One of the biggest wildlife management successes ever along the East Coast is the resurgence of wild turkey populations in the Mid-Atlantic. New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware have successfully rebuilt their wild turkey populations, which were almost non-existent just 30 short years ago.

When you stop to think about it, the turkey is not only the bird of choice for Thanksgiving, it was also Ben Franklin’s pick for our national bird, although I think I still prefer the eagle! Today, turkeys have become main targets for hunters during the spring and fall, Fortunately, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey have excellent turkey hunting programs that provide sportsmen with some banner opportunities.

These days, the gobble of male turkeys has becomes commonplace to hunters in our neck of the woods; however, this has not always not been the case in recent years. The history of the wild turkey goes back to the early days of our country when the first settlers from Europe landed on the East Coast. Turkeys were one of the most plentiful game birds in the Mid-Atlantic states when settlers first put their feet on our shores, and as a result, they became a main source of food. Let’s face it, Thanksgiving did not come about because there weren’t turkeys available. Turkeys were a prized table treat for settlers and Indians.

Turkey populations along the East Coast remained stable into the 1800s, even though they were a prime food source for the growing human population centers along the East Coast. But with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, and increased land use, better transportation and growing cities, the wild turkey population started to decline.

By the early 1900s, dwindling wild turkey populations caused some states to restrict or stop hunting all together in many areas. This is when thoughts of rebuilding the turkey stocks began to come into play. Numerous attempts were tried to stock pen-raised turkeys into the wild with the hopes of creating reproducing populations. Some stockings produced limited success; however, most of the programs were complete failures.

What has taken place over the last few decades is largely responsible for the resurgence of the wild turkey populations? If pen-raised turkeys would not work, why not use the real thing? Today, trapping and transplanting wild turkeys has become the proven method for rebuilding wild turkey populations.

Technology has made this process a lot more successful with advances in trapping, along with tracking the restocked birds once they are released. There are now more then four million turkeys in the United States, with huntable turkey populations in every state in the lower 48. In short, the information age has benefited the wild turkey populations in the Mid-Atlantic states and throughout the country.

BEST BETS IN NEW JERSEY

According to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), spring wild turkey hunters harvested an estimated 2,944 gobblers during last spring’s six-week season. This was the fourth largest harvest since the spring turkey season was established in 1981, but it is below the recent average. Turkey hunting is becoming more and more popular among hunters and the division said it issued approximately 21,877 spring turkey-hunting permits for the 2004 season. And hunters achieved a success rate of 13 percent.

Despite high snowfall amounts over the winter, gobblers appeared to be in great condition and check station operators recorded excellent weights and beard lengths. Food availability and snow depth during the winter months can affect weights and beard lengths of wild turkeys. However, winter weather was not a significant factor, since heavy snows quickly crusted over and allowed turkeys to be mobile. According to DFW wildlife biologists, no reports were received of wild turkey mortality attributable to the winter elements, which is a good omen.

New Jersey uses a similar approach to turkey hunting as it does with deer hunting. The DFW divides the state into 22 hunting zones and issues a certain number of permits for each zone based on what the population of that zone is capable of handling. The permits are handed out by lottery for each zone. This system also enables the hunter to get a look at which of the zones traditionally produce the best harvest (results of each hunt, spring and fall, are posted on the DFW’s Web site), thus enabling hunters to pick a zone that offers the best chance for success.

The statistics released by the DFW for the 2004 spring season show a drop in the numbers of turkeys harvested from the previous season. Zone 20, which is located at the very bottom of the state and is dominated by lowland pine forest and scrub pine, produced the largest number of turkeys (522), which is 121 fewer than the 643 birds taken in the 2003 spring season.