Since April 26, skillful – and lucky – local hunters have been enjoying gourmet dinners of wild turkey. My favorite preparation is delicious and easy. Simply slice the breast and thigh meat very then, pound it to the dimensions of a crepe, coat it in egg and panko, and just lightly sauté it medium-rare in butter, preserving its tender juiciness. Our wild turkey’s diet of acorns and other wild foods make it so much more complexly delicious than grain-fed domestic turkey.
We can all thank MassWildlife and their now-retired wild turkey restoration leader, Jim Cardoza for the countless flocks that have enriched our lives since the 1970s, before which our state was long empty of them. Just 37 birds from the Adirondacks were released in our Berkshires. From those pioneers, our flock has grown to over 25,000 birds, which can be seen even at Cape Cod and Boston.
There really should be a book written about MassWildlife’s successful efforts bringing these iconic American birds back from regional extirpation to full abundance in Massachusetts for all of us to enjoy. When our biologists realized that captive-bred birds couldn’t survive here but that wild-trapped birds from nearby New York could, the resurrection began – and exploded.
Of course, that triumph was made possible only because the near-total deforestation of our region that had reached its climax in the 1930s was reversed. Elimination of our forests had also eliminated both the wild turkey’s food and cover. The condensation of farmers into city life because of the Depression’s economic forces ironically led to the resurgence. The mass abandonment of farm land had some unforeseen consequences for wildlife. gradually returning to mature forest.
All over the country down into Mexico, turkey hunters have been trying to imitate female turkey vocalizations that can lure in hormone-driven males. The moment that a rare shot presents itself is an exhilarating climax to countless hours of vocal practice, preparation and hunting skill development.
While turkey hunting has become a big tradition in New England, it has an even greater following in much of the rest of the country. Both New Hampshire’s and Vermont’s flocks currently number over 40,000 birds. New York, from which we got our present Massachusetts flock, has a population of 180,000. Michigan has 200,000. Mississippi harbors 225,000. California’s flock numbers 240,000. Missouri and Tennessee each have over 300,000. Alabama holds an incredible 400,000. Texas – just as it has the largest deer herd in the country -– beats every other state in the Union with a turkey flock of 500,000.
In our entire country, only Alaska has no wild turkeys. And some turkey hunters, seeing the dramatic changes of global warming half-jokingly predict that it’s only a matter of time before Alaskans will be calling in wild turkeys, too. But even with these huge numbers, our continent’s wild turkeys are deceptively showing an actual decline again.
During the last two decades, after their miraculous, century-long comeback had brought their nation-wide population back to nearly 7 million birds, we’ve begun seeing their population across America begin to fall again. Our east-of-the-Mississippi subspecies is down about 15%. As expected, habitat loss that diminishes food and shelter takes much of the blame.
The nut supply in many regions is down because of over-browsing by deer and gypsy moths. Beech bark disease is a culprit, too. We can additionally put some blame on a recent surge in turkey predator populations, especially bobcats, coyotes, fishers and raccoons. The 1990s rabies epidemic that kept many of those predators down in numbers has since abated. And we’re now seeing the devastating effects of climate change on them, too.
Spring weather can dramatically affect local populations. Incessant, heavy rains and unseasonably prolonged cold kill many young birds. Wet turkey hens smell more than dry ones, making them more vulnerable to predator detection. Wet, uncomfortable, complaining young tend to attract more predators, too. The extreme weather so typical of climate change makes many of our country’s wild turkey populations far more vulnerable.
Additionally, a tumor-causing virus is now being noted, particularly in New York birds. Its effect hasn’t been evaluated yet.
We know that we can help wild turkeys better. We need to systematically clear some old forest areas for new forest habitat to regenerate. We need to value and encourage sufficient thick, adjacent, young-growth areas mixed with old growth forest, the kind of habitat that also benefits numerous songbirds and ruffed grouse.
If we want to keep our wild turkey populations healthy and our hunting tradition alive, we can’t take their present local abundance for granted. Sportsmen and naturalists need to be enlightened enough to enthusiastically support MassWildlife’s efforts to adequately confront new wildlife problems and scientifically manage our remaining wild lands.
Mayfly hatches happening
Exciting news for fly fishermen: Ephemerella subvaria mayflies or Hendricksons, as they’re more commonly known, are emerging on Connecticut’s Farmington River, which has been having excellent flows. This most prolific of our many mayfly hatches marks the beginning of the fly-fishing season on many of our rivers. Trout gorge on them when they emerge. This hatch is very temperature dependent. It begins in the lower river and progresses upstream as waters warm.
The magic of the hatch usually begins in the afternoon. Spinner falls, which occur when spent adults that mated and laid eggs less than a day before, fall to the water to die – can offer a second opportunity for rising action – usually in the evening, but frequently in the morning, too.
Sometimes, there’s even a spinner fall as other mayflies are mating or laying eggs over the water. A fallen spinner looks much an airplane with its wings fully spread out in exhaustion.
During the Hendrickson hatch, it’s valuable to carry in your fly box emerging nymphs, floating duns, and spent spinners. Rising trout can get finicky and key in on just one of these stages. To make matters even more challenging, males and females look dramatically different. The reddish male – is imitated by the Red Quill fly. Be ready to cast it if the trout don’t take the usually preferred, egg-laden female Hendrickson fly, which has a body that’s a mixture of olive, tan, and yellow.
Forest buds emerge
Just as the Blue Moon isn’t blue, the Pink Moon – the super moon that we experienced last week – isn’t pink. It was named coincidentally for the pink flowers – like creeping phlox – that emerge this time of year. Wildflower colors have noticeably begun shifting this week from predominantly yellows to pinks and purples, with azaleas, pulmonaria, violets, lilacs, gill-over-the-ground and ajugas popping open everywhere – except deep within our forests.
As our forests’ buds emerge, too, the canopy will soon be full, essential light on the forest floor will dim, and those necessarily early-blossoming wildflowers will soon be through their blooming. We consequently need to go out now to enjoy marsh marigolds, birdfoot violet, coltsfoot, fringed polygala, shadbush, liverleaf, bloodroot, star flower and wood anemone – or miss them for the rest of the year.
Bird watching trip on tap
Serious birders, there are two ruffs at Plum Island. These incredibly fancy Eurasian shorebirds are far off track to arrive in the Eurasian Arctic, where they normally breed. If you want to see newly arriving migrants locally, The Forbush Bird Club has a free field trip to Broad Meadow Brook at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Call leader John Shea by 5 p.m. Tuesday at 508-667-1982 to register.
—Contact Mark Blazis at markblazissafaris@gmail.com.
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