A run in with a wild turkey being cared for at a MetroPark nature center left her with a bruised thigh after she stopped feeding it peanuts.
“Having been kicked (by a turkey) I never want to cross a turkey,” Stayer said. “That same ‘rouge’ turkey kicked a guy square in the chest and knocked him on the ground. He said it felt like being punched by a full grown man.”
Valerie Beerbower, spokeswoman for the MetroPark, recounts another chilling story of what she refers to as ‘Turkey-gate 2010.’
The overprotective papa ‘terrorized’ bikers and runners who ventured too close to his territory — his hen’s nest at Taylorsville MetroPark.
“He would run after them and peck them,” she said. “That was probably the wildest of the wild turkey.”
Despite those rare attacks, Stayer said wild turkeys are pretty wonderful.
Stayer will lead a free Wild Turkey Tike Hike for children ages 2 to 5 Tuesday beginning 10 a.m. at Germantown MetroPark. Kids will track the illusive wild turkey and learn about its habits. “Odds are we will not see a wild turkey, but you never know,” Stayer said.
The hike’s goal is to get children into nature so they are comfortable seeing wildlife.
Nick Boutis, director of Glen Helen Ecology Institute in Yellow Springs, said a wild turkey sighting is a rare treat. Unlike their white-feathered, farm-raised counterparts, wild turkeys camouflage like pros, easily blending into the foliage around them.
“They are incredibly wily. They are smart birds. They have a really different shape than a turkey that you find in the grocery store which is bred to be slow, fat and ugly,” he said. “(Wild turkeys) are tall, lean and brown... They are the biggest and toughest of the native game birds.”
Despite popular notion, wild turkeys can fly and roost in trees at night. Adults stand 3 to 4 feet tall and weigh up to 24 pounds, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Boutis said Americans latched onto the turkey as the Thanksgiving meal’s main dish partly because it was big, abundant and uniquely American. Benjamin Franklin was outraged the bald eagle and not the turkey was picked as the national bird.
The turkey has had tough times in Ohio.
MetroPark naturalist Emily Chilcoat said the state’s settlers often ate wild turkey because they were so plentiful. The state was 93 percent forest and had plenty of places for turkeys to hide and eat.
Development changed the game for turkeys and other native wildlife.
The state’s last known native wild turkey was shot in Adams County in 1904, Ohio DNR says.
A limited spring gobbler hunting season was reopened in 1966. Now wild turkeys can be found in each of the state’s 88 counties.
Chilcoat said that the spring hunting season speaks volumes about the wild turkey’s resurgence.
But that doesn’t mean wild turkeys are easy to catch. Her brother and father have only managed to bag one turkey in the five years they have tried.
That one turkey was no great feast, Chilcoat recalled of the gamey, rough meat that reminded her of beef jerky.
“We had the wild turkey and a Butter Ball turkey,” Chicoat remembered. “Needless to say everyone liked the Butter Ball turkey (better).”
For information about Five River MetroPark’s Turkey Tike Hike 10 a.m. Tuesday at Germantown MetroPark call (937) 277-4178 for details. Registration not required.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@ DaytonDailyNews.com.
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