I got this idea from Adrian' s post, Do you know were your wild turkey were
relocated from, almost every state or province has benafited from this great
sucsess story, our bird' s here in western N.Y. come from the great state of
Vermont, and natural influx from P.A. some 50 year' s ago, thank you both
states very much

According the Minnesotat DNR.

The first successful stockings occurred in 1973, when biologists traded 85 ruffed grouse for 29 wild turkeys from Missouri

short-range, your state and many other states in the mid west, south and south
east, owe a huge debt of graditude to the Missouri, alot of people dont realize
that, many area' s in the south east were void of bird' s until eastern' s from MO
and other northern state' s were relocated

To the best of my knowlage Our birds here in Wisconsin came from Missouri also.
I wouldn' t mind if they transfered some Marriams around here too. ...I WISH.
Most of the fun of going after a diferent species is seeing new country.

Here in Ontario ,birds came from a number of States, Vermont,NewYork,Michigan,Missouri for animals like Moose, Otter,Partiage. It was a great trade, and I have the US to thank for welcoming the trade....BT

According to the MDC website, Missouri has always had a large population of wild turkeys until about 1900 when the turkey population was depleted to around 3000 birds. From 1925 to 1943, game farm birds were introduced to try to bring back the population but failed. It was found that only a truly wild bird could survive. The MDC bought a 23,000 acre tract of land in the Ozarks and intensely managed it for the wild turkey. By 1957, trapping begun and birds were slowly restored statewide where they had previously disappeared from. The restoration program was terminated in the spring of 1979, after which a total of 2611 turkeys had been moved to 142 areas in 87 counties. All 114 counties now have huntable populations of turkey with 101 of these counties having populations as a result of restocking. Missouri has also made important contributions to restoration programs in other states and Canada by swapping wild turkeys for other wildlife species such as ruffed grouse, otters, pheasants, prairie chickens and various fishes. Today, the wild turkey is very much alive and well in the state of Missouri thanks to the efforts of the MO Dept. of Conservation.

Norse,back in 1928 through about 1951 the Dept of Fish & Game made many feeble attempts to try and establish farm stock over many different counties.Finally in 1959 a deal was made with Texas and 59 Rio' s were introduced to the golden state and immediately took hold!By 1970 an estimated 5,000 birds were thriving here and an aggressive trap and transfer program spread the birds through 57 of our 58 counties!As a result todays turkey hunter enjoys an overall estimated population of around the 100,00 mark that roost somewhere over the state!!Whats interesting is over that period of time Merriams were introduced as well and interbreeding with the Rio' s over the years has produced what the DNR calls the Calif hybrid!Good topic my friend![8D]

Bob, wow, now that is very interesting keep up the good work in sunny C.A.[8D]