This Turkey came wanderin' through my yard..

[Mike McKenzie]

earlier this evening...While I've seen really light turkeys, I've never seen a black one before...
Black Jake
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/stripermike/BlackJake2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/stripermike/BlackJake1.jpg

Tail end shot...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/stripermike/BlackJake3.jpg

Mike

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Really beautiful bird.....thanks Mike.

[jbird]

Thats cool. Was he alone??

One of these days Ill get a free morning to photograph my turkeys. Theyre in my yard almost every day and they are starting to strut. The other day, 3 toms were gobbling in unison. They were strutting side by side gobbling like some gothic little choir. LOL They would all stretch out their necks and gobble.

[Mike McKenzie]

Thats cool. Was he alone??

jbird,
No he was runnin' with several other Jakes but I singled him out.. Here he is this AM with a couple of his buddies..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/stripermike/Jakes.jpg

Here a few "real Tom's" that are hangin' around....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/stripermike/Tom2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/stripermike/LongBeard.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/stripermike/Fullofhimself.jpg

[Darian]

Love those photos. Some lengthy beards there. Turkeys drop into Mid-Town, too. Fun to watch drivers slow down and try to avoid 'em on city streets. They aren't easily intimidated. :unibrow:

[k.hanley]

Oh man -- that first big tom in full strut -- stunning display. My bow hand is shaking.
Thanks ol' bear.
Cheers, K

[Jgoding]

Nice pics...

I counted 15-20 toms in full strut passing by one of the fields on my way to work. Our local population in our urban outskirts are growing like wild fire. We had two females running around work the other day just checking out our site. Another population of about 60 birds hangs around a few miles down the road from work and the river road along the Sacramento River from West Sac to Woodland is totally loaded as well. There's also a resident population by the deepwater channel.

[Mike O]

and the bearded ones are in season...RIGHT NOW.

[Mike R]

Great color on that black one. He'd would make for some fine flytying material and pretty good table fare to boot. Jus sayin'.

Mike

[Darian]

MMM, MMM.... Bar B Que'd drumsticks N thighs on the hoof. Plus all of that fly tying material.... :unibrow:

NFF question: when shooting Turkey with bow/arrow, what type of head do you use, field or broadhead :question: Never hunted turkey before but know that they're tough birds to bring down. Just guessing here but I imagine the field tip would be for head or neck and broadhead for heart/lung shots.... :confused:

My bow hand is gettin' shaky as well. :D

[Jgoding]

You can use whatever, but just youtube the "turkey guillotine" if you want real entertainment....

[Ed Wahl]

I've got a flock in my neighborhood here in N. Highlands.

D, you're right they arent' easily intimidated, but a 40lb pointer pulling a fat old guy on a bicycle chasing after them will put the fear of grill in them.
They lose that cocky look also. :evil:
Ed

[Darian]

Interesting arrow head. It does make for a quick, clean kill. While looking at the video, it struck me that the archer was shooting thru the opening of a blind. Gotta be good just to get that head thru the opening. I wonder what the trajectory over the effective range of that head is.... :?:

[Scott V]

At my office in Rancho Cordova the things are everywhere. I have hand feed them. There like pets to us. As a matter of fact I had to stop on the drive in because a tom was trying to court a hen in the middle of White Rock Road. Must have been listening to the Beatles "Why don't we do it in the road".:D