Animal tracks in the snow…

We would often see these tracks in the snow across our property. We couldn’t figure it out, what animal was making them? Then this morning we got an answer to the question…

Wild turkey tracks!

The turkeys pretty much follow each other in a straight line. They were taking a shortcut from one side of our property to the other side. Plodding through the snow.

It turns out that wild turkeys are now everywhere in New Hampshire, that wasn’t always the case.

Native to the state, they were present here during colonial times. But with the changes due to the lack of hunting regulations, farming, and animal husbandry, the number of turkeys in the state started to deplete. They were being over-harvested.

The last turkey sighting was in the town of Weare in 1854.

100 years passed and then biologists from Fish and Game tried to reintroduce the species here with birds imported from West Virginia. The effort was unsuccessful.

They tried again in 1975 and this time were successful. Birds were introduced from New York State to the town of Walpole. Fish and Game now estimates that there are over 40,000 wild turkeys in the State of New Hampshire.

Things you may not know about wild turkeys in NH

1. New Hampshire had ZERO turkeys left in 1974. But a reintroduction effort of 25 turkeys the following year has led to a population today of over 40,000 birds in all 10 counties.

2. Not only do they “gobble, gobble,” but turkeys also cluck.

3. Turkey droppings tell a bird’s sex and age. Male droppings are j-shaped and female droppings are spiral-shaped.

4. The larger the diameter of the bird, the older it is.

5. An adult turkey has 5,000 to 6,000 feathers on its body.

6. These are equal opportunity birds. Tom turkeys aren’t the only ones to swagger and fan their tail feathers. Some hens strut their stuff, too.

7. Poults scarf down insects like candy. They develop more of a mature taste for plants after they’re 4 weeks old.

8. They’re fast. Turkeys can run more than 12 miles per hour.

9. They could have been the national symbol. Ben Franklin called the wild turkey a “bird of courage” and thought it would make a better national symbol than the bald eagle.

Paula Tracy – WMUR (11-24-2014)