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Soon the turkeys began showing up along the roadsides. Bitter winds and no access to food drove them out of the forested mountains and into the snow barren valleys. The huge toms would sit with their feathers puffed to try and insulate themselves. It was neat seeing them but as the days wore on I noted that this was not normal. They were now suffering and the weather was not giving anyone a break. With each storm I got my tractor out to plow the driveway and barnyard free, sometimes daily. As I would plow, I noticed I had an audience of wild turkeys on the hillside watching. When I was done clearing, I would walk up and watch them back. They really would struggle to walk in the loose snow. Once in a while I would hear them softly call to each other. But mostly they remained silent and stoic. I normally walk the rural road I live on after work with my lab, Briar and my sprightly black cat that likes to hunt with me. With the deep snow I was curious to see what wildlife was making tracks. I was able to identify fox, coyote, mink, deer and turkey. Soon we were noting dead turkeys; they just stopped walking, sat down and died on the spot. With the deep snow I could not get close and still can’t as of this writing. Some carcasses were surrounded with loose feathers; the only tracks among them were other turkeys. Apparently they were brutalizing the weakened birds that lay dying. From what I can see it looks like the majority of the dead are toms, mature ones and not jakes. Vermont Fish and Game does allow supplemental feeding of turkeys but not deer so residents must be mindful of that rule. I consulted with the local game warden to discuss the situation with him. He reported than many area residents were reporting winter kill of turkeys. I began putting shelled corn out in my driveway where it empties into the road, some hens have found it and hopefully they will be strong enough to reproduce once warmer weather comes to northern New England. Now with warm weather approaching there are warnings of massive flooding from ice jammed rivers. The snow pack can mean bounty yet at the same time also cruelly culls even the strong. Our spring turkey hunting season begins late, in May; hopefully it will still be productive. Vermont has a lot of turkeys, hunters can harvest up to two toms in the spring and one in the fall. |
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The 2007 Vermont winter has been on the difficult side for both wildlife and the few humans that inhabit this state. In December many folk were convinced that global warming was here to stay. Then January came and the snow started falling and the bitter cold air came. By the end of January there was at least 15 inches of snow cover. But then Saint Valentines Day arrived with a huge Nor’easter and the storm dumped over 30 inches of snow. This storm was also a true blizzard and raged for some 36 hours.
