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The number of wild turkeys has been slowly increasing for years and New Brunswickers will soon be able to hunt it.
Mike Holland, the new Minister of Energy and Resource Development, said the wheels are developing a wildlife management program for wild turkeys.
Mr Holland said he was expecting departmental officials to work on the subject a month or so ago.
"We have a bird population in the province now, so we look forward to starting to collect some manageable research on a wildlife species in the province, in addition to chasing them. 39, information about, "said Holland.
Holland is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Federation of Wild Turkey.
"I have spent all my life one way or another to be part of our hunting heritage and our outdoor lifestyle." So is a record and a department with which I have great practical experience, "said Holland, whose Albert campaign panels for the September elections said:" Preserve our outdoor heritage ".
Holland said its links with the hunting and outdoor community would be helpful in bringing stakeholders together in the development of the wild turkey program.
He added that he wanted to ensure that all interest groups involved in a wild turkey management program or benefiting from this program would participate in the development of the plan.
Although there is no official count of wild turkeys in New Brunswick, Holland said that according to reports of sightings reported across the province, there would be more 1,000 birds.
Jim Wilson, a naturalist who lives in Quispamsis, said it was easy enough to find wild turkeys in the province if you know where to look.
"There seem to be some wild turkeys doing pretty well in some parts of New Brunswick," Wilson said. "Near the Maine border, there seems to be a population that could be close to or maybe even self-sustaining, but it's not a large population of what I know."
Wilson said that wild turkeys tend to do better in agricultural areas or near human habitation. These are places where it is easier for the birds to find food all year round.
"It's quite easy to find wild turkeys in Charlotte County and also in parts of Carleton County."
Although Mr. Wilson did not follow the numbers himself, he said the species seems to be better off than ever in some areas.
However, Wilson also cautioned against weighing sightings of birds that appear in a yearlong area and left the following year. He said that these birds are probably birds that have been released from captivity in order to increase the population.
"They could survive a year or two, but eventually they seem to succumb to the difficulty of getting food, harsh winters, deep snow," he said.
Turkeys likely to have migrated from northern Maine are more likely to root in the province.
Mike Holland, the new Minister of Energy and Resource Development, is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Federation of Wild Turkey. (Mike Holland, MPP for the Facebook page of Albert's riding)
"They have become used to nature, they seem to be more robust and able to cope with some of our living conditions," Wilson said.
Turkeys do not migrate like other birds, Wilson said, but they expand their range by walking, which may explain their slow growth in New Brunswick.
"They may have gone through coniferous forests that did not have much food for them by walking along power lines or even pipelines, pipelines, foliage and deciduous shrubs. kind of road that would take them to New Brunswick. "
Wilson stated that he was not a biologist. He did not really know what the growing population of turkeys could affect the ecology of the province, but the fact that they could survive suggests that they managed to occupy a niche. in the environment.
"If it's gradual and they're doing it in a natural way … I would think it would not necessarily be negative for other forms of wildlife."
Holland said it is his department's responsibility to collect data and manage all wildlife in the province, including turkeys.
"What we have, it's an uncontrolled, unmanaged species and basically we do not follow it – it's worry."
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