, NY with his friend Lou Marullo. The Moore family enjoyed the breast meat cut into strips and fried in batter. (Photo by Lou Marullo)

Where forests have either natural fires or controlled prescribed burns and trees adequate for roosting turkeys thrive. And in those same locations so do many other creatures including species of concern such as indigo snakes, the red-cockaded woodpecker, and gopher tortoises.

The difference is there are no groups willing to spend millions to help woodpeckers or indigo snakes, but there is a group that has hundreds of thousands of members and that spends millions helping turkeys-the NWTF.

Wildlife and its habitat need cornerstone species to inspire people to stand for their existence and proliferation. In the mountains, it’s bighorn sheep and in much of the rest of America’s forests, it’s wild turkeys.

Seeing eastern turkeys on a hunt just 75 minutes from my house in the eastern extremity of Texas was a dream come true. I will be returning numerous times to try and bag a bird and enjoy this pursuit that would have been impossible without the diligent efforts of hunter-conservationists.

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Big gobbler tracks found on a tract of public land in East Texas. (Photo by Chester Moore, Jr.)

I’m not one of those hunters who says that only hunters care about wildlife That’s nonsense. I know many nonhunters who do as well.

But I don’t know any group that has a hardcore contingent of conservationists willing to spend as much money, time, and effort on behalf of wildlife as hunters and fishermen in America.

It’s truly remarkable what this group of people have done for wildlife in the United States and beyond.

That’s why spending Earth Day hunkered down in the brush, calling out to turkeys in East Texas was so fitting for me.

I learned to conserve wildlife through hunting and fishing and to this day it remains a means of connecting with nature, collecting food for the table, and enjoy the outdoors to the max.

Thank God for the planet and for filling the forests of America with wild turkeys.

My life is better thanks to their existence.

Chester Moore

Chester’s Turkey Revolution project has hit many media outlets already in 2020 with a message of turkey conservation. Here’s where to find some of the articles and broadcasts.

You can subscribe to this blog by entering your email address at the subscribe prompt at the top right of this page. You can contact Chester Moore by emailing chester@chestermoore.com. Subscribe to the podcast by visiting thehighercalling.podbean.com.

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The Spring edition of Hunter’s Horn from the Houston Safari Club Foundation features Chester’s article “Call Of The Mountain Turkey” about the search for Merriam’s and Gould’s turkeys.
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April 2020 Texas Fish & Game features a photo of a gobbler photographed on Chester’s Turkey Revolution quest in 2019 and an article on  Easterns and Osceolas. This is part 1 of a three-part series on the Grand Slam of turkeys.

The Higher Calling Podcast: (Gould’s Turkey Episode)

The HIgher Calling Podcast: COVID-19 And The State of Turkey Conservation (With NWTF CEO Becky Humphries Episode)

 

The Truth About Color Phase Turkeys (Video)

In March 2019 I began a quest to capture quality photographs of Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Eastern and Osceola turkeys-all within 2019.

The idea is to raise awareness to turkey conservation. I call this project Turkey Revolution!

Hunters (like myself) call this quest the Grand Slam.

And while I took a few hunts this year including bagging my first eastern in New York, this quest is to document with a camera these great birds and to share the experiences through my various media platforms like this blog, Texas Fish & Game, Newstalk AM 560 KLVI and The Wildlife Journalist®.

I happy to announce I wrapped up year one of this adventure in  Colorado photographing Merriam’s turkeys.

I got photos of numerous birds there including a very special one-a cinnamon-colored bearded hen you can see a brief clip of in the video below.


Also check out this photo of another beautiful Merriam’s I found in Colorado and a shot of a  distant flock I got on a return trip in October on a snow-covered mountain.

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The author photographed this Merriam’s turkey in Colorado at an elevation of 7,000 feet. (Photo by Chester Moore, Jr.)
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Merriam’s turkeys bundled up after the first snow in Estes Park, Co. in Oct. 2019. (Photo by Chester Moore, Jr.)

This has been a truly exciting adventure and 2020 looks to be equally as interesting as we are in touch with the top biologists, wildlife managers and hunters around the nation on the issue of turkeys.

You can read the full recap of 2019 at Texas Fish & Game by clicking here.

I hope you get to spend time with your family.

Thank God for the turkey on the table, but most of all those in the woods and on the mountains.

And don’t forget to say a prayer for all of the wild things.

Chester Moore

You can subscribe to this blog by entering your email address at the subscribe prompt at the top right of this page. You can contact Chester Moore by emailing chester@chestermoore.com. Subscribe to the podcast by visiting thehighercalling.podbean.com.