<\/p>\n
The sounds were unmistakable.<\/p>\n
Clucks, gobbles, cackles and the like, followed not far away by the sound of shotgun fire.<\/p>\n
Must be spring turkey season.<\/p>\n
Well, yes and no.<\/p>\n
Those turkey sounds were being mimicked by attendees of a free workshop courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife \u2013 with the National Wild Turkey Federation \u2013 on Saturday at the Old Fort Lewis campus about five miles south of Hesperus. Not far from the old campus, attendees also got the opportunity to fire shotguns at a makeshift shooting range.<\/p>\n
It was just part of a two-day workshop designed to give adult hunting novices and beginning turkey hunters the basic skills needed to try turkey hunting during the upcoming spring season, which will open Saturday and will run through May 24.<\/p>\n
After all but disappearing from Southwest Colorado, and the state as a whole, wild turkeys have returned in force to the landscape here. But turkey-hunter numbers, particularly those of new, younger hunters, have lagged a bit.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s workshop potentially added a dozen-and-a-half hunters to that mix, and all 18 attendees appeared anxious to try out their newfound skills.<\/p>\n
After a classroom session the previous night at the Durango Community Recreation Center, the 18 turkey-hunting hopefuls Saturday were divided into three groups of six and walked through turkey-hunting strategies, turkey calling and target shooting with shotguns at the range. Parks and Wildlife, the national foundation and local guides were on hand to provide expert instruction every step of the way \u2013 each attendee should have left confident in his or her ability to take part in this year\u2019s spring hunt.<\/p>\n
And there were about as many men as women at the workshop Saturday. Most of the attendees were younger \u2013 in their 20s, a demographic Parks and Wildlife is targeting as it tries to attract younger folks to the outdoors \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t limited to that age group.<\/p>\n
The turkey-calling session proved popular \u2013 if you were looking for a quiet experience, this wasn\u2019t it. Attendees worked a variety of calls, filling the room with nonstop hen-turkey jabber.<\/p>\n
Then it was on to the shooting range. That\u2019s where some attendees were likely to be intimidated, but instructors made it seem easy, covering everything from safety to how to load and hold the gun to safety again \u2013 a theme throughout the range session.<\/p>\n
All of that was interspersed with a wealth of wisdom from those in the know.<\/p>\n
\u201cForty yards is the maximum distance you should shoot at an animal,\u201d one instructor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty yards for an ethical shot,\u201d another continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd aim at the wattles \u2013 where the skin meets the feathers,\u201d added that first instructor.<\/p>\n
Yes, it will be different when any of those 18 are in the field starting as early as this week. They won\u2019t be just making noise with a turkey call \u2013 they\u2019ll need to make the right noise to draw in the toms \u2013 and they\u2019ll be shooting at the real thing, not paper targets or clay pigeons.<\/p>\n
Still, their chances of at least seeing turkeys in the field are good these days in Southwest Colorado, thanks to a management plan that brought the gobblers back from the brink.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur wild turkeys were nearly extirpated across the state, including in Southwest Colorado,\u201d said Leigh Gillette, education coordinator\/Southwest Region for Parks and Wildlife, who was on hand for the weekend workshop. \u201cThe Division of Wildlife made major trap-and-transfer efforts to repopulate Merriam\u2019s wild turkeys \u2013 our native subspecies. Birds from Trinidad were brought to our area. Later, when Trinidad\u2019s turkey population was in decline, we trapped birds from Southwest Colorado to take back there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rio Grande subspecies has also been introduced to Colorado \u2013 1980s \u2013 in prairie and lowland river bottoms. These are limited-draw licenses only.\u201d<\/p>\n
For regulations and more on the spring turkey hunt, visit cpw.state.co.us\/Documents\/RulesRegs\/Brochure\/turkey.pdf.<\/p>\n
bpeterson@ durangoherald.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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