3/3/02
Turkey Hunting - more opportunities this fall?
By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist
Last fall’s turkey harvest statewide was way up by comparison to the fall of 2000. There were 7183 birds taken during the 2001 season. However, the take was minimal in the North Country with only 9 reported from Clinton, 8 in Essex and 13 in Franklin Counties. In the fall, turkeys of either sex may be shot.
Those northeastern New York numbers would certainly have been higher if Wildlife Management Unit 5C had been open, and there is no reason why there shouldn’t be a fall turkey season there. WMU 5C takes in Saranac, parts of Dannemora and Peru west to Malone. Wild turkey numbers have increased tremendously in this Unit.
Last fall, Bob Inslerman, Wildlife Unit Head at the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Unit’s Ray Brook office, told me originally 5C remained closed because of ice storm damage and concerns it may have had negative effects on turkeys. Ultimately, that didn’t happen Both WMU 5C and Central Adirondack Unit 5F were scheduled to open this fall, but Inslerman told me the DEC is currently evaluating all open seasons, so changes may have to wait. However, because the proposal to open 5C and 5F were made before the evaluation process, they may be exempt, and there is still a possibility hunters might be able to hunt these WMU’s for turkey this coming fall.
"If it does come about," Inslerman said, "the changes will be sent out as an addendum to the New Hunting Regulations Guide scheduled to go to print March 15."