The spring turkey hunt in southwestern Colorado created a lot of noise - and not just at a turkey hunting workshop at the Old Fort Lewis campus.
There, clucks, gobbles, cackles and all the usual turkey sounds were mimicked by a bustling group of participants at the workshop, courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
That action carried over to the field - it reportedly was another good spring turkey hunt.
Now, it's time for turkey hunters to turn their attention to the fall season. And while not typically as big as the spring hunt, there are birds to be harvested this fall.
"The turkey population is growing and is really solid in Southwest Colorado," said Joe Lewandowski, Colorado Parks and Wildlife public information officer for the southwest region. "There's good populations of turkeys. And a wet spring is going to help and will provide more forage that will help those birds. A lot of the time, drought is rough on those kinds of birds.
"Most people hunt in the spring - fall is tougher - but people still do it," added Lewandowski, who works out of the CPW's Durango office. "And for those who go out in the fall, there will be birds out there if you can find them. It's tougher to find them in the fall. Spring is the mating season, and you can call them in. Fall is a little tougher."
For those interested in the fall hunt, the state's application deadline is July 9, although Lewandowski said turkey hunters in southwestern Colorado can simply purchase their licenses over the counter. The fall season runs Sept. 1 to Oct. 23.
After all but disappearing from Southwest Colorado, and the state as a whole, wild turkeys have returned in force in recent years. Turkey-hunter numbers, though, particularly those of new, younger hunters, have lagged a bit.
"Our wild turkeys were nearly extirpated across the state, including in Southwest Colorado," Leigh Gillette, outgoing education coordinator/Southwest Region for Parks and Wildlife, said during that spring turkey hunting workshop. "The Division of Wildlife made major trap-and-transfer efforts to repopulate Merriam's wild turkeys - our native subspecies. Birds from Trinidad were brought to our area. Later, when Trinidad's turkey population was in decline, we trapped birds from Southwest Colorado to take back there. The Rio Grande subspecies has also been introduced to Colorado - 1980s - in prairie and lowland river bottoms."
In the fall, hunters can expect to find small bunches of hens with juvenile turkeys, known as poults, during this time. These small flocks are typically numerous when the season starts in September, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Adult male turkeys - gobblers - tend to segregate into smaller bachelor groups during the summer and fall and generally are more difficult to locate, the CPW said.
"Many fall turkeys stay at higher elevations until those first few days that suggest winter is approaching," said Ed Gorman, CPW small game coordinator. "Fall turkeys can be dispersed across the landscape, but hunters should look for places that provide lots of forage, including leafy, green plants, grass seed heads, waste grain and the fruit or seed of woody trees and shrubs."
Still, there are no guarantees when it comes to turkey hunting, particularly in the fall. But the rewards are many, including a turkey meal. And that's not relegated to just gobblers.
"While all wild turkeys are good table fare, harvesters of fall turkey claim that the fall birds, especially 'young birds' are more tender since they have not yet experienced winter stress," Gorman said.
For more on fall turkey hunting, go to cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/Turkey.aspx or call the CPW at 303-297-1192.
To apply for a license, go to www.co.wildlifelicense.com/start.php or call 800-244-5613.