One Island Bird Down....

[BOWHUNTER45]

Who gives a sheet where you kill him... those birds been out there for along time ..... I have hunted those Islands back in the early 90s ...All I did was jump on the ferry and it was on ... most of my hunting was on Orcas & SanJuan .... Used to be hundreds on San juan but they have disapeared.... yes their are a few still there but good luck trying to get permission to hunt them ...The only birds ever planted out there was in the 60s and it was by Wdfw ...not the Nwtf ...

[Wacenturion]

Originally the birds on the islands were from two sources back in the 60's.  One was from a few wild trapped Merriams from Klickitat county caught by Dept. of Game biologists and the other from Easterns that were raised on one of the old Department of Game game farms, most likely Widbey Island.  They eventually grew in numbers and poised a nuisance problem.  That is why WDFW Region 4 office has historically been opposed to turkey releases in the counties they administer......King, Snohomish, etc.

There could have possibly been some addition releases by private individuals over time.

[LITTLEBUCK]

The birds I speak of were indeed planted by a owner that has 300 acres on Lopez. It started with about 30 birds he bought and just let run. The last time I spoke with them he said he had about 300 birds 2 years ago.

[turkeydancer]

No  offense was meant, but I thought he should know that the Lopez birds may be "feral farm" vs "wild" turkeys.  I know I would want to know. Even a "feral farm bird can be challenging to harvest I'm sure. But I also know 2 people that have taken "feral farm" birds that look like Merriams and were where 3 good intentioned farmers did a "private" release of farm raised, but not close to state/NWTF released wild turkeys. And they put in and received the WA slam pin like they just scored their Eastern. Hhhhmmm - not.   After that if it flips your trigger, I really don't care ... personally not my thing and not buying a wild turkey tag for it.   

[lokidog]

Whatever!  Did I claim they were "easterns"?  Did I say "woohoo, I've got my slam"?  Trust me, these birds are as hard to hunt as any birds in WA, well, maybe not Capital Forest ones....

Sounds like some jealousy to me.   

BTW, scored my first Eastern (23 pounds on DNR land) back in 95 or so, the year only 17 birds were killed west of the Cascades!  Have gotten a couple more easterns since including one with the bow by Onalaska.  Have completed my WA slam but don't really care.

Why don't you come out and shoot one w/o a tag and see how the state wildlife officers feel about shooting them since they are farm birds?   

[Turkeyman]

I new this was going to get good 

[Wacenturion]

I new this was going to get good 

So did I.

[lokidog]

It's too bad people have to say something if they don't have anything "nice" to say.   

[Wacenturion]

Not sure that a fair statement Loki.  Comments weren't directed at your hunt or your bird.  Nice picture and nice bird and archery to boot.  Congratulations.  I don't believe Dancer meant anything personal as he was just expressing the obvious when it came to two individuals submitting Island birds as their Eastern for a slam.  Wild western Washington Easterns they are not, and never will be.

The other comments were merely historical, nothing more.

Sorry if you took offense.

[JCKILLSHOT]

Great looking bird don't mind all the jealous words either!!

[turkeydancer]

WACENT absoultely correct - Since I'ld want to know, the question was meant to inform and no way disparage as I'm sure even a feral tom is not an easy task.

LOKI - Actually my first day hunting I had 3 Easterns approx 25 lbs at 10 yards, and also been there many more times since.  I'm also not into pins and records ... just good times with good friends. I'm glad that it trips your trigger. Myself I would want to know, thus the question posed.  If you want to take that as a personal attack, then that's also up to you.   Jealous ... not hardly.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I am with ya AL .. I am not into the records or pins neither .....but it seems this site gets a few in an up roar .... I just listen and laugh now ... No need to prove sheet to anyone but its in our nature to do so ... We all love to hunt so we need to support each other either way ...Those birds are not that dumb out there but I would not classify them for the record books ....thats just my opinion ... Lodi lives out there and he has opportunity that most of us do not have and I am with him him on taking advantage of the situation ...I hunted out there on the islands and its a cool place to hunt but its also hard to get on land to hunt ...I have not been since 93 or 94 ....We used to go out there have a ball but now we have alot more choices I prefer N.E  just way more birds and I love hunting turks in that part of our state....I killed my share with my bow and one was a huge bird but I do not go on bragging about just because how everyone reacts on this site  But Now just go with it ... I know how much sheet I kill and I will just post a picture or 2 and shut up !!!!!

