It’s ‘active turkey season’ in Sacramento. Here’s what to do if you have an urban encounter

Pacing slowly and deliberately, the large male wild turkey – his neck a bright scarlet, his head a brilliant azure, his massive feathered tail swaying – surveyed the patch of vegetation he and the dozen female hens in his company had wandered across.

Not a gobble was heard within the rafter of wild turkeys, seeming perfectly at ease. Sure, it wasn’t Thanksgiving time, but this was no wooded, pastoral scene.

It was Monday in Sacramento’s midtown, and “we are entering our active turkey season,” said city spokeswoman Gina Knepp.

“We get the same kind of calls” every year, she said, regarding 311 service calls from residents concerned about their feathered neighbors. “It’s not uncommon at all in the urban areas.”

As of 2010, Sacramento Animal Care Services no longer traps or relocates healthy wildlife, meaning unless the wild turkey in the street is sick or injured, animal control won’t respond to your call, Knepp said.

“Sometimes they’re nasty, they’ll chase you,” Knepp said. “If they see a shiny car, they will peck at it.”

But generally speaking, Knepp said, it’s best to leave wild turkeys alone. Avoid feeding wild turkeys, and remove shiny objects that may attract them as well, she said.

If a wild turkey is being particularly bothersome, loud noises or a spray of water to deter it is also recommended, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Wild turkeys are frequently spotted outside suburban enclaves and around downtown Sacramento, Knepp said, particularly near the Capitol. Around the California Department of Social Services building, wild turkeys regularly roost on outside patio furniture.

“There’s one particular one that hangs out,” said spokesman Michael Weston. “It seems very fascinated with its reflection.”

Close encounters between wild turkeys and human urban dwellers are nothing new in the region: In January, a wild turkey broke into an Elk Grove home through the second-floor window, setting off the alarm. Residents say they’ve trampled on roof tiles and damaged cars in Folsom. The issue of aggressive wild turkeys in Davis got so bad the city passed a management plan to tackle trapping and relocation efforts in 2016.

And wild turkeys have been known to strut across Riverside Boulevard directly in front of traffic, much to the frustration of drivers.

“They’re not the smartest birds,” Knepp said. “They stand in the middle of the street and they don’t move. You just have to wait for them.”

Merriam’s wild turkeys and Rio Grande wild turkeys are the most common wild turkey subspecies in the Sacramento region, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation. Mating activity occurs among these wild turkeys in the months of March and April, which is a possible reason for the uptick in city service calls, Knepp said.

The wild turkey population in California is healthy and growing, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Killing them during hunting season where it is safe and legal to help curb their population is allowed in the state with a hunting license, an upland bird stamp and additional limitations.

But Knepp warned that it is not hunting season just yet, and that shooting in urban areas is illegal: “No, you cannot go and shoot these turkeys.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2019 at 4:25 PM.