Chasing the Public Land SUPER Slam: The Green Mountain State by John L. Barone
Chasing the Public Land SUPER Slam:
The Green Mountain State
By John L. Barone
Thanksgiving. One of the few times during the deer season that I can get away with talking turkey! Autumn in the northeast is a great time to be in the woods for hunters, anglers, hikers and the like. Small game and turkey seasons are open, and bow seasons for deer as well as early bear can be available. Some places also open big game gun seasons. In Vermont, the 2018 fall turkey season ran from Oct 6 – Nov 4. Other states – ME, NH, MA, CT, NY and PA – all have turkey seasons that run a portion or all of October. Pennsylvania even offers an additional season that opens on Thanksgiving Day for a few days through the Holiday weekend.
The Green Mountain State
For its size, Vermont is a conservation success story in the northeast offering an impressive diversity of public lands for outdoor enthusiasts to choose from. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports as of 2017 that approximately 4.5 million acres of land, which covers 76% of the state, is forest. An estimated 21% of that land is public. Further, LandScope America reports that an overall total of 31% of Vermont’s land area (over 1.8 million acres) is conserved by public resources or private land trusts, through ownership and conservation easement. The result of this conservation effort delivers public land hunting and angling opportunities statewide, including within the Green Mountains, Connecticut River Valley, Lake Champlain Valley and the northern end of the Taconic Range.
Getting Started
My fall hunt actually began in the spring. Vermont is one of the states in the northeast that maintains a calendar year period for its hunting licenses. In other words, Jan-Dec. For the turkey hunter that fails to fill a tag in the spring season, Vermont provides a second chance in October without having to purchase a new license. So, while chasing spring longbeards, make mental notes of potential fall food sources and nearby roosting trees to give yourself a head start for the next season.
Living in New York, I focused on southwestern Vermont for a week of late season spring hunting. Specifically, the Green Mountain National Forest and neighboring state lands within the Taconic Range. Aside from federally owned land, Vermont offers a variety of WMA parcels across the state. Yet, regardless of the numerous public land options, for 8 days I did not hear one gobble. This predictable silence can become an unwavering symptom of the late spring season turkey woods. Fortunately, I deflected some of the frustration by staying in Manchester for a couple days. With hunting hours ending at noon my wife and I hiked, reveled in a moose sighting, and otherwise spent time in this lively Vermont mountain town with plenty to do.
A New Season
When hunting toms in the fall, the approach is to find a flock and break them up, or less traditionally, sound like a male bird and set up close enough for a shot. I do not hunt with a turkey dog and generally, prefer the latter approach. Occasional male clucks, yelps and even early morning gobbling (although be careful with gobbling on public land) will identify you as a solo male bird possibly searching for a flock, or a vocal flock member inviting other males to join. If a male bird or flock hears the calls, you may be lucky enough to receive a response or even better, curiosity will bring the birds to you.
Birdseye
Birdseye WMA
Generally, I will not reveal the exact location of a harvest, but have no problem with discussing regions and public land conservation success stories. Birdseye WMA in Vermont is one of those special places. A biologist with Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (“VFWD”) who I contacted in the fall assisted me in identifying several WMAs to scout for hunting. Although he could not comment on the hunting at Birdseye, he was excited about this “brand new WMA that is just a gorgeous piece of property.”
As reported by The Vermont Journal and Mountain Times in April 2017, the acquisition by the state of 2,870 acres of land adjacent to Bird Mtn WMA would combine to become the 3,600 acre Birdseye WMA. According to VFWD Birdseye fact sheet, this acquisition (that occurred a few years earlier) resulted in the second-largest unfragmented forest block in the Taconic Range. “The WMA’s name is derived from the prominent 2,216-foot rock outcrop known as ‘Birdseye Mountain.’ The mountain overlooks a mix of hardwoods that include red and sugar maple, yellow and paper birch, beech and aspen that covers about 70% of the WMA. The remainder is comprised of white pines and remnant fields”.
Mountain Times reported that Birdseye features 10 natural communities supporting diverse wildlife, which include most game species. Peregrine Falcons nest on the Birdseye outcrop and numerous songbirds make use of the conserved lands.
