Steve
05-01-2000, 10:24 AM
Fall turkey hunting
land increased
Wednesday, April 26, 2000
By BOB GWIZDZ
Booth Newspapers Outdoors Correspondent
EMNEMO;04/25,18:33
Michigan hunters will have more territory in which to chase
turkeys this fall under a proposal submitted to the Natural
Resources Commission.
The Department of Natural Resources has proposed
opening 27,632 square miles to fall hunting. Last year
24,526 square miles were open to fall hunting.
"One of the things that increased that substantially is
adding Lake and Newaygo counties," said Al Stewart, the
DNR's upland game bird specialist. "There's a lot of birds
down there - in Newaygo County in particular. It's that mix
of woods and agricultural fields, and bird numbers are
increasing there.
Only private lands are open there, however.
"That gives the landowner the opportunity," Stewart said.
"If they feel they've got more birds than they want to see,
they can encourage people to come and hunt."
Biologists say the expanded hunting areas are a result of
continuous growth in the wild turkey population.
"We're in that 135,000-to-140,000 bird category," Stewart
said. "We had, according to the weather folks, the mildest,
warmest winter on record in North America, so birds came
through the winter well. And we had excellent reproduction
last year as well."
Fall turkey hunts are established to maintain or reduce
wild turkey populations.
Proposed season and permit quotas will be determined in
late May. By law, the season can start no earlier than Oct.
2 and must close by Nov. 9. More permits are likely to be
available this year, based on the expanded area open to
hunting.
Last year, 32,900 licenses were available. The DNR sold
18,244. Some 15,993 hunters actually participated,
spending 77,000 days afield and killing 6,523 birds.
"That's an average of 41 percent hunter success," Stewart
said. "That's pretty good."
It's thought that Michigan's turkey population was around
94,000 birds in pre-settlement times, mostly south of a
line from Bay City to Muskegon. The birds were extirpated
largely because of unregulated hunting by settlers. The
last bird on record was taken in Van Buren County in
1897.
The flock was rebuilt, originally by using stock brought in
from Pennsylvania and transplanted to Allegan County in
1954. Since that time, trap and transfer programs - using
birds from Missouri and Iowa as well as Michigan -
expanded the population across almost the entire Lower
Peninsula and the southern region of the Upper Peninsula.
Turkey hunting resumed in 1965 with a fall season. A total
of 13,071 hunters applied for the 400 permits. They shot
82 turkeys.
The emphasis soon shifted to spring hunting. Fall
seasons, which were discontinued after the 1969 season,
were reestablished on a limited basis in 1986, when 600
permits were available.
Applications for fall permits will become available July 1.
land increased
Wednesday, April 26, 2000
By BOB GWIZDZ
Booth Newspapers Outdoors Correspondent
EMNEMO;04/25,18:33
Michigan hunters will have more territory in which to chase
turkeys this fall under a proposal submitted to the Natural
Resources Commission.
The Department of Natural Resources has proposed
opening 27,632 square miles to fall hunting. Last year
24,526 square miles were open to fall hunting.
"One of the things that increased that substantially is
adding Lake and Newaygo counties," said Al Stewart, the
DNR's upland game bird specialist. "There's a lot of birds
down there - in Newaygo County in particular. It's that mix
of woods and agricultural fields, and bird numbers are
increasing there.
Only private lands are open there, however.
"That gives the landowner the opportunity," Stewart said.
"If they feel they've got more birds than they want to see,
they can encourage people to come and hunt."
Biologists say the expanded hunting areas are a result of
continuous growth in the wild turkey population.
"We're in that 135,000-to-140,000 bird category," Stewart
said. "We had, according to the weather folks, the mildest,
warmest winter on record in North America, so birds came
through the winter well. And we had excellent reproduction
last year as well."
Fall turkey hunts are established to maintain or reduce
wild turkey populations.
Proposed season and permit quotas will be determined in
late May. By law, the season can start no earlier than Oct.
2 and must close by Nov. 9. More permits are likely to be
available this year, based on the expanded area open to
hunting.
Last year, 32,900 licenses were available. The DNR sold
18,244. Some 15,993 hunters actually participated,
spending 77,000 days afield and killing 6,523 birds.
"That's an average of 41 percent hunter success," Stewart
said. "That's pretty good."
It's thought that Michigan's turkey population was around
94,000 birds in pre-settlement times, mostly south of a
line from Bay City to Muskegon. The birds were extirpated
largely because of unregulated hunting by settlers. The
last bird on record was taken in Van Buren County in
1897.
The flock was rebuilt, originally by using stock brought in
from Pennsylvania and transplanted to Allegan County in
1954. Since that time, trap and transfer programs - using
birds from Missouri and Iowa as well as Michigan -
expanded the population across almost the entire Lower
Peninsula and the southern region of the Upper Peninsula.
Turkey hunting resumed in 1965 with a fall season. A total
of 13,071 hunters applied for the 400 permits. They shot
82 turkeys.
The emphasis soon shifted to spring hunting. Fall
seasons, which were discontinued after the 1969 season,
were reestablished on a limited basis in 1986, when 600
permits were available.
Applications for fall permits will become available July 1.