Wild Turkeys Today- the product of hard work.

Aaron H

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
11140197.jpg It was 1970 and I was fresh out of high school when I got offered a temporary job with the NC Wildlife Commission. The Commission had just hired Wayne Bailey out of retirement to head up a project to trap wild turkeys in the Pisgah National Forest for relocation to different areas in NC that had few or no turkeys. Wayne had great success in West Virginia in expanding the turkeys there and now he would do the same for our state. I was hired as a driver and assistant to Wayne and for an 18 year old boy in love with Nature it was a dream job. We caught turkeys with a cannon net and those birds were released in lots of places across the state. At first it was various game lands (we called them "wildlife management areas" back then) but eventually they were released onto large private lands upon the promise that none would be hunted there for 5 years, to give the new birds some time to reproduce. Many places that have strong turkey populations now are the result of those early captures and releases that were done. My trail camera shot is from Chatham County and a place where turkeys are now expanding naturally. Every time I get photos of these amazing birds I think back to the days when they were absent from a huge part of their natural range. I'm glad that I had a very small part in returning turkeys to places where they were simply gone.
 

lasttombstone

Kinder, Gentler LTS
I am glad that the work was done when it was and congrats for having a part in it. My part of the county, northwestern Granville has become a turkey desert in the past 3 years. When I came here 25 years ago, the first thing I saw looking at the property was a hen turkey, the first I had ever seen in the wild and I was coming from Franklin Co. There seemed to be a good population here for the most part ever since then until 3 years ago when they just pretty much disappeared. Not a lot has changed enviornmentally but I haven't seen a flock like that in many years.
 

thoma018

Button Buck
Aaron H don't know you but have a feeling Id like to; appreciate your remarks on the turkey repopulation per Wayne Bailey and NCWRC. I tried to hunt turkeys in the mid 60s in Lee county anong the Cape Fear River...they were a few there but I was never successful. Moving to Durham County in the early 1970's I learned of the Caswell Game Land and the "restocking effort" of Mr Bailey and attempted to hunt turkey there along Hyco Creek bottomland. It was pretty good to me, Years passed and I even took my kids in the early 90s to see wild turkey on the Caswell Game and they thought it was grand. Turkey restoration has come a long way in NC and I can truly appreciate anyone who had anything to do with the successful restocking.
thanks for your rememberance.
 

CutNRun

Ten Pointer
Contributor
I remember seeing turkeys along the Cape Fear River bottoms and hearing a few old timers talk about flushing turkeys while quail hunting back in the day. A man I knew who lived in the Big Woods in Chatham County (he passed in 1989) told me about squirrel hunting between his place and the Haw River before Christmas in the early 1930s. He killed a roosted turkey with his .22 to go along with the squirrels he'd already bagged. He said it was one of the best Christmas Dinners his family ever had. People hunted to survive in those days and if it was edible, it was going in the pot.

Thanks for taking your time and effort to help restock the wild turkeys, Aaron. It's paying big dividends these days. t's just not possible to have too many turkeys. I love seeing them, even if I can't hunt anywhere near 'em.

Jim
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
My wife's grandfather grew up in Corinth... on the Cape fear river in Chatham County
They would hunt wild turkeys for food before world War 2 when the birds were around the family farm at certain times of the year. Nice to see those birds all over the state.
Thanks for all your work Aaron.
 

41magnum

Twelve Pointer
Thanks Aaron for jogging MY memories of helping plant chufa in the early 90's, on Caswell GL with Mike Seamster, our turkey biologist in the 80's-90's, for cannon netting them to relocate in piedmont counties..

Soooo, inquiring minds want to know Aaron, did you make a career of NCWRC?
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Chatham County is loaded with turkeys today. I see them on a lot of hunts in different locations. I have had up to 30 on a game camera photo.
 

KrisB

Ten Pointer
View attachment 54848 It was 1970 and I was fresh out of high school when I got offered a temporary job with the NC Wildlife Commission. The Commission had just hired Wayne Bailey out of retirement to head up a project to trap wild turkeys in the Pisgah National Forest for relocation to different areas in NC that had few or no turkeys. Wayne had great success in West Virginia in expanding the turkeys there and now he would do the same for our state. I was hired as a driver and assistant to Wayne and for an 18 year old boy in love with Nature it was a dream job. We caught turkeys with a cannon net and those birds were released in lots of places across the state.\\

Best temp job I've ever heard of! :D

I'm glad that I had a very small part in returning turkeys to places where they were simply gone.

All the people playing the "small parts" added up to create the overall success story. Thank you for your hard work back then that led to the restoration of turkeys across NC today! :D

Did you ever do anything else with the NC WRC, @Aaron H?
 

Aaron H

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Thanks Aaron for jogging MY memories of helping plant chufa in the early 90's, on Caswell GL with Mike Seamster, our turkey biologist in the 80's-90's, for cannon netting them to relocate in piedmont counties..

Soooo, inquiring minds want to know Aaron, did you make a career of NCWRC?
No, I did not stay with the wildlife commission. I was young and inspired, met lots of enforcement officers and might have leaned in that direction at the time, but at 134 pounds I couldn't even meet the physical requirements for one of their jobs. It was a great experience for me then and I have some wonderful memories from that time.
 

Aaron H

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Best temp job I've ever heard of! :D



All the people playing the "small parts" added up to create the overall success story. Thank you for your hard work back then that led to the restoration of turkeys across NC today! :D

Did you ever do anything else with the NC WRC, @Aaron H?
I did teach the hunter education course for a couple of years but that has been the extent of my usefulness to the NCWRC.
 
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