Most New England states have growing populations of wild turkeys and expect another banner year for hunters in 2008. Photo by Travis Faulkner.

North America’s largest upland game bird is the Eastern wild turkey. Extremely alert and cautious by nature, wild turkeys present a challenge for even the most experienced hunter.

What gets many hunters hooked on gobblers is the interactive nature of the sport. There’s something about calling to your intended quarry and listening as it calls back and works its way closer that really gets a hunter’s heart pounding!

Luckily, turkey populations are holding their own, despite poor brooding and nesting conditions in 2005 and 2006. Cold, rainy springs dampened nest success and poult survival. Biologists in most New England states are reporting increased broods from the 2007 hatch and expect record-breaking harvests for the 2008 spring and fall seasons.

CONNECTICUT
Spring turkey hunters in the Nutmeg State may be blessed with a bumper crop of birds, according to Michael Gregonis, a Wild Turkey Program biologist.

For 2008, Connecticut’s spring turkey season is May 7-31.

“The outlook for the 2008 spring season should be good,” Gregonis said. “Weather conditions during spring 2007 were relatively warm and dry, which should lead to higher poult production than Connecticut has seen during the past several years.

“During the 2007 spring season, a total of 6,304 permits were issued and 1,601 birds were harvested,” he continued. “The overall success rate for hunters in 2007 was 16.5 percent -- a decrease from the 2006 success rate of 17.7 percent. The decrease in harvest and hunter success may be attributed to lower productivity during spring 2006.”

Connecticut’s turkey population is robust enough to allow for three seasons: spring, fall archery and fall firearms. Bird numbers are estimated by considering annual brood surveys and spring turkey-hunter surveys.

“Connecticut has good turkey numbers statewide,” Gregonis said.

“Traditionally, zones 5 (northeast) and 1 (northwest) report the highest annual spring turkey harvest. These areas have a significant amount of agricultural land, and hunters tend to have more access to private lands.”

For hunters not so lucky, there are plenty of public-access options.

“Cockaponset State Forest is a good bet,” he said. “This area is over 17,000 acres and provides habitat for a good number of turkeys. The topography is rolling hills with hardwood ridges, with wetlands in the valleys. Hunters can gain access by purchasing a state turkey-hunting permit.

“Hunters should not give up if they don’t harvest a bird the first week of the spring season,” Gregonis advised.

“Toward the end of the season, hunting pressure is reduced, and the gobblers are still active.”

Cockaponset, the state’s second-largest state forest, spans 3,000 acres in the Middlesex County town of Haddam. To get there from Route 9, take Cedar Lake Road and then turn at the Pattaconk Lake sign.

For more information on turkey-hunting opportunities in Connecticut -- plus a listing of lands open to the public -- call 1-860-424-3011, or go to www.ct.gov/dep/site/default.asp .

MAINE
According to Brad Allen, Bird Group leader of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the Pine Tree State’s wild turkey population continues to expand.

Consequently, the hunting seasons and areas open for turkey hunting are also expanding. Maine no longer conducts a lottery for turkey permits.

“Accompanying ever-increasing turkey-hunting opportunities are the tasks of keeping track of and properly managing the wild turkey population,” Allen said. “When hunters take to the field this spring, they’ll have the chance to contribute to wild turkey management. Previously, only randomly selected hunters who were mailed a survey could provide information used to help manage Maine’s wild turkeys. However, in 2007, a new Web-based hunter survey became available and is open to all wild turkey permit holders.”