There are a few less turkeys in Maine to hunt this year. A few months ago, Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife in partnership with the National Wild Turkey Federation , captured and released more than 50 birds into East Texas with the hope of rebuilding their population. “Eastern turkeys are where the restocking efforts originally began,” explained Shawn Roberts, Director of Field Operations for the National Wild Turkey Federation, “We tried in the 1920’s but it didn’t work. We tried pen-raised birds and that didn’t work either. The only thing that was successful was to trap birds and relocate them to good habitat.” “We started this current effort in the early ‘80s and we had to begin looking outside the state to see if we could get them moved in. We didn’t want to violate The Lacey Act so we had to come up with a way to compensate the states that were giving up a resource either by trading other wildlife or paying them monetarily,” said Roberts. Texas is on the very edge o
An outdoor blog about hunting and exploring the woods of Maine.
Love going out after a snow fall and looking for tracks. We don't get much snow here in VA and it always seems to fall when I have to work or there's something I have to do.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I feel about shed hunting! We don't have much snow this winter so tracking has been awesome.
DeleteWhat a beautiful blog, Erin. We don't get snow around here, but if I had to guess, I'd say the first one was an elk? I have no idea about the second or third one ... the fourth one a bear, maybe? Am I even in the ballpark? Probably not, but I enjoyed reading your post and trying to guess! ;)
ReplyDeleteMonica, you are close! We don't have elk in Maine but those first tracks were made by a white-tailed deer - probably a large buck. The others were coyote and we are thinking a weasel or fisher. Bears hibernate in the winter and their prints look almost like our hand prints with a little extra bulk around the palm.
DeleteLove these pictures. The kids and I love looking for tracks at our cottage and trying to figure out what animal made them.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun! We took my 2.5 year old son out this past week to follow the deer trails and look for deer beds.
DeleteMy 16-year-old told me just yesterday he wants to visit Maine. Those tracks might make him want to visit even more! We get snow here (Utah) but I've never gone off-trail enough to find any tracks. So neat!
ReplyDeleteAmy, you should come! What made him decide that he wants to come here?
DeleteI love looking at animal tracks in the snow. I guessed the deer right off because we have tons of those here too. The snow must have been deep to have drag marks like that. The others all had me stumped. My best find (recently) was the swipe of wings as a small owl swooped down to grab something. Thanks! I enjoyed this.
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