Turkey Tales on Air!

For the past year or so we’ve been working with VT Fish & Wildlife and the National Wild Turkey Federation on a project to mark the 50th anniversary of Vermont’s first legal turkey hunting season following the successful reintroduction effort that began in the late 1960s.

Andy recording in Guildford in 2023.

The “Turkey Project,” as we call it, has taken us all sorts of places–from a predawn fieldwork trip (to an actual field, mind you!)  in Guilford to document a turkey hunt with Bob Etzweiler and VT Fish & Wildlife staff members Nicole Meier and Josh Morse, to John and Reba Hathaway’s kitchen in West Winfield, NY where we interviewed John about harvesting the very first turkey on the first day of that first hunt back in 1974. Along the way we learned the ins and outs of  how wildlife biologists trapped wild turkeys for reintroduction (here’s a hint - it’s hard!) and a whole lot about the deep respect hunters hold for these amazing birds.

Listening Party attendees focused on a turkey tales in Windsor.

All things told, Andy and Mary recorded 9 interviews for the project. In addition to adding these recordings to the Vermont Folklife Archive, we held Listening Parties in Windsor and Burlington where we played interview clips for a live audience and invited people to share their own “turkey tales” with the room. When people gave us permission, we recorded those live stories, adding 10 more recordings to the collection.

To top it all off, Mary and VT Fish and Wildlife staffer Josh Morse were recent guests on Vermont Public’s Vermont Edition, where they talked about the project, shared interview clips, and took calls from the public. You can listen to the episode on Vermont Public’s website. 
We hope you’ll stay tuned on this project, since we are also making an episode of our much neglected but much beloved podcast VT Untapped celebrating this success story of wild turkey preservation, which will be available for listening later this summer.