May 15, 2025

Tales from the Trails: It’s about more than just the hunting

By: Sam B.

In addition to blackfly season, early May is also the beginning of spring turkey season here in the Greater Lovell area. Between 28 April and May 31, licensed hunters in the region can take two bearded turkeys.

What’s a turkey beard? It’s a tuft of hair-like feathers that extend from the chests of adult male turkeys (toms), adolescent males (jakes), and about 10% of adult females (hens).

Turkey beards can range from one-inch stubble in hens to over ten inches long in older toms. They are believed to be a sign of health and dominance.

Turkey terminology to boost your Scrabble, crossword puzzle, and trivia success

In addition to beards, Maine’s wild turkeys sport a whole bunch of bodily adornments: spurs, snoods, wattles and caruncles.. 

• Spurs are the thorn-like triangular claw that grows from the back of the tom’s leg above the foot. 

• Snoods are a fleshy growth that extends from above the tom’s beak or bill. In older toms they can grow to resemble a small elephant’s trunk. 

• Wattles, also known as dewlaps, are the fleshy growth that hangs under a turkey’s chin.

• Caruncles are the fleshy, warty skin on and around the tom’s head. 

Spring hunting season is mating season for turkeys. Snoods, wattles, and caruncles are all used to attract hens, as well as competing toms. These manly features turn red and blue, as toms gobble and strut to call in hens.

Back from the brink of local extinction

Maine wild turkeys are a great conservation and comeback story. Historically widespread, there were no wild turkeys in Maine by the 1880’s. Farmland expansion and unrestricted hunting were the culprits. Important to our ecosystems and a favorite eating bird for humans and other predators, bringing turkeys back to the state was a priority. After several failed attempts, wild turkeys were successfully reintroduced to southern Maine in 1977. Explosive growth in the turkey population resulted in spring hunting being reintroduced in 1986 on a very limited basis. As the population continued to grow across the state, hunting gradually expanded to all sixteen counties in 1996. 

My family and I have been hunting for the spring season around Lovell for twenty years. Because of the smaller turkey population during those early years, hunting was very restricted compared to today. 

• Hunters could only take one bearded turkey. 

• Hunting weeks were alternated by birth year, allowing hunters with even number birth years hunting one week, and those with odd number birth years the next.

• Hunting hours were limited to one half hour before sunrise until noon, so that the hens could sit on nests undisturbed in the afternoon.

Late nights and early mornings at the roost

The traditional hunting method is to “roost” the toms in the evening when they fly up to sleep in trees overnight. Hunters use locator calls, usually those of owls or crows, to find where the toms are roosting. Toms will often gobble as a reflex to the calls, also known as “Shock Calls.”  Toms have even been known to gobble back to thunder.

Owls also sometimes respond to the locator calls. You can get as many as two or three owls returning your calls, and, if you’re lucky some will even fly in within sight. 

After locating where the tom is roosting, most hunters will identify the tree where they will set up in the morning. Sitting against a tree is comfortable and offers safety from other hunters. Since they’ll be returning pre-dawn in the dark some hunters lay out white birch sticks as arrows to return to the planned spot.

Camouflage is a must

Turkeys have tremendous vision and are easily spooked. With their eyes on the sides of their head, turkeys have a 270 degree field of vision, which is estimated as being three times better than 20/20. 

To avoid being spotted by a tom from their roost, hunters will sneak back to their chosen tree well before sunrise, typically in full camouflage and face paint or a mask. Sitting very, very still, turkey hunters are often visited by smaller birds and squirrels. You know you’re doing it right if a chickadee lands on you. 

Calling all turkeys

When the first light appears, toms will begin gobbling on the roost to call in hens and competing toms. In those early hours it’s not uncommon to hear toms calling from three or four roost locations across a valley. When hearing these gobbles, you realize that it’s not even 5AM, and there’s all this commotion and excitement in the air. 

Ideally hunting for turkeys is done in pairs,  with a shooter and a caller. The caller sits farther away from the tom and uses calls to lure the tom to fly down from its roost and travel within range of the shooter. 

In addition to the locator calls used in the evenings, various types of calls are available including box calls, slate calls, mouth calls and electric calls. 

Mouth calls are the most flexible and also the most strange. It is a semi-circle membrane that fits against the top of your mouth, which looks as if you have peanut butter stuck to the roof of their mouth. 

There is no best call, and a good turkey caller is like a wedding DJ, running through the different options until they find the one that works the best for their audience. We’ve had toms not respond to perfect electronic calls but then answer and come charging towards the hunter with a squeaky slate call.

Of course that rarely happens at weddings.

Hunting for signs of spring

Over the years we’ve generally had good success hunting turkeys, but over that time all the successful hunts seem to have melted together. A few do stand out. One hunt ended with a turkey being pulled from a beaver pond–”the breaststroke turkey”. Another ended with our turkey rolling halfway down Patterson Hill–”the tumble-down turkey”. 

But it’s about more than just the hunting 

I probably have an equal and a more vivid number of memories of the animals, birds and beautiful mornings we’ve experienced. Spring turkey hunting gets you out from dawn to evening  sunset, and then back before 5AM.  It’s a wonderful time to be in the woods and fields. 

May in Maine is a wonderful time of renewal. Everything is waking up after winter.  Animals are moving and more visible as trees are just beginning to leaf out.

The fields and woods are busy in those early hours.  Deer feeding on new spring growth, moose wandering, a fox tending to their kits, and porcupine seemingly in every other group of naked trees. Adding to this are the  birds returning to join the winter residents and the red squirrels, chipmunks and occasional snapping turtle strolling  through the woods. Everything seems to be out and moving on these mornings– except for the blackflies, at least for the first weeks.

In addition to the wildlife, the mountain views are exceptional in spring’s early morning light . During the cool May mornings you may be lucky enough to see the first sunlight hit the snow-covered summit of Mount Washington and understand why the Abenaki people called it “Agiocochook”, or “Home of The Great Spirit.”

Turkey season is underway, and I’ve already been out there. Whether or not I end up with a turkey, I’ll be sure to enjoy the sights and sounds of the early hours of Maine in May. 

It’s about more than just the hunting.

To learn more about turkey hunting in Maine, visit:

https://www.maine.gov/IFW/hunting-trapping/hunting/laws-rules/wild-turkey.html

Read previous entries below!

Three Generations Tailgating on Ice - Mar 7, 2025

The Oral History of the Groundhogs- May 6, 2025