(Host) Forty years ago, there were no wild turkeys in Vermont. Today, the big birds are a familiar sight in fields and back yards across the state.

VPR's Steve Zind looks at how the wild turkey has made its surprising comeback.

(‘yelp' of turkey call)

(Zind) Dale Morse is standing at the edge of a field on an old hill farm near Randolph. He's demonstrating the yelp of a hen turkey. Turkey hunting involves calling the birds by pretending to be another turkey. Morse makes the sound by scraping a paddle shaped piece of wood over the chalked edge of a narrow, retangular box. Morse is an avid hunter and past head of the Vermont Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.

(Morse) "There's also a "purr". I will use it just to calm them down.''

(Zind) Not long ago, Morse's turkey call would have gone unanswered. By the late 19th century, the birds had disappeared from Vermont, along with a number of other native species. Seventy five percent of the state had been cleared of trees and there was no longer enough good habitat.

As the woods grew back over the next half-century, animals like white tailed deer, beaver and fisher were reintroduced to the state. In 1969 biologists began trapping 31 wild turkeys in New York State and bringing them to Vermont. As the birds reproduced, their offspring were distributed around the state.
Doug Blodgett is with the Fish and Wildlife Department.

(Blodgett) "So from those original thirty-one birds, our population has expanded to the numbers we have today.''

(Zind) Those numbers are now at historic highs. Today, there are about 50,000 wild turkeys in Vermont.

Blodgett says the reintroduction program has been a huge success. Vermont turkeys have been used to repopulate other New England states. They've also been shipped to Ontario and West Germany. Blodgett says after years of dramatic increases, Vermont's turkey population is showing signs of leveling off. He says it's hard to tell what the limit might be.

(Blodgett) "We may be close to that now. There's a biological carrying capacity of the natural habitat and the ability to sustain the population. There's also a social carrying capacity on the part of people and farmers to cope with nuisance incidents that we're getting reported now in terms of turkeys in bunker silos and grain silos and that kind of thing.''

(Zind) Blodgett says turkeys have been successful in Vermont because they're rugged birds that have adapted to harsh weather. They're also well equipped to fend off a host of predators from coyotes to raccoons.

(Blodgett) "Many hunters credit them with very large brains because they can be very sly and very secretive, particularly in the springtime. However, the reality is they have a brain the size of a pea.''

(Zind) But it's a cunning pea brain.

(Morse) "I've got a lot of friends that say that turkey hunting must be easy!''

(Zind) Dale Morse says turkeys may be easy to spot as they feed in the open during the summer, but they're mostly out of sight and hard to find when they're in season.

(Morse)"You're hunting an animal that has excellent hearing. Eyesight that is ten times ours, and extremely wary.''

(Zind) Hunters take thousands of turkeys annually, but Morse says the majority go home empty handed. Unlike their domesticated cousins, on Thanksgiving, most wild turkeys are on the wing, not on the table.

For Vermont Public Radio, I'm Steve Zind.

AP Photo/Toby Talbot