In the Beginning
The beginning of modern wild turkey hunting began during the winter of 1968 when then Vermont Fish & Game Commissoner, Edward kehoe sent a young upland game biologist, Bill Drake to the Adirondacks of New York to trap as many wild turkeys as he could. Bill came back with only 17 which were released onto suitable habitat on the Rupert Mountain Road in Pawlet, in southwestern Vermont.
The next year, as a VermontState Game Warden in training out of Brandon, Vermont I helped release the next batch of wild turkeys retrieved by Drake, 14 birds.
The restoration was in response to a Georgia biologists' discovery that wild turkeys, traped in the wild and released into suitable habitat would multiply rapidly. Previous to this project numerous releases of farm-raised turkeys proved unsuccessful due to the harsh winters in the Northeast. Looking back, the formula was correct and is being hailed as one of the most successful wildlife restorations in American history.
Below is a chronology taken from my journals between 1968 and 1977.
1968 - Release of 17 wild turkeys live trapped in New York (4 adult and 1 juvenile gobblers,
8 adult and 4 juvenile hens)
1969 - Release of 14 wild turkeys at Half Moon State Park, Castleton (2 adult and 1 juvenile toms,
2 adult hens and 9 juveniles)
1970 - Estimated flocks in southwestern Vermont - 50 - 75 birds.
1972 - Estimated 600 birds sighted insouthwestern Vermont
1973 - First Spring Hunt - bearded turkeys only - 23 taken
1974 - Second spring bearded turkey-only hunt - 47 turkeys taken
1975 - Third Spring hunt - 95 turkeys taken
1975 - First Fall, either sex season - 139 turkeys taken
1976 - Fourth Spring hunt - 152 turkeys taken
1976 - Second Fall either sex season - 143 turkeys taken
1977 - Fifth spring hunt - 201 turkeys taken
1977 - Third Fall, either sex season - 1,043 turkeys taken