Connecting habitat by preserving wildlife corridors is a major focus of conservation efforts in the northeast. As land fragmentation spreads, forest corridors are critical for habitat preservation and the survival of native flora and fauna. The Mountain Times notably recognized that conservation of lands like Birdseye also offer important infrastructure benefits to human communities by protecting 8½ miles of stream and almost 3,000 acres of watershed.
The Hunt
After exploring some unique public parcels over the course of three days, including Birdseye, I changed strategy. While large blocks of public land are great for roaming and avoiding other hunters, it also increases the difficulty of finding the potential one or two male turkey flocks in a general area. Therefore, I keyed in on a small parcel that sat just outside the mountains in the midst of a more suburban community. Just to be clear, “suburban” to me in Vermont is not like sneaking around in camo through the suburbs of Boston. Vermont is the Green Mountain State for a reason and this pocket of forested land climbs to 1200+ feet in true Vermont fashion.
The public parcel was state land that I hunted one morning in the previous spring. Mental notes from that day included the existing turkey sign and the all-important feather by the parking area. If you’re trying to keep a place “secret,” don’t leave remains from your harvest. Yet, more significant was the tremendous stand of oak and hickory trees that blanketed the higher elevations. In putting the elements together – food source, isolated pocket of forest among residential homes and cleared land, and existing turkey sign – this seemed to be a perfect hideout for seclusive male birds in the fall.
My hunt started by hiking the main trail. Eventually, I came across a section that was heavily scratched up, i.e., the leaves were forcibly displaced from the forest floor. This is the typical telltale sign that a flock of turkeys had sauntered through. Question was, male or female? I followed the path of scratchings off the trail and uphill. I quickly noticed that the flock seemed to be heading toward the oak and hickory stand that I marked from the spring. Even more promising was the male breast feather that I found on the ground. The tips of the lower breast feathers of a male wild turkey are black, while the female’s are either buff or white. Finding this feather almost assured me that I was on the trail of a male flock.
I tracked the flock around the face of the hill until losing the trail on top among the fallen acorns and hickory nuts. No matter, this was the perfect place to sit and call. The flock couldn’t be far and if they were, I was betting that they would return.
View from VT Public Land
What Can Go Wrong Will
I settled in to my afternoon spot sitting against a big oak with a couple of calls by my side. After two hours of periodic yelping and clucking, I received my first response. We yelped to each other over the course of 15 minutes, but it was clear the flock was on the move circling the hilltop. Not being sure whether they would ultimately return, I packed up my gear and headed to cut the flock off.
That’s when the shots broke the silence. Two shots, and I heard the flock in the leaves scrambling away down the hill. They were closer than I had anticipated, but now the flock was just about gone. I’ve had bizarre things happen to me on state land. Only months earlier in the spring I actually had a jogger…yes a jogger…trot across a trail-less field while I was calling in a tom that was within 50 yards of me!! Granted, shots fired on public hunting land is more of a typical disruption, nonetheless I was facing another blown hunt.
So, it came as a surprise when five more shots rang out. I realized that this was not another hunter, but someone target shooting on a neighboring private parcel. And in an unexpected turn of events, the flock spooked the opposite direction and began running back up the hill toward me. Toms and jakes finally appeared at the crest of the hill about 70 yards away from me. I froze as the mixed male flock crossed before me and disappeared over an edge. The rustling leaves signified that they were not far, and calming down among the scattered mast crops.
Tiptoeing in my mud boots I approached a boulder to utilize as the vantage point for my setup. After a tortuous 15 minutes I finally reached the rock, peered over and found the flock milling about. No setup needed – I took aim at the largest tom and crack! The birds exploded in all directions. Bang! I took a second shot at the same bird as he was running across the hill to my left before disappearing among the timber.
Regrouping Again
Earlier I mentioned that I do not use the “break up the flock” method for hunting fall turkeys. First it is hard enough to find a male flock, let alone chasing them away to try and call them back. Secondly, why not shoot a tom if you are close enough to awkwardly run at him. Well, shooting and missing as a break up technique was something I had not considered. I soon realized that I misjudged the distance of my shot, probably due to a dip in the terrain. But the hunt was not done. I finally would have the opportunity to try an age-old method for fall turkey hunting.
