Grand Slam Quest-Aspire To The Ultimate Challenge
By: Joe Byers
Wes Malik and Kat Haas were married just months after thier great turkey adventure.
The approaching turkey pecked the ground several times and then raised its red head, causing a long, bristle-brush beard to swing like a pendulum. The sun hung on the horizon, and I mentally prayed this bird would continue its course and pass my disguised location.
Earlier in the day, I had missed a gobbler at eight yards with a bow and arrow as it stood near a ground blind. The shot required an awkward angled release through a side opening, and the arrow may have hit the window. Regardless, other hunters teased me throughout the day… Is eight yards too far? Did you allow for the wind? The taunting was merciless.
Twelve hours later, I was about to get a second chance as this monster tom worked along a tree line. I knew the range to be 30 yards, and as it stepped into a small opening, I voiced an “alarm puck,” which caused the bird to stop and raise its head. In an instant I released, my arrow caught its neck, and the bird lay still.
Hoisting the heavy bird over my shoulder, I met up with my shotgun-toting friends who returned empty handed. I made sure they posed with me as we took several revenge, hold-up photos. That night, I was so excited I could barely sleep, and I consider that big gobbler one of my greatest hunting trophies.
Take the Grand Slam Challenge
Hunters love challenge, and taking the four subspecies of wild turkeys in a single year or over several is an obtainable goal at a reasonable expense, even in the age of COVID. The four subspecies of turkeys in the US include: the Eastern, mostly east of the Mississippi River; the Osceola, from Florida south of Orlando; the Rio Grande, found in Texas and its northern neighbors; and the Merriam, which populates the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. For clarity, these four subspecies comprise the “Grand Slam” while the “Royal Slam” adds the Gould’s from Mexico and the “World Slam” includes the Oscellated found in Mexico’s Yucatan region. Hunts for Gould’s happen on an extremely limited basis in Arizona, so the “Grand Slam” may soon be upgraded to five subspecies.
Subspecies Similarities
Similarities among the subspecies are far greater than their differences. In fact, a hunter could fill his hunting vest with calls, ammo, and a decoy for one species and succeed on all. They roost in trees, often gobble at dawn, strut and breed hens in spring, and have excellent vision and hearing.
Bagging a gobbler with bow and arrow is the ultimate challenge. The author succeeded by using a blind and a Gearhead crossbow that shoots regular arrows.
Turkeys survive in flocks throughout the winter, but break into small groups as spring and mating season arrive. Males gobble to attract hens, who then breed and go about their day. Hens typically lay an egg per day and then sit on the nest for 28 days until the eggs hatch. Once bred, a hen turkey is fertile for the entire summer, an important population factor. Since turkeys nest on the ground, the nests are susceptible to invasions from racoons, coyotes, foxes, skunks, armadillos, and other predators. Should the nest be destroyed, the hen will establish a new nest and begin the incubation process again without the need to breed.
Tall Timber Easterns
By far the subspecies with the greatest numbers and territory is the Eastern. Toms gobble from treetops from Southern Canada to Northern Florida, and its range stretches west to the Mississippi River. Pursuing this crafty bird also offers the widest range of terrain and period for hunting.
The season opens in the deep South in early March and will continue until the end of May in northern states. I’ll never forget my first trip to South Carolina’s Low Country where the season opened on March 15th. Leaving my home in Western Maryland, whiffs of snow still dotted the landscape and the emergence of foliage on trees was a month in the future.
Hunting just north of Hilton Head, I found that dogwoods were in full bloom, birds were nesting, and it seem that my calendar had skipped a full month. Turkeys gobbled profoundly each morning, and hens would soon be nesting.
Turkeys thrive in the dense swamps of the South, just as they do in the mountains from Georgia to Maine. Suburban areas also now hold substantial turkey populations, especially those near small farms and on large neighborhood estates. A friend and I hunted in Connecticut one year and took a total of three birds in a single morning focusing on small, rural properties that made predictable travel corridors.
