KitsapCaller

If anyone is willing to divulge where someone would begin or start to scout turkeys next spring around Longview/Kelso, Washington please email me at: [email protected] Thanks!

Lewis River

Try SAFEWAY. I' m not an expert, and don' t hunt turkey, but that' s probably because I grew up in Longview and don' t think they have any wild turkey in the area at all.

slee

Lewis River, you should get out more. There are wild turkeys in that area. Don' t know how many, but there are some. Craig, now is a good time to locate the birds on the west side. They are in their fall flocks, so you have a better chance of spotting them. And when you cross feeding areas, there will be a concentration of turkey sign(feathers, droppings). You' ll get a better idea of numbers in the area, but you know there' s no telling where they' ll be come April 15. There aren' t many of us West side turkey chasers on here, so I don' t know how much info you' ll get. And if they do chase ' em, they aren' t going to tell you much anyway. Just curious, but why are you looking at the Longview area in particular?

Lewis River

Hey Slee. I' ve been " getting out" in the woods around cowlitz county since i could walk. I wont disagree with you, but i' ve never seen a turkey, seen turkey sign, and never heard any one talk about turkey in the immidiate area. Everyone I know that hunts turkey goes to atleast the Klikitat area in the Columbia Gorge. Are you talking western washington in general or cowlitz county in particular? Just curious.

slee

Sorry Lewis River, re-reading my post sounded very smart a$$ish. There are birds all along I-5 in both Cowlitz Co and Lewis Co. There are some decent numbers around Ryderwood, Silver Lake has a few scattered in timber co. land, I' ve heard of some in the Rose Valley area, and various other locations. Note that this is going off of info from the WDFW and hear-say from others who have seen them. My eyes haven' t seen any in Cowlitz Co, so I' m not swearing to it. I can attest to the presence of birds in Lewis Co though. This has all come about in the last 10 years or so, through efforts from the NWTF and the WDFW. The birds seem to prefer private land, where they are often treated as family pets and get little to no pressure. I don' t know specifics about numbers. If you look at the harvest reports though, there aren' t many birds killed anywhere on the west side. Maybe if WANWTF sees this he can post on it a little more.

As I' ve stated MANY times, what this boy from MS calls a " huntable population" and what the WDFW calls it are 2 totally different things. IMHO, there aren' t enough birds around there to justify my drive from Puyallup to hunt them unless I have private land to hunt unpressured birds. Lewis River keep this in mind while you' re out hunting this fall: if you can find a bird to hunt on private land, e-mail me. You can do the shooting, and I' ll do the calling for you come April 15.

Phish-On!

I haven' t spent much time in the woods of Cowlitz county, but the little time I did spend there didn' t show me much for turkey sign. Slee is right about the Lewis county birds, just small groups but they are gaining ground evey year from what I can tell. I wouldn' t venture south of Castle Rock on I-5.

Two of my daughters live across the Columbia from Longview/Kelso on the Oregon side and my time scouting Columbia, Scapoose, and points west haven' t been very fruitful either. If I was intent on staying on the Washington side of the Columbia, I' d suggest the White Salmon drainage or any number of likely areas in Klickitat. Just my humble opinion.

WANWTF

West side birds are a bit of a pain - Most people when talking turkey are talking kettle falls and merriams. That is not to say there are not Easterns in the west, quite the contrary, but there is no one (not WDFW or WANWTF) that has anything close to a possible count - unlike the birds in the east.

The birds of the west that are seen or heard of are the ones on private land mainly... but when you consider the vast area the timberland owns, and most hunters only hunt a mile or two from where they are able to park, there are a lot of birds that go un-noticed, let alone counted.

At the state NWTF banquet they talked about this problem - because people are seeing birds, but no one is counting them, and there are a bunch that are deep in the timbers - no one has put forth the effort to try and count em.

They asked people to keep track of when they spot Easterns, count em' get what ever information you can, and submit it somewhere - but reality is there is no where to submit that kind of info (aside from snail mail and/or email) and definately no place to view status like that... There is a guy down in the Rose Valley area (if I recall correctly - and I don' t remember his name) but he has been keeping a log of all the birds he comes across...

This is what I can do to help - I' ll set up a place to post information on turkey sightings, broke down by subspecies... So while you are out scouting, hunting, or just driving, keep track of how many and what sex and what ever else kind of information you can come up with -

If you fear giving up your " hot spot" or what ever with that kind of information, I can put a password on it, and make it manditory that you post information there or be removed from that specific posting area - or something like that... that way, we will have a growing idea of the how manys and wheres that we could pass along to WDFW and WA NWTF.... the forum is located HERE - Let me know what kind of rules you think should apply and what not if ya' all are interested. [email protected]