DOVER, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire's turkey population could be
near its highest levels, thanks in part to last year's mild
winter. Fish and Game biologist Ted Walski told Foster's Daily
Democrat Thursday that wildlife surveys suggest 40,000 turkeys
are roaming the state. Large numbers are concentrated in
southeastern New Hampshire. A mild winter and early spring
helped to boost turkey breeding and nesting. Once native to the
state, turkeys had been absent for more than a century when
Walski helped reintroduce the birds to the area. The last wild
turkey sighting was in 1854 in Weare. New Hampshire traded
fisher cats to West Virginia for 31 turkeys more than 40 years
ago, but the experiment flopped. A second group of 25 turkeys
from New York released a few years later flourished. Copyright
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