Wild Turkeys in South Texas
Introduction to Fall and Winter Turkey Hunting
When folks think of hunting wild turkeys, they frequently think of chasing thundering gobblers around in the wildflowers and green grass of spring. Some hunters don’t even know that Texas allows fall/winter turkey hunting in most counties. This may be because fall/winter turkey hunting season often gets overshadowed and forgotten because of the coinciding white-tailed deer hunting season.
But cold season turkey hunting is a unique opportunity that deserves more than neglect. Heck, one of the main course dishes at the first Thanksgiving Dinner, that has remained through time as a symbol of the holiday, was wild turkey harvested in November.
Seasonal Changes in Turkey Behavior
Furthermore, although spring is the more popular turkey hunting season, the number of turkeys harvested in the spring is similar to that harvest in the fall.1 This may be due to the seasonal changes to wild turkey patterns and behaviors and the resulting likelihood of success.
Wild turkey behavior (communication, movement, flock size and demographics, roost location, etc.) can differ pretty dramatically between the fall and spring hunting seasons. Wild turkey roost concentrations in Texas seem greatest between January and March; turkeys begin to disperse leading up to the spring months.2,3,4 The turkeys tend to congregate more and move less in the winter months, creating flocks that may include more than 200 birds at a single roost.4
Hunting Strategies for Fall and Winter
The demographic of these turkey roosts also differs seasonally. Although wild turkeys are breeding in the fall and winter months, they are less aggressive breeders, congregating more with turkeys of both sexes and focusing more on feeding throughout the day than reproduction.
Less aggressive breeding activity means less frequent or aggressive gobbling. That’s not to say wild turkeys don’t gobble in the winter, because they do occasionally gobble (some more than others) and certainly communicate all months of the year. The vocalizations are, however, much more subtle in the cooler months.
The infrequency of gobbling (or response to calls), increased focus and dependency on food, smaller winter home-ranges, and larger groups of birds all call for slightly different hunting strategies for success. Fall and winter turkey hunting involves more ambush hunting tactics and reliance on knowledge of the winter diet and feeding patterns of your local wild turkeys. The use of decoys and calls may be effective but opportunistic hunting over food and water sources or along major travel corridors may prove more fruitful.
Know the Rules: Regulations and Ethics
If one is to hunt wild turkeys in the fall/winter hunting season, the hunter should always be aware of, and familiar with, Texas state hunting rules and regulations for where and what they are hunting. There are some regulatory differences for turkey hunting in the spring season versus the fall/winter season, depending on the county and subspecies of wild turkey.
The subspecies of wild turkey that is most prevalent in Texas is the Rio Grande wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia), with some 500,000+ statewide.2 There are also Eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) in the Piney-woods ecoregion of eastern Texas and Merriam’s wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) found in small pockets around the northern Trans-Pecos ecoregion of western Texas.
The wild turkey bag limits in various counties around Texas may vary by season (spring versus fall/winter), sex, and/or subspecies. Merriam’s wild turkeys are managed similarly to Rio Grande wild turkeys— the county rules and regulations for hunting Rio Grande wild turkeys also apply to Merriam’s wild turkeys.
This include rules on when hen’s may be harvested (often only in the fall/winter season), what the bag limit is, and requires that harvested wild turkeys, Merriam’s or Rio Grande, be tagged with a “Rio Grande wild turkey” carcass tag from a state issued hunting license if harvested. Eastern wild turkeys are only allowed to be hunted in the spring months (April 22, 2025 – May 14, 2025).5
Conclusion: Ethical and Legal Hunting
The legal means of hunting may also vary by season. For example, some counties allow rifles for fall/winter wild turkey hunting but only allow shotguns or archery equipment for the spring season. This is also the case with baiting– some counties do no allow legal baiting of wild turkeys with feed in the spring, while it may in fact be legal in other counties. No matter the situation though, the hunter should know the rules and regulations associated with the game and location they are hunting. Because although cold season wild turkey hunting can be lucrative and interesting, it should always be done legally and ethically.
Bibliography:
- Buckley BR, Hardin JB, Chamberlain MJ, Collier BA. 2022. Survival, harvest, and population size of Rio Grande wild turkeys in Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 86(8):e22312.
- Dickson JG. 2005. Wild Turkeys. The Texas Breeding Bird Atlas- Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Accessed September 1, 2024.
- Gross JT, Little AR, Collier BA, Chamberlain MJ. 2015. Space use, daily movements, and roosting behaviors of male wild turkeys during spring in Louisiana and Texas. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 2:229–234.
- Swearingin RM. 2007. Winter roosting ecology of Rio Grande wild turkeys in the rolling plains of Texas. Masters Thesis- Texas Tech University.
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 2024. Wild Turkey 2024-2025 Seasons and Regulations. Accessed September 1, 2024.