[turkeydancer]

Thanks John ... good luck to you and yours.

I truly meant congrats to Loki for nailing one with his bow, but also thought he should know about these birds. I think most people that know me know that it was meant to inform and had nothing to do even a hint of jealousy. But as you stated, I shouldn't have been surprised on this site by any response. 
 
The main thing that concerns me about these private releases is the fact that they can spread avian diseases to the wild populations everyone has worked hard to get established. And then there are the  releasers that look to profit from people  harvesting these feral birds (like the guy that advertises Easterns in eastern WA).
 
Note: in the second post, one of the two pin "winners" I mentioned was in the Belfair area and one on Lopez. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

I know exactely what your saying AL ..I have delt with Davidson ( local bio ) for years on trying to convince him we need turkeys in N.W Washington ...and a couple of years of the Dept. PUTTING PRESSURE on him he finally said O.K Lets give it a shot ...Well the problem is they had a meeting in Acme Wa. and they were basically leaving it up to the people of whatcom Co. since this is the place they wanted to turn loose some Rios.... Yeah Rios not easterns .. The dept decided they will not be buying anymore birds from out of state so they wanted to try Rios ... Well after a few months the people of Acme complained enough to shut it all down ...Mostly Berry growers and ranchers who did not want turkey sheet mixed in with their cow sheet ...some lame ass excuse like that ....thats when I said I had enough of all the BS and decided I was just going to be a hunter and stop wasting my time with dumb--- people ...we have all the birds we need in the N.E where most of us hunt anyway so its all good with me .....

[Wacenturion]

I know exactely what your saying AL ..I have delt with Davidson ( local bio ) for years on trying to convince him we need turkeys in N.W Washington ...and a couple of years of the Dept. PUTTING PRESSURE on him he finally said O.K Lets give it a shot ...Well the problem is they had a meeting in Acme Wa. and they were basically leaving it up to the people of whatcom Co. since this is the place they wanted to turn loose some Rios.... Yeah Rios not easterns .. The dept decided they will not be buying anymore birds from out of state so they wanted to try Rios ... Well after a few months the people of Acme complained enough to shut it all down ...Mostly Berry growers and ranchers who did not want turkey sheet mixed in with their cow sheet ...some lame ass excuse like that ....thats when I said I had enough of all the BS and decided I was just going to be a hunter and stop wasting my time with dumb--- people ...we have all the birds we need in the N.E where most of us hunt anyway so its all good with me .....

Bowhunter45.....Not exactly true.  WDFW left some of the decision up to dumb a** NWTF biologists who thought Washington's turkey program was premature with Easterns and should have planted Rios in western Washington instead.  That brain fart was generated from all the successes of the Rio's in western Oregon, primarily the Roseburg area.  Now any idiot knows Whatcom county is not Roseburg, Oregon.  Roseburg is more like northern California.

Then with a rush by the local NWTF chapter to get anything released in their backyard to hunt, everyone was full speed ahead.  There were landowner concerns and yes they ultimately shut it down, and good for them.  Rio's would have been a disaster.  If they had taken, they would have headed toward the lowlands around I-5, in and around the farmlands.  There would have been a nuisance problem for sure.

On the other hand, Easterns would have been an easy sell.  They would have headed east and up away from the open berry fields.  They would have been ghosts like everywhere else in western Washington.  The failure to get releases in Whatcom county was entirely due to NWTF biologists from back east, and the local NWTF chapter making dumb decisions while Davidson and WDFW stood back and quietly laughed.  WDFW got exactly what they were hoping for....no birds.  Period, the end.