My setup was at the exact location that the flock stood when I scared the hell out of them. It was a good spot as I looked down at a flat with mature hardwoods and no brush. I set out my jake decoy, sat, waited 20 minutes and then started calling. Calls consisted of a series of 5-6 yelps every 20 minutes or so. I was quite skeptical that this would work.
An hour later I received the first response to my calls. He was a jake with no visible beard. The bird hung up at roughly 35 yards from me. Suspicious of something with my setup, he soon walked off putting. With renewed confidence I waited 10 minutes and let out another series of yelps. Five minutes later two deep yelps from a mature bird broke the silence. The gobbler was coming in fast. However, he too abruptly stopped at 35 yards and began turning away. Fortunately that was close enough, and I had my turkey for Thanksgiving.
Wild Turkey Vermont Public Land
Vermont’s Conservation of the Future
As development pressures increase, and climate change persists, traditional approaches to land conservation are no longer sufficient. An increasing fragmented landscape creates isolated pockets of wilderness suppressing healthy ecosystem growth. Wildlife, including big game species such as bear and moose, need connected areas to allow for contiguity of biodiversity and simply stated, movement.
International organizations such as The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and regional land trusts like the Lake Champlain Land Trust (LCLT) are working in Vermont to preserve natural corridors that link numerous critical habitats. In a press release from TNC reported by VT Digger in October 2018, TNC explains that climate change is driving species to move 11 miles farther north and 30 feet higher in elevation per decade. In addition to human encroachment and the loss of open space, this additional need for wildlife and habitat movement created by a changing climate is alarming. TNC emphasizes, “Vermont lies at the crossroads of an extensive wildlife habitat network reaching from the Tug Hill plateau in New York, across the Adirondacks and the northern reaches of New England, and on to the Canadian Maritime provinces.” The state’s location makes it a vital participant in connectivity conservation projects.
Staying Connected
On its website, TNC emphasizes the importance to remain engaged in Vermont, working with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department on various projects, such as the establishment of Burnt Mountain preserve. The Burnt Mountain “forever wild” easement helps create an 11,000-acre block of unfragmented forest and “Vermont’s largest carbon project in the state.”
Vermont’s and TNC’s commitment regarding connectivity projects is further demonstrated through their involvement in the five state, 57 partner Staying Connected Initiative (SCI). The SCI describes itself as a “visionary international collaboration working to sustain the forested landscape connections across this bi-national region.” The project stretches across the northeast from New York and Massachusetts, through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, to Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Sportsmen and women have much to gain from the conservation work in Vermont and the region. Connectivity that improves habitat, sustains wildlife populations and adds public land to the landscape provides enhanced opportunities for hunters and anglers.
SCI Forest Connections Map (http://stayingconnectedinitiative.org/assets/SCI_fact_sheet_Jan2018.pdf)
Adirondacks to the Green Mountains
On a more local level, the Lake Champlain Land Trust points out on its website that we must save “the critical ‘stepping stone’ forested areas that connect larger wildlife natural areas.” These stepping stones are smaller undeveloped forest blocks between larger natural areas. LCLT works with landowners who are recognizing the value of conserving these stepping stones. For example, in Whitehall, NY, LCLT’s Whitehall Cliffs Natural Area provides a safe corridor for wildlife traveling between Vermont’s Green Mountains and New York’s Adirondacks. “Connected habitat areas provide safe places for wildlife to migrate and disperse. These connections also allow plants and animals to move and adapt in the face of climate change.”
Support Conservation in Vermont
If you are interested in exploring voluntary land conservation options for a property, or would like to support Lake Champlain Land Trust projects in other ways, please contact LCLT at 802-862-4150 or refer to https://www.lclt.org/. If you are interested in learning more about The Nature Conservancy projects in the northeast or your general area, and/or other initiatives in Vermont, please refer to the following websites. Also take a look at some of the Vermont based organizations of the SCI, including Vermont Land Trust, Vermont Natural Resources Council, and Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/vermont/;
http://stayingconnectedinitiative.org/;
http://stayingconnectedinitiative.org/about/#partners
https://vtfishandwildlife.com/