For just the second time in modern history, there will be turkey hunting on Long Island, but many will miss out due to scheduling.
This is a short season — running just from Sunday through Wednesday — and considering the fact it coincides with the opening of the deer season in New York’s Southern Zone (on Saturday), many hunters will be upstate and miss out on the opportunity to bag a bird for Thanksgiving.
Sections of Brookhaven and the South Fork are overrun with these wild birds. There isn’t a week that goes by that many on the East End do not find turkeys in their backyards or crossing roadways in long lines; there could be as many as 15-20 birds in a brood.
Most hunters in Suffolk County would like to see the turkey season pushed back a week or two so they can come home from deer hunting upstate and still be able to get a chance at a bird before the guns get put away until next season.
Each year, New York’s hunters harvest a variety of animals and game birds during their respective open seasons. But few people appreciate the value of game taken annually from forest, woodlots, open fields, marshes and coastlines.
According to surveys conducted by the DEC’s Bureau of Wildlife, hunters in New York take more than 12 million pounds of game each year. White-tailed deer make up the vast majority of this amount at slightly less than 11 million pounds (10,845,000), followed by waterfowl (530,000), wild turkeys (368,000), rabbits (170,000), squirrels (143,000), pheasants (116,000) and black bear (93,750).
Other small game — including grouse, varying hares and woodcock — account for another 100,000 pounds annually. If you think of this harvest in terms of meals, New York’s wild game bounty provides more than 48 million servings per year.
To put a dollar value on this harvest, consider a pound of ground beef or pork from your local supermarket would cost at least $3 and boneless chicken or turkey would cost at least $2. At those prices, New York’s annual harvest of wild game has a value close to $40 million!