Wild Turkeys in Alberta

Demonical

Demonical

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Whitecourt, Alberta
We were driving on Hwy. 22 north of Drayton Valley Dec. 27th and there was a flock of wild turkeys feeding in the ditch. There were about 6 birds in the flock, has anybody else ever seen wild turkeys in this area (or anywhere else in Alberta for that matter)?

It would be great if more birds could get established to provide a hunting opportunity.
 
I saw a whole flock of them (at least a dozen) two days ago when we were out hunting coyotes.

They were running around in the farmer's yard. They were wild turkeys, for sure, but he had raised them since they were chicks. His comment was "they're really dumb".

I wouldn't be surprised if the ones you saw were escapees from some farmer's place.
 
big chickens

Thats a little bit north for a turkey, but would not put it past them to move that way. I thought they were introduced way down south.
 
tHEY ARE HUNTABLE WITH DRAW IN THE pORCUPINE HILLS AREA-sorry kid hit caps lock. I have also seen them west of Caroline but no season, don't know if F&W are doing an experiment.
 
I've seen them numerous times in the Porcupine Hills, plus once in WMU 300 just outside of Waterton Park. It would be cool to draw a tag for one!
 
leave ralphie alone- he's been clean and sober 2 years now running- the drunk thing is getting really old
 
Churchill was a bottle of brandy a day drinker, hitler was a teetotaler. If Premier Klein likes a drop,fine he's in good company.
 
Thats how they start out. They will travel in small groups and in the winter months you will see them close by road sides gathering gravel. It will take a few years but you will see the population grow and before long you will see them like here in Ontario flocks of 75-100 birds in fields. Turkeys will travel some distance if the food sorce is down in the areas they are acussumed too...BT
 
There are some in the Cypress Hills in the SE corner of the province. I've seen them in the backwoods, both on the Alberta and Saskatchewan side and right in the Elkwater town site. No hunting season for them in this corner of the province yet.
 
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Dragoon,
Seems like there are a pile of em in Cypress Hills on the AB side from what I've seen. Always around Elkwater townsite on the lawns and plenty in the woods or on the highway in the park. Kinda cool to see em all......you hunt around there much?
 
Rackmastr,

No never hunted that area, although I did get drawn for Elk there a few seasons back (had to go to Bosnia instead). I've done a lot of hiking and camping there though, and I remeber seeing one on the SK side in about 1988, so they have been there a while. I wonder where they came from, escaped farm stock, or maybe up from Montana? Don't really know. Amazing amount of wildlife in that area though.
 
There is an article in Tuesday's Van Sun about turkeys in the Kootenay area of BC. It got me all wound up about hunting them. It used to be LEH drws only, but now it is open season. They are an introduced species, and the farmers say they bust up the crops a bit.
Any info on equipment, tactics, areas to go is welcome!
 
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