Turkeys: Natives or tourists?

The debate rages on over gobblers' origins

By Guy Carl
Outdoors

In the Napa Valley, the wild turkey’s abundance is held in quite different levels of regard by different segments of our human population.

Depending who you ask, they could be either a treasured and impressive sight to behold, or a foul fowl that many could just as soon do without.

Many hunters consider them a prized and challenging game bird, while vineyard farmers see them as a pests and plunderers of fine wine grapes.

Today, wild turkey populations in the hills of Napa are very strong and continue to grow. But this was not always the case.

In fact, when the first settlers came west centuries ago, there were no turkeys here at all. Most of North America’s wild turkeys lived east of the Mississippi River at that time, with some populations found as far west as today’s New Mexico and parts of eastern Arizona.

It was not until the 1960s that California’s modern turkey boom began, when the Department of Fish & Game transplanted a few hundred birds into select locations in northern California.

The transplanting program continued into the 1970s, and from there the populations quickly multiplied and spread out throughout much of the northern and central parts of the state.

Since our current wild turkey population descended from birds transplanted from other parts of the country, authorities have generally considered them to be a non-native, introduced species in California.

But there is evidence to support turkey presence here in the past. 

According to a paper written by Don Roberson, and published on his Web site, turkey fossils have been found in Shasta and El Dorado counties dating back to around 8,000 B.C.

So it is entirely possible that the hillsides of what is now known as the Napa Valley were once home to healthy populations of native wild turkeys, some 10,000 years ago.

It is uncertain exactly when or why they left this region.  What is certain is that wild turkeys thrive in terrain with rolling oaks mixed with tall pine trees, as we have in abundance in the north bay area.

So the debate continues in the scientific world as to whether the wild turkey is a non-native, introduced species to California, or a native bird that has been re-introduced to the state. A final resolution could someday help determine how the populations should be managed.

But for now and the foreseeable future, the Napa Valley’s turkey population remains established and continues to multiply.

Hunters can look forward to the opening of the spring season in two weeks, and should find plenty of birds out there. And grape growers will be forced to continue defending their crop against marauding flocks of hungry turkeys in the late summer and fall, as their ripening fruit hangs at the perfect height for a turkey to pluck right off the vine.

Guy Carl is a CPA and partner with BDCo Accountants and Advisors in St. Helena (www.bdcocpa.com). Contact Guy at GC.outdoors@sbcglobal.net.

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