Snohomish Co. Eastern Gobblers !

[Wacenturion]

Easterns were $500 a bird plus transportation (flight ) costs.  Merriams and Rio's were $100 a bird plus shipping costs.

Difference was that Merriams and Rio's usually come to bait in large numbers...i.e. sometimes 100 plus, while Easterns usually are in groups of 20-30 birds.  In addition, more hours are required to get Easterns on bait than the other two subspecies.  Therefore the huge difference in price per bird.

[180-GRAIN]

Gotcha. Pretty expensive to do but it would be cool to see if hunters could start a fundraiser to get another group of birds released in the same area as the last group in Snohomish county. I know I would donate, would love to see them actually establish a good huntable population.

[Wacenturion]

Unfortunately the powers to be currently residing in WDFW will make every excuse to avoid any future turkey releases.   Need to have more habitat suitability studies (whenever in the next century funds are available ), write more plans because the ones we just wrote are now old, evaluate how many slugs turkeys might consume or other bug that tree huggers lose sleep over, or whatever detour they can create to avoid doing anything positive.  Fact is those at WDFW now do not like turkeys, never did, and never will.

Unfortunate........

[turkeydancer]

Lat attempt at releases in NW WA were tanked when the WDFW & NWTF walked away after the local organic farmers raised concerns ... 

[Wacenturion]

Lat attempt at releases in NW WA where tanked when the WDFW & NWTF walked away after the local organic farmers raised concerns ... 

Which I might add those concerns were valid.  NWTF "experts" told WDFW that they were premature with Easterns in the 90's and to release Rio's into western Washington instead because they did so well in southern Oregon.  Yeah like Whatcom County and Roseburg, Oregon are so similar.  

Rio introductions up north would have been a huge mistake with nuisance problems to certainly follow on those small organic farms.  Easterns on the other hand could have been sold to those opposed with a little work and education, as they would have posed no problems whatsoever.  It would have also resurrected the Eastern release program.

In a rush to get something to hunt up there, coupled with the opinions of a couple NWTF biologists and NWTF regional community organizers that didn't know what they were talking about, it unfortunately gave WDFW what they wanted, an excuse to say no.

 

[turkeydancer]

 
Yes, something that we personally have dscussed at length ... a bad start with the cheap fix recommended that ended in a totally bad finish ... problem is that nothing is plannned for the forseable future especially since WDFW has their present mind set of "let's wait and see, and do not do anything that will "piss anyone off", and the NWTF doesn't want to go in debt again buying $500+ birds.