Vermont’s Wild Turkeys
Wild turkeys may be everywhere in Vermont these days, but from 1854 to 1969 there were no wild turkeys in the state.
Seriously. The wild turkey was extirpated—that is, locally extinct—in Vermont for over 100 years.
Restoring Vermont’s wild turkeys
Wildlife Biologist Bill Drake (center) releasing the first turkeys February 28, 1969 in Pawlet, VT. Warden Roger Whitcomb (left), Director of Wildlife Ben Day (right). Source: Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
Restoring wild turkeys to Vermont required human intervention—which came in the form of wildlife biologists and others from the Vermont Fish and Game Department (now known as the Fish and Wildlife Department). On February 28, 1969, the department’s first turkey biologist, William Drake, live-trapped several wild turkeys in southwestern New York and released them in Pawlet, Vermont. Following this first release, from 1973 to 1986 biologists trapped and released birds in southern and central Vermont, the Champlain Valley and Champlain Islands. Today, 57 years after those first birds were set free in Pawlet, wild turkeys are found all over the state, with an estimated population of over 45,000 birds.
Vermont’s first turkey hunt
One of the first turkeys brought to Pawlet, VT February 28, 1969. Turkey biologist Bill Drake, left, information specialist John Hall, right. Source: Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
By 1973 the turkey population had grown large enough to support hunting, and the first regulated turkey hunt took place in southern Vermont. Thing is, no one in Vermont had hunted turkeys in 119 years—and there was a pretty steep learning curve. The Fish and Game Department offered turkey hunting classes, and Vermonters read up on the topic and put their Yankee Ingenuity to work. That year Fish and Game issued 579 for the12-day season resulting in 23 gobblers being harvested.
So…how does Vermont Folklife fit in?
In 2023 and 2024, to mark the 50th anniversary of turkey reintroduction, Vermont Folklife teamed up with Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s Nicole Meier and Josh Morse to document turkey reintroduction to the state, the first hunting season, and the experiences of turkey hunters today. Across the project, Mary Wesley and Andy Kolovos from Vermont Folklife joined Josh, Nicole and naturalist and hunting educator Bob Etzweiler on a turkey hunt in Dummerston, recorded stories from contemporary turkey hunters at events in Burlington and Windsor, and interviewed key people involved in the process of reintroduction. And then, on January 15, 2024, Andy and Josh traveled to West Winfield, New York to interview John Hathaway and his wife Reba.
Who is John Hathaway?
John and Reba Hathaway, January 15, 2024. John holds the Burnham Brothers Model T-12 box turkey call that brought in the first tom back in the 1973 inaugural season. Photography by Joshua Morse.
In 1973 on the morning of the first day of Vermont’s first turkey hunt in over a century, Pawlet resident John Hathaway was doing chores in the barn when he heard the distinctive gobble of a tom turkey.
And we'll let John take it from here...
And that's where I was when I heard the old Big Boy gobbling, and had to get the cows in the barn, fed, cared for, and [unclear] all set. So I said, "Well I'll see if I hear a turkey out back." Well I didn't. I heard him over across the road pushing a half mile away--probably six, seven hundred yards. Seven hundred, anyway. And, uh, but I could see him. He was in an open meadow. It was a steep bank, and it was on, uh, uh, bank. And, I mean, he'd fluff up—of course, he's as big as a moose, it seemed like. I said, "Aw hell, bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I know where he is. I know how to get there quick."
And so began John’s story of how he became the first person in Vermont to harvest a turkey in Vermont since 1854!
Listen to a clip of John describing that first hunt—what he calls his “Dumb Luck Turkey Hunt.”
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But around my barn all the time, there used to be 25, 30 turkeys hanging around there, in the barn yard, sometimes in the haybarn where I spilled some oats. They'd come in there--they love oats, by the way. And, uh, uh, so that's where that went.And that's where I was when I heard the old Big Boy gobbling, and had to get the cows in the barn, fed, cared for, and [unclear] all set. So I said, "well I'll see if I hear a out Turkey back." Well I didn't. I heard him over across the road pushing a half mile away--probably six, seven hundred yards. Seven hundred, anyway. And, uh, but I could see him. He was in an open meadow. It was a steep bank, and it was on, uh, uh, bank. And, I mean, he'd fluff up--of course, he's as big as a moose, it seemed like. I said, "Aw hell, bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I know where he is. I know how to get there quick." And you know, I was young, I could run. So I grabbed my borrowed shotgun and my turkey call, and away I went! I figured, "aw, this is going to be pretty much duck soup." There's, there's a, I thought a hedgerow that would cover me going up into the meadow and I'd probably gotta call him up hill not along the hill. To my surprise there's only one pine tree that I could actually get behind. He's out there gobbling. And so I thought from there he didn't come to me, he ended up the bank a ways, he'd fluff up and gobble. Kept doing that till he went over the edge of the crown of the hill. And then there's a low spot and then big, high brush up there. So when he was out of sight, I run towards him and stopped. And I heard him gobble and he'd stick his heap up, look all around. And it had to go down and I'd run up the hill some more. And that went on for, oh, probably close to 100 yards. And the last time I popped up, he was just getting ready to head into the brush. And he was going sideways, fortunately not away, because you can't shoot a turkey going away from you. You know, you don't do any damage--I mean, the recoil on your shoulder, but. He was going kind of, from my right to my left. And so I pulled onto his head and neck and brought him down. Then I have a big surprise. I went over because he was floundering around--big turkey, Uh, 21.6 I guess he was, I call it 21.5 <unclear> but. Put my foot on his head, to hold him from flopping around, you know, and, uh, no beard. Couldn't see a beard. I said, "Oh my God, we're supposed to shoot a bearded turkey!" No beard. But I know it was the right turkey. But, uh, I found out real quick he was the one I was after because he had big, long spurs an inch and an eighth long. Big spurs, and I reached down grabbed him by the leg and, "it's going to go through my hands!" Oh, they're sharp they a sharp. Oh, I could tell you, turkey spurs are really sharp. Of course then, back to the barn, milk the cows--well they'd already waited the time it took me to go do it, about a half hour late on the milking...Yeah I got, him so I call it the "Dumb Luck Turkey Hunt".
Andy and Josh spent over an hour with John and Reba that day discussing a lifetime of hunting in Vermont and in New York, where they eventually moved. This spring, the Hathaways will return to Pawlet as guests of honor at a special celebration hosted by conservation organizations from across the Northeast, to celebrate the wild success of turkey restoration and turkey hunting in Vermont.
And now! To the archives!
All the audio recordings and photographs created through what we call the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife Turkey Reintroduction 50th Anniversary Project are available online through Vermont Folklife's Digital Archive.
This includes:
Five full interviews conducted by Mary, Andy and Josh with:
John Hathaway
Retired wildlife biologist Jeffrey Wallin, who was central to the reintroduction program
Contemporary hunters Lindsay Barbieri, Wendy Butler, Stephanie Drago, Megan Egler and Shane Silverman
26 hunting stories recorded at public events in Burlington and Windsor, Vermont
Field recordings of the project team’s May 15, 2023 turkey hunt in Dummerston with with Bob Etzweiler
Historic photographs of the turkey reintroduction process from Fish and Wildlife’s archives
And you can access it all right here: Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife Turkey Reintroduction 50th Anniversary Project Collection.