Wild turkeys vs. Thanksgiving cousins
Wild turkeys, by their parts.
Texas is full of turkeys—and we’re not referring to your neighbors or the frozen birds in grocery stores around the holidays. Texas is home to the largest population of wild turkeys in America, estimated at more than 500,000.
Not your typical Thanksgiving table turkey, wild turkeys are highly intelligent, have excellent hearing, and have the best eyesight of all Texas game animals. Three subspecies of wild turkeys are found in the state: the Rio Grande, Eastern, and Merriam’s. The most abundant of these, and the only one native to the Highland Lakes, is the Rio Grande turkey, or Rio for short. Rios are named after the Rio Grande River region in which they were discovered.
Turkeys are ground-dwelling birds whose primary mode of transportation is their own two feet and, therefore, do not migrate. Wild turkeys have heavy bodies, short wings, and strong legs. They can fly but typically only in short bursts, like up a tree to roost or escape a threat.
Turkeys do trot, but they also can sprint up to 20 mph and fly as fast as 55 mph when the need arises. They can hear sounds from as far away as a mile and discern lower frequencies than humans.
Eyesight is a turkey’s primary defense; it can see colors and even ultraviolet light. It has sharper vision and processes images faster than a human. Its ability to periscope its head gives it an easy 360-degree field of vision. For these reasons, hunters find turkeys to be quite the challenge.
The turkey at home in the Highland Lakes, the Rio, stands 3-4 feet tall and is quite handsome. Adult males, called toms or gobblers (only the males gobble) are more vibrantly colored than females, or hens. Feathered in shades of brown, black, buff, tan, and iridescent coppers, golds, and greens, toms really steal the show, particularly when they strut their 5,000-plus feathers all puffed up.
Rios can be distinguished from other subspecies by the tan/buff tips of their tail feathers and an equal amount of black/white barring on their wings. Wild turkeys have a few trademark characteristics that only appeal to other turkeys: bare heads and necks, snoods, caruncles, dewlaps (aka single wattle), and beards, though typically only males have beards.
The bare parts of the head and neck, which appear red, white, and blue, are controlled by blood flow. They can change color quickly, serve as mood indicators, and help the bird cool down by releasing heat. A long, dangling snood on a tom shows he is relaxed. The snood contracts when a bird becomes alert or alarmed. A long, dangling, bright red snood indicates a tom hopes to woo a hen—but just for a moment.
From late February through early March, an adult turkey’s thoughts turn to procreation. Toms gobble and strut fully puffed-up, tail feathers fanned with wings dragging the ground and all of their fleshy bits aglow to attract a hen.
When a hen is agreeable to the courtship, she crouches in front of the tom. Toms, being polygamist, will repeat the show for as many hens as possible before returning to a quieter single life.
Expecting hens build nests by scratching shallow, bowl-like areas in the ground, usually in tall grass or low shrubs and near a water source. One brown-speckled, cream-colored egg is laid each day for around 10 or so days. The nests, being on the ground, are often victim to predators like raccoons, foxes, owls, hawks, skunks, snakes, and feral pigs. Of all the eggs laid, about half survive to hatch, and of the chicks (poults) hatched, roughly one-quarter survive. Poults can walk hours after hatching and can reach the roost after about two weeks when their flight feathers arrive. In another year, they will be of mating age, and it all begins again.
WILD VS. DOMESTICATED
Wild turkeys are quite a bit different than domestic turkeys. Domestic turkeys are covered in white feathers, raised for food, cannot fly, and are much heavier, tipping the scales at about 20-35 pounds.
Wild turkeys are colorful birds that forage and fly. Adult Rio Grande males, on average, weigh around 16-18 pounds, which is on the small side of a Thanksgiving platter.
The meat of the two is also different. Domesticated turkey meat is tender with a mild flavor, whereas wild turkeys have firmer, darker meat with a more intense flavor. The difference in the meat is due to a difference in lifestyle. Wild turkeys dine on whatever they please, including grass, berries, mast, oats, and insects, and get plenty of exercise. Domestic turkeys don’t.
Wild turkeys can be hunted in Burnet and Llano counties in the spring and fall. The 2024-25 fall turkey season runs from Nov. 2-Jan. 5. The 2025 spring turkey season is March 29-May 11.
If the hunter in your family bags a wild turkey for the table, consider yourself lucky, as it is not an easy feat. While Benjamin Franklin did not actually propose the wild turkey as America’s national bird, as widely believed, he did see its value as “a bird of courage.” The next time someone calls you a turkey, take it as a compliment.
TURKEY TERMS
- Poult: chick
- Jake: juvenile male
- Jenny: juvenile female
- Tom: adult male
- Gobbler: also an adult male (only males gobble)
- Hen: adult female
- Snood: fleshy growth that dangles down from above the beak
- Caruncle: red, fleshy growths at the base of the neck
- Dewlap or wattle: bare, fleshy part under the head and attached to the neck
- Beard: turf of coarse, hair-like feathers that hang at the breast of all males and some females
- Spurs: very sharp, bony spike on the male’s lower leg used when fighting other males
TURKEY TIDBITS
- Turkeys are primarily herbivores but will eat insects and snails.
- Poults (the chicks) primarily eat insects and snails for protein.
- Turkeys roost in hardwood trees, particularly at night, to avoid predators.
- Turkeys have 18 tail feathers about 12-15 inches long.
- Molt takes place in bilateral symmetry. One side mirrors the other.
- Beards do not molt.
- Male turkey poop usually resembles the letter J; female poop resembles a spiral.
- Typical turkey sounds include clucks, purrs, yelps, and gobbles.
- Turkeys form large flocks in the winter.