Ptarmigan - white-tailed, rock, and willow So, this is what I came up as a list of my idea of a Grand Slam of Upland Gamebirds of North America: I am assuming that a "Grand Slam of Upland Gamebirds" would be all legal species in North American, or even US. I know several guys who like to puff their chests out about bagging the slam of wild turkeys - Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam's, Osceola, and Gould's.īut I have never met anyone who has said they have bagged all species of upland game birds of North America, and could prove it. In North Dakota they talk about a "Grouse Grand Slam" - ruffed, sage, sharptail, and prairie chicken. There is also a "Prairie Slam" - pheasant, prairie chicken, chukar, and sharptail grouse. According to Jim Fergus in A Hunter's Road: Journey Across North America With Gun and Dog, (1993), there is a "Montana Grand Slam" - pheasant, sharptail grouse, sage grouse and Hungarian partridge - which some strive to bag all in one day. I did some further searching and what popped up were several small slams of birds. I began by googling "Upland Birds Grand Slam" and came up with my own article, so I must be on to something. Quite an accomplishment.Ī while back I penned a column about two of the rarest game birds in the US, the Himalayan Snowcock and the chachalaca, and wondered if anyone had ever considered a "grand slam of upland birds." Recently I got an e-mail from a reader who said that he was going after a Grand Slam of Upland Gamebirds. There are a growing number of folks who set out to bag a "grand slam" of big game, some even using a bow and arrow.
#CALIFORNIA NATIVE GAME BIRDS UPGRADE#
Once the flock takes to the bait, the real cannon and net are substituted for the fakes, the rocket is charged and ‘live’, and a waiting game begins.Įnter your email address and click subscribe to receive new posts by email.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser Bait is set for up to a week or more so the turkeys become aware of the food plot and habituated to the area. Once their travel patterns can be predicted, bait is placed in a spot that is favorable to them as well as for the net and cannon - a cardboard mockup at this stage. The first step is to determine where the turkeys in question go at certain times of the day. So how do we lure turkeys in? The answer is through a healthy dose of patience. Living in a group puts more eyes on potential threats, and they will scatter at the slightest indication of danger. Factors considered by CDFW officials include: feasibility and probable success of the trapping effort, the safety of the public, the proximity to a suitable release site, and the availability of appropriately trained staff. CDFW officials assessed the situation and determined that relocating the turkeys to public wildlife areas was the best option. Homeowners in a rural residential area near Elk Grove contacted CDFW for help with a nuisance turkey situation. The WIL recently took part in such a capture-relocation. Ironically, today cannon nets are typically used to catch and relocate turkeys that present problems for landowners, farmers, golf courses, and airports, among others. The cannon-net trap – a close relative of the “rocket net” – was utilized to increase wild turkey populations for sporting purposes in California. The cannon-net is set over the food plot, ready to capture turkeys at the push of a button. The cannon-net trap was developed around this time, which increased trap-relocation feasibility and efficiency. A new management tool aided the propagation of the wild turkey in California. It wasn’t until after 1959 that turkey populations began to take flight. During these twenty-three years, only three populations were successfully established. Between 19 these farm-raised birds continued to be released until the program’s termination due to lack of success. Over twenty additional turkeys were farm-raised for future game-stocking purposes. The California Fish and Game Commission first purchased birds from Mexico in 1908 and released them into the San Bernardino Mountains. Throughout the early 20th century, introductions occurred several more times without a lasting effect. Ranchers released these turkeys into the wild to have a supply of game birds readily available. Wild turkeys were first introduced into California on Santa Cruz Island in 1877 by private ranchers (although there may be evidence that a turkey species existed in California as recently as the Pleistocene epoch). Today the most common subspecies found in California are the Rio grande and the Merriam’s varieties. There are five distinct subspecies of turkey, four of which have been transplanted into California at one time or another. The wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo) is a wide-ranging upland game bird of North America.