Has Maine’s robust wild turkey become the Rodney Dangerfield of state wildlife? Do they get no respect? It is beginning to appear so. Let us count the ways:

According to outdoor writer and turkey guide Stu Bristol, “Farmers are shooting turkeys on sight and burying them in the manure piles, orchard managers are up in arms, claiming the turkeys are chomping off all their buds and ruining the crop and it doesn’t end there. Grouse hunters are blaming turkeys for monopolizing foods normally used by grouse. Deer hunters, predictably, are blaming wild turkey flocks for gobbling (pardon the pun) all the acorns and causing deer starvation and even the bobcat hunters have jumped in reporting a dramatic upswing in the bobcat population (that’s a complaint?) due to the rapidly expanding wild turkey flocks.”

As we speak, there are a number of bills before the Maine State Legislature that, directly or indirectly, address the public concern that Maine just has too many wild turkeys. A couple of the bills allow turkey hunters more latitude in harvest take and hunting hours.

At the Northwoods Sporting Journal, the owners and editors are trying to figure out why newsstand sales of their publication don’t seem to be as robust when turkey photos are run on the cover. Imagine that.

My how times have changed. It wasn’t that long ago that wild turkeys no longer could be found in the fields and woodlands of Maine. They had been extinct since the early 1900s. When a small flock of the wild birds was introduced in Maine more than 40 years ago, state bird biologists counseled us not to get our hopes up, that wild turkeys would have a tough time getting through a Maine winter.

Surprise.

Not only have they shown themselves to be extraordinary survivors, they have migrated and dispersed northward, and done very well.

There are a number of popular myths circulating about this fascinating wild creature, all of which contribute to its tainted image. While it’s true that turkeys can be pests to farmers and other folks who grow crops for a living, so can other wild critters, all of whom are opportunistic foragers. As much as anything, wild turkeys in this state have a serious public relations problem. The biggest is that deer hunters are convinced that depleted deer numbers can be attributed to turkeys who, they say, compete with deer for food. Is this true?

Not according to state bird biologist Brad Allen, who writes,”Turkeys do not eat partridge eggs. Turkeys do not out-compete deer for food. The two species’ diets are just not that similar and they don’t compete for any food resource that is limited.”

Neither, according to Allen, are turkeys hosts for ticks and Lyme disease.

Allen, himself a turkey hunter, is hoping that cooler heads prevail in this new public antipathy toward the wild turkey. Says Allen,”So please, let’s live with them, watch them, hunt them, and enjoy this bird that was extirpated from Maine nearly 200 years ago.”

I agree with Brad Allen.

Turkey hunting is an exciting and challenging hunt. Having hunted them with both bow and gun, I have been hopelessly hooked since my first hunt years ago in western Massachusetts. If you have never hunted turkeys, try it. If you are a deer hunter you’ll love it. If you are a bird hunter you will love it. If you have a youngster you’d like to “bring along” in the ways of the woods and the hunt, turkey hunting is made to order.

Turkeys make great table fare to boot.

This spring’s wild turkey hunt in Maine runs from April 29 to June 1st. There is a special youth hunting day for turkeys April 27th. You’ll need a regular big game license and a turkey permit, which is $20.

Once you have hunted these fascinating wild birds, you will never view them quite the same way again .

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected] and his new book is “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook.”