Ok, this is my first year hunting turkeys and I' ll be taking my daughter out for her first hunting of any kind, so I' d rather not look like a total idiot and I' d like to at least see some turkeys. Therefore I feel it is important to find out a few things.

I know turkeys have excellent eyesight, but are they colorblind? (Whether or not to use blaze orange camo)

How well do turkeys hear?

And lastly, how' s their sense of smell?

Thank you for whatever help you can give.

There are different views on to whether turkeys see colors, but it is my opinion that they are more keen to movement, than color. But I could be wrong.

A turkeys hearing is excellent, in fact, capable of hearing tones out of the sound range of the human ear.

And lastly, Thank The Good Lord that turkeys have a terrible sense of smell, otherwise, one would never harvest the dang thing!!!LOL

Good Luck!!

There are never any stupid questions here, just stupid answers. In which case, I deny making any of the previous posted remarks if they are wrong![8D]

I believe all birds have color vision. Hence the bright colors that male birds use to attract females (the changing red, white and blue of the tom' s head). It makes no evolutionary sense to develop something that increases your likely hood of predation with no benefit. If the birds could not see color there would be no need to be brightly colored. I believe this also limits their night vision. Like our eyes the cone cells that percieve color require more light than the rod cells that signal in black and white. Animals with limited color ability see better at night (deer, dogs, cats) than those that percieve color well (us).

First off, congrats for picking the most addictive species of big game to hunt.

As for your questions:

Hearing: Excellent. They can literally hear a crow, some estimate, up to 5 miles. You can, however, usually get away with whispering in the woods, even with a bird at 20 yards. I don' t recommend it, but I' ve done it as have many others...

Eyesight: Excellent plus. They do see in color, some research suggests that the oil pigmentation in the avian eye allows for 3X the number of colors that humans perceive. As earlier stated, however, this reduces their nighttime visibility due to the small number of rods comprising the avian eyeball.

Smell: Virtually non-existent. The auditory and optical nerve input, I' ve read, comprise 75% of the brain functions. The remaining 25% are devoted to the sympathetic nerves, regulating body temp, resp rate, heartrate, etceteras.

Easiest way to start = get some camo, including gloves and a facemask, for you and your daughter. Do not wear hunter orange, but you may want a vest/hat that can be converted (many vests have a detachable/hideable orange " flag" ) Buy a blind, or some camo-burlap and make a blind using some old tentpoles (painted black) and the burlap.

Find some turkeys on the roost before the season---they' re starting to gobble, and in most areas roost in the general area during the entire breeding season.

Find a large tree, preferrably about 100 yards from one of the noisy gobbler' s roost, possibly a day or two before the season. Check your local laws, but hunting hours tend to start 1/2 hour before sunlight. Get to that tree about 1/2 hour before legal hours start, and when you hear him sound off answer his gobble with 2 or 3 soft yelps or clucks.

If he answers, repeat the sequence about every 5 minutes--don' t call too much, remember he thinks you' re a hen just awakening up in a tree.

Usually between 30-15 minutes before actual sunrise (this depends greatly on the weather), he' ll fly off his roost and sound off. Answer him with a flydown cackle and the fun will begin.

I' m sure somebody else can pick up from here, my fingers are tired and it' s coffee time before lunch...


S&

Hey thanks guys, I' m sure this info will really help me out.

These guys know what they' re talking about. I' ll just add that make sure to bring some sort of blind to hide the childs fidgity movements. Most kids have a hard time sitting still for any length of time. Good luck.

I' ve greatly oversimplified this aspect. And I mean greatly...

I would suggest a few things...

1) Find somebody else who turkey hunts.

2) Before the season, take your daughter into the woods, at about the time you would hunt, in camo and the whole nine-yards. See how long it takes her to become fidgety and get impatient. This will be a good indication of your " allotted time" with her during the season.

3) Have fun. If you' re not having fun because your sleep-deprived, sleep-in and go out at 10am.

S&R