DON'T SHOOT: A HEN HAS ENOUGH TROUBLE ALREADY

I was coming down a very steep ridge and headed for the river where my boat was tied. As I neared the bottom, I paused to look over a narrow pasture near the stream. Then I saw it, the definite form of a turkey on the move. At a distance of about 200 yards it was walking quickly through the tall grass along the field and headed directly for my position.

Maybe luck was with me. I had inadvertently stumbled into a perfect situation. The big bird was going to pass within easy shotgun range of my set up. The turkey worked closer. I eased the gun up and got ready; it was now only a matter of time. Suddenly, I realized that I could not see the swinging beard and the striking colors of a mature gobbler. Fooled by a big hen I chuckled to myself and decided to relax and enjoy the show. During spring, where a hen goes a gobbler may not be far behind. The hen traveled along in the peculiar manner of a turkey on the move. I wondered if she was headed for the nest.

As I began to ponder her destination, I thought about what trials had she been through this spring? Gobblers are the focus of most turkey enthusiasts' attention this time of year. It is a risky time of the year for the big boys of the wild turkey world.

What many people don't know is more hens die during the spring than any other time of the year. Had I mistaken the hen for a Jake in the thick grass or made a unethical and illegal decision the hen would have been a victim of poaching. Hens acting upon their nesting urges expose themselves to a lot of danger and illegal harvest by a poacher is just one example of what can happen.

A tough spring

What does a hen have to go through in a typical spring to produce a couple of poults by summertime?

The story begins in winter flocks. Winter flocking provides protection from predators. Winter flocks break up and a hen suddenly finds herself alone and on the move. Young birds that overwintered with their mother in a flock disperse out and away from the adult hens nesting territory. March is when the clock starts ticking on a turkey's reproductive urges. Longer days and warmer temperatures start the clock.

The first step in a hen's journey to motherhood is the spring shuffle. The shuffle is when the winter flocks break up. Many hens are killed in this short period of time when they move from wintering areas to nesting areas. They travel through territory they are less familiar with and their attention may be on choosing a nest site.

Hens radio tracked in the Ozarks have shuffled as much as 30 miles in a matter of a few days! So if you have a flock of birds on the back ridge through the winter and you see a hen there in the spring, they might not be the same birds. But this tells you the habitat is good because turkeys are using it year round.

From the shuffle through the end of the nesting season, the hen continues to put herself at risk. A typical nest scenario goes something like this. A hen will breed nearly everyday right up to and throughout the egg-laying process. Peak breeding time in Missouri is late March through mid April. Turkey nests are found on the ground in all sorts of habitats from old fields to the forest.

The hen will return to her nest and lay one egg a day for about eleven days. During the egg-laying period she continues to roost in a tree up to a mile away. The eggs are totally unprotected during most of the day and all night during this stage. Each day the hen starts spending more time on the nest until she reaches the point of continuously incubating the eggs. The brooding period lasts about 28 days for Missouri turkeys.

During this month she and her eggs will be continuously exposed to predators and all extremes of weather 24 hours a day. She rarely leaves the nest and when she does it is not far or for long.

If a predator does approach, she will sink low into the nest and try to avoid detection. If the nest is attacked, she will stubbornly defend and try to distract the predator away from the eggs. A high number of nests are destroyed by predators every year.

The poults arrive

During June the poults begin peeping and breaking out of eggshells. The hen has to be up and continuously rearranging eggs and chicks throughout the hatching process. The activity and noise draw attention from every turkey eating animal in the forest. It takes a bit of luck to make it to the hatching of a nest.

Now suddenly our hen has eight or ten baby poults who can walk and move about and need to move away from the nest immediately. Not only does the nest offer tempting smell attracting predators, but the little poults need to eat.

Poults less than ten days old eat one thing and one thing only bugs. She must move to an area offering good bugging for the poults. This is probably the turkey's most limiting factor in Missouri high quality brood habitat. Brood habitat is a diverse mix of grass and plants tall enough to hide the poults but short enough for the hen to see over. Typically these sites are rich in insects as well. Old fields, north slope forest ridges and glades all provide good foraging for poults.

Turkey poults cannot fly until about two weeks of age. Roosting in trees is a great way to avoid being eaten at night, but our hen will be forced to sleep on the ground in low bushes until her poults are able to flap up into the trees. It is during this time before poults can fly when the baby turkeys are at the highest risk of being eaten. Once the poults are strong enough to escape predators through flight, their survival rate increases as does the mother's.

So when you are outdoors and see a wild turkey hen, wish her luck because she has a difficult job to do. You never know she may bring you some luck. Mine did.

After my encounter with the lucky hen I made a move to another location and at five minutes before eleven the third day of the 2001 season, I was placing my tag on the biggest gobbler I had ever taken. My thoughts went back to the hen and the good luck that followed her. Thank the Lord and thanks to the lucky hen for one fine day of Missouri turkey hunting.

David Hasenbeck is a private land conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation.