How New Hampshire’s Wild Turkeys Are Faring 50 Years After Reintroduction

Fifty years ago, New Hampshire reintroduced wild turkeys to its landscape, following a century-long absence due to overhunting and habitat loss. Today, 50 years later, the population is thriving across the state.

According to a New Hampshire Public Radio report, the reintroduction of turkeys to New Hampshire relied on birds from southwest New York in 1975, following an earlier unsuccessful 1969 attempt from West Virginia that traded turkeys for New Hampshire fishers.

Over the past five decades, the population has surged from zero to an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 birds. It is now largely stable across the state, according to Dan Ellingwood, the leader of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Turkey Project.

"The population took hold in the town of Walpole in southwest New Hampshire. It slowly grew, and over the next 20 years, biologists, spearheaded by then-turkey biologist Ted Walski and with support from the National Wild Turkey Federation, continued to trap and relocate birds across the state from that original nucleus of birds in southwest New Hampshire," Ellingwood explained. "Similar actions were taking place in our neighboring states, which combined to accelerate the growth and distribution of birds across the state."

According to New Hampshire Public Radio, hunting opportunities were opened in 1980 under strict regulations, and harvests increased as the turkey population grew.

Ellingwood reported that a new wild turkey research project will run over three consecutive winters. The work involves trapping and leg-banding birds to measure harvest mortality and improve population monitoring. According to Ellingwood, it is New Hampshire's first substantial turkey research in approximately 20 years.