capital forest turkeys

[billythekidrock]

Don't mean to hi-jack the thread but how often do you guys see grouse in the CF? 
Jake

I saw more grouse up there this year then in the past 5 or 6 years. Not many dumb/slow ones, most flushed very fast.

[billythekidrock]

when I spoke with the WDFW years ago, they said they didn't know they were in CF.  They said they released them 20 some odd miles from where I saw them.  Glad to know they are taking root, as they usually do.

BTKR chased an Emu around up there one day.   Tasty it was.... not really.

Someone at F&G knows about the turkeys. Eight years ago I chased an Emu with my car up in the CF and when I called F&G to let them know and to ask some questions they didn't believe me and told me it was probably a turkey. They told me that since there were turkeys up there that there was no way I saw an emu.

I went down to talk with a bio and I finally convinced him it was not a turkey. They were not concerned about the emu and told me that it wouldn't make it through the winter but if it did a cougar would probably get it.

[Hacksaw]

I have also seen several turkeys in the CF, starting in 2000. Most were hanging out below the main E-line between Gate and Bordeaux. A few years back, I went to open a gate one morning on some private land adjoining the CF and had one roosting in a tree above me. I didn’t notice it and when it flew out of that tree it scared the living s#@t right out of me. It was like 20 grouse flushing at once. I have seen four single turkeys at different occasions and twice I have seen a pair. Like I said, most were hanging real low near bordering private land, but I did spook a Jake and a nice Tom together in the fall of ’03 way up high in a clearcut on the D-line. They were nice looking birds and I was very surprised to see them up that high.

I have no idea what the real truth is, but a guy I work with claims he ran into a bio up there who told him they did not plant any turkeys in Capitol Forest. Rather, he said some bands of birds had crossed the Chehalis from the Independence Valley side between Rochester and Oakville and that is why they were being spotted up around the E-line. I know residents living just east of the Chehalis Reservation have reported seeing turkeys on the Capitol Forest side of the Chehalis River right next to Hwy 12. That might lend a little credibility to the theory this bio supposedly gave.

For anyone who doesn't know, they released Turkeys long ago at the end of Lincoln Creek (among other places) and these birds eventually spread out all over the place, including on the Independence Valley and Garrard Creek side. The first wild turkeys I ever saw were actually up Bunker Creek in either '86 or '87. I was only 10 or 11 years old riding with the old man and a flock of about 8 walked right in front of us heading into a clearcut.

[wadu1]

I thought all the turkeys were at the Capitol!

[coastalghost]

Heres one that I found a few years back...my biggest tom ever. Neared the 24.lb mark and had 1.5 inch spurs.  He was the most vocal bird I have ever witnessed...drumming etc.  Since then I have tried to find them to no avail.  Last spring I tried and found some fresh droppings but never heard a peep.  I do think they are on the constant move and finding a roosting area is very tough compared to rio's or merriams.  You really have to do quite a bit of prescouting.  Think the yotes are tough on em too.

[yelp]

nice bird coastal ghost...Big bird.

[Turkeyman]

Capitol forest is the place to kill a eastern go get em boys. 

[ICEMAN]

Capitol forest is the place to kill a eastern go get em boys. 

You just want us turkey hunters to stay away from your haunts...

I am thinking of hitting the woods around Castle Rock for turkey this year....

[Turkeyman]

Good luck 

[ICEMAN]

No kidding, the only Western Wa Turkey evidence I have ever found was some scrathing and droppings down in the Ryderwood....

[Turkeyman]

There out there you need to work hard for them.

[Wacenturion]

Heres one that I found a few years back...my biggest tom ever. Neared the 24.lb mark and had 1.5 inch spurs.  He was the most vocal bird I have ever witnessed...drumming etc.  Since then I have tried to find them to no avail.  Last spring I tried and found some fresh droppings but never heard a peep.  I do think they are on the constant move and finding a roosting area is very tough compared to rio's or merriams.  You really have to do quite a bit of prescouting.  Think the yotes are tough on em too.

Coyotes do not pose a problem to adult birds.....I've seen a gobbler face off an eventually chase off a coyote.  Also seen hens play with them....fly off 40 yards or so and when the coyote goes for her again...flys in other direction for 40 yards or so.  A game the coyote eventually tires off. 
An old friend of mine from the midwest, a turkey biologist, once told me....if a predator takes an adult turkey....there was something wrong with it.  An over simplication....but you get the drift.

[Wacenturion]

I have also seen several turkeys in the CF, starting in 2000. Most were hanging out below the main E-line between Gate and Bordeaux. A few years back, I went to open a gate one morning on some private land adjoining the CF and had one roosting in a tree above me. I didn’t notice it and when it flew out of that tree it scared the living s#@t right out of me. It was like 20 grouse flushing at once. I have seen four single turkeys at different occasions and twice I have seen a pair. Like I said, most were hanging real low near bordering private land, but I did spook a Jake and a nice Tom together in the fall of ’03 way up high in a clearcut on the D-line. They were nice looking birds and I was very surprised to see them up that high.

I have no idea what the real truth is, but a guy I work with claims he ran into a bio up there who told him they did not plant any turkeys in Capitol Forest. Rather, he said some bands of birds had crossed the Chehalis from the Independence Valley side between Rochester and Oakville and that is why they were being spotted up around the E-line. I know residents living just east of the Chehalis Reservation have reported seeing turkeys on the Capitol Forest side of the Chehalis River right next to Hwy 12. That might lend a little credibility to the theory this bio supposedly gave.

For anyone who doesn't know, they released Turkeys long ago at the end of Lincoln Creek (among other places) and these birds eventually spread out all over the place, including on the Independence Valley and Garrard Creek side. The first wild turkeys I ever saw were actually up Bunker Creek in either '86 or '87. I was only 10 or 11 years old riding with the old man and a flock of about 8 walked right in front of us heading into a clearcut.

The biologist who told your friend turkeys were not planted in the CF is an idiot.  Probably wouldn't know a turkey from an Emu either.  See my previous post regarding bird plants.......that is fact!!!!

[Wacenturion]

There out there you need to work hard for them.

Got that right......and finding them, understanding them and how to hunt these ghosts.....priceless!

[yelp]

ghost hunter....I smell a new license plate...wacent.  GSTHNTR ...I prefer  DAMBIRD...LOL