Historically inaccurate, if not an outright lie!
There has ALWAYS been turkeys in NJ!
I got me a pet in my penthouse,
but he don’t bother me,
he aint no poodle or pony,
just a little old Wild turkey.
Q. Can wild turkeys fly?
They do in Texas.
Over the past few years I’ve noticed more and more wildlife closer to towns and cities in this region. The turkeys have been congregating on a grassy spot on the grounds of a local hospital and some neighborhoods have reportedly seen black bears and deer. I don’t know if that’s a consequence of “urban sprawl” but it seems that these critters have been coming around frequently more recently since a new housing development was built near me about 4 years ago.
They think it might be a snake. Turkeys have a technique where a flock will "guide" a snake out of their territory.
IIRC Ben Franklin thought it should be the national bird. His opinion was that the bald eagle was basically a vulture and had a disreputable character while the turkey was both intelligent and good eating.
We’ve always had wild turkeys in the woods around our home here in South Jersey.
One spring day last year, a whole group of them walked together right out of the woods and very casually down the middle of the street, as if they were on a family outing around the neighborhood.
My Father killed a wild tom turkey just before Christmas 1962.
We had it for Christmas dinner and it was really good. Only a few years later there were none left in this county in the Florida Panhandle.
A few years back the Game and fish commission reintroduced them and protected them for several years. They are now plentiful again.
“Is the turkey population increasing in New Jersey?”
Not as fast as in New York.
Tasty?
Q. Are turkeys a fish?
You must have been the Valedictorian.
Q. Can turkeys fly?
Only if a chicken shows them how.
They were wiped out by baited shotgun traps in the 1900s. A whole flock could be taken in one shot.
“Is the turkey population increasing in New Jersey?”
Yes, especially in Trenton, whenever the Assembly and Senate are in session.
I’ve seen them and there were times I almost took out a flock using my Hyundai. B-)
I had a couple of stray toms that would fly up on my deck and eat out of the bird feeder.
I laid in wait and gave them the poltergeist scare of their life. Sliding door partly open and waiting to catch them in flight.
They fall like a rock when the screaming boogie man is 6ft away and charging.
I didn’t have the heart to shoot them. They had already been outcast from the tribe. Never saw them again.
New Jersey?
They can be taken with air rifles out here in CA now during season. They are prolific, got thick enough around my town that the local old folks development hired a turkey sniper to come in and hit about 50 of them with a suppressed .22