The Osceola Challenge
Just as Eastern birds have the greatest geographical diversity, the Osceola or Florida subspecies has, by far, the most limited. In fact, some turkeys in Florida’s northern region are actually Eastern strain birds.
Many people are surprised to learn that Florida is in the top fifteen cattle producing states in the country, and these ranches make excellent habitat for wild turkeys. Additionally, the central portion of the Panhandle, south of Orlando has a very low human population density, which has kept much of the landscape unchanged over the past 1,000 years.
Ralph Ciranciarulo smiles behind a great Osciola gobbler taken with Osceola Outfitters.
The southern end of the Panhandle has extensive amounts of water where swamps are the rule, and Spanish moss and palmettos abound, all making for a most unique experience. Osceolas tend to have longer legs and smaller bodies than other species, possibly an adaptation to living in swampy conditions.
Florida has limited public land and a few military reservations which allow hunting, but seasons and access vary. Additionally, limited access has prompted outfitters to “exaggerate” their offerings and success ratios. As with any hunting situation, it’s best to check references before you book a hunt.
Rio Grande
Texas Bluebonnets carpet the state as the spring turkey season heats up, making one of the most esthetically beautiful hunts you can imagine. Central Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri comprise the bulk of Rio territory, yet they are also found in California, Oregon, and Hawaii.
Rio Grande turkeys look much like their Eastern cousins, yet behave quite differently. Whereas Eastern turkeys roost randomly, Rio’s will roost in the same trees until they are disturbed. Additionally, Rio’s may travel long distances during their daily feeding circuit. Once they fly from the roost, they begin a feeding march that may cover miles until they return at days end.
Savvy hunters are careful not to disturb these roosting sites, so that they can begin each day near a flock or two. The trick is to anticipate where the turkey will travel, set up, and call in that corridor. This can sound simple, yet the thick mesquite groves and dense Texas brush make detection difficult. Gobblers are very reluctant to leave their flock of hens, and even the most alluring turkey calls are often ignored.
Merriam’s
The final subspecies is named after C. Hart Merriam, the first chief biologist of the US Biologic Survey. Merriam’s might be considered the most handsome of America’s wild turkeys thanks to its snow-white tipped tail feathers. Especially when strutting in sunlight, the tail feathers seem to form a halo around its body.
Merriam’s behavior is closer to the Rio than Eastern birds. They have habitual roosting trees and will travel long distances during a typical feeding day. Whereas Eastern gobblers suffer from “shut mouth”, Merriam’s gobble from the roost at fly-up and nearly always as dawn arrives.
Late spring snowstorms are common in the West, adding extra challenge to any slam quest.
I once hunted on the lands of the White Mountain Apache for Meriam’s where they roosted atop enormous Ponderosa pines in deep canyons. At dawn the Arizona landscape reverberated with the sound of gobbling toms. You knew turkeys were there, but the echoes bouncing from vertical rock made their location difficult to pinpoint.
Merriam’s can also be found in Nebraska and through the Dakotas where they roost in huge cottonwood trees along rivers and creeks. In this Great Plains terrain, birds can be located with binoculars at long distances as they fulfill their feeding cycle. Rio Grande turkeys often mate with Merriam’s resulting in a “hybrid” subspecies that has off-white tipped feathers. The pure strain genes still occur, and it is not uncommon to see a large flock of turkeys in which a few birds sport snow-white Merriam’s feather tips and others copper colored, typical of the Rio.
Plan Ahead
At this writing, it appears the pandemic will be with us through the spring of 2021. Since turkey hunting is outside and often a solitary or limited-contact activity, why not plan a “Slam-cation” to preserve your sanity and create a lifetime memory. It is a grand adventure and slam-dunk for excitement.
Joe Byers is a life long hunter and outdoor writer. He is the current Executive Director of the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association.
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