Public Land Slam: Fall Redemption in the Berkshires By John L. Barone
Face down in the tall grass. My default turkey hunting position in Massachusetts. Somehow, in this state, I have repeatedly crawled in dew soaked, plowed, muddy, short or tall grass fields. Hell-bent on positioning myself in the crossroads of one damn tom. Instead, I have had field gobblers disappear into the fog, spook at the sight of my slinking movement, or simply walk off with hens still gobbling to my calls.
Compounding my luck, I have missed. In this state, I have missed 5 different birds in two years! FIVE! When traveling to hunt in multiple states, I don’t have the luxury of missing often. These turkeys caused me to place a scope on my gun, take it off, send it to Benelli, and then buy a new gun. Sure enough, I missed again. Thankfully, this is a state within driving distance of where I live and work. The emphasis on making it count when I have the chance doesn’t seem to apply here.
Spring Season
I glassed birds from the road with two days left in the spring season. Well, after I happened to slow down to let them cross in front of my car. Don’t judge, my buddy who lives in MA forces me to run the hills with him, chasing birds high enough above the road that I usually have altitude sickness by the end of the morning.
“John, did you hear him?!?”
“Umm no, must have missed that gobble over my gasping for air.”
“Right! Well he’s just over the next ridge top. Keep climbing, I’ll call for you.”
So, when a pile of turkeys decide to cross onto flattish public land, I will not hesitate to consider my strategy as I glass them from the vehicle. However, in my haste to begin the hunt, I rammed a boulder backing off the road and flattened a tire. No doubt distracted by anger toward the conspicuous rock along the shoulder, I then proceeded to lock my keys in the trunk. “F#$% – it! I’ll get a turkey and deal with this later.” Talking to oneself is the general result from leaving that kind of mess behind.
With focus back on birds, I circled the field using the surrounding woods as my cover. Next, I cut half the distance to the turkeys using a tree island as a shield. My calling from the island had the desired effect of pulling two hens toward me with the largest tom following. But they decided to calmly veer away and leave the field after approaching to 40 yards. The tom followed keeping a safe distance half circling me at 60+ yards until he too disappeared.
My next move was to belly crawl to the top of a knoll in the field and setup, to the extent you can “setup” on your stomach. I watched a strutting tom, two jakes and two hens come in and out of view through the swaying tall grass. My sporadic calling didn’t peak much interest but it did seem to keep the birds calm and moving ever so slowly in my general direction. I settled in for a long wait.
Meanwhile, the adrenaline rush that propelled me to this spot was beginning to wear off. The wind was gusting and the wet field gave me a deep chill. This was counteracted by the warmth from the rising sun that was lulling me to sleep. I guess it made sense that my dreamy state was fashioning the sound of a dinner bell as the reward for my 20lb dead bird.
The ringing approached closer and closer. I perked up, the turkeys perked up, but nothing was about to distract the bird-dog that was exploding out of the grass for my face with tongue ready for action. The turkeys were now in full stride running for the trees. The dog’s clueless owner was slamming car doors, blowing a whistle and calling for his dog. As for me, I had been slobbered on and left utterly disgruntled, face down in the tall grass.
Exploring Massachusetts
From forests and mountains to the eastern shore, Massachusetts delivers plenty of choices aimed at the outdoor enthusiast. For hunters and anglers, the state provides ample public land, including opportunities in the Berkshires of western MA.
The Berkshires are a range of hills lying roughly between the Connecticut and Housatonic Rivers. They extend from the Vermont border south to northern Connecticut. The range runs through all of Berkshire County. It spans the western portions of Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties in MA, and includes Litchfield and Fairfield Counties in Connecticut.[i]
I have found the Berkshires to be surprisingly rich with flora and fauna. The region produces forests with a spruce-fir composition along with a variety of hardwood species located throughout and at different ends of the range. Incredible wetland complexes also dot the terrain. The hydrology network of the Berkshires creates rich habitat for the approximately two dozen species of amphibians, from salamanders to frogs and toads.[ii]
Red-backed Salamander
Conserved Land
Conserved land such as Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, managed by Mass Audubon, and Alford Springs, managed by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, are excellent places to witness the diversity of the region. Pleasant Valley is located along the slopes of Lenox Mountain. It’s a sanctuary that protects forest, meadow and wetland habitats important for birds.
Alford Springs, straddling the NY and MA border in Alford, preserves a varied forest composition. The species mix includes northern red oak, white oak and chestnut oak, as well as beech, black birch and red maple. American chestnut saplings could be found and white pine. In just a short amount of time one morning, I observed bobcat, coyote, and an assortment of warblers.
Alford Springs
Hunting and Conservation
A variety of small and large game species inhabit Massachusetts. Deer and turkey are well established. In several parts of the state deer density far exceeds the supportable habitat. This results in overpopulation within suburban settings and across the eastern portion of the state. Black bears are also abundant. In fact, Massachusetts is the third most densely-populated state in the country for bear according to Mass.gov,with expansion rapidly spreading eastward.
The growing deer population, along with the movement of game species into areas where hunting opportunities are less, results in an array of wildlife management concerns. Consequences include property damage, public health and safety issues, as well as the degradation of native habitat.
Development and Encroachment
Development and human encroachment are key contributors to habitat loss as well as the displacement or isolation of wildlife. For public land hunters, development is a discouraging trend that will negatively impact future hunting opportunities. For instance, talk of an eventual moose season in MA seems more supportable if current populations have better access to sufficient habitat that sustains healthy expansion patterns.
These types of issues, among various other conservation concerns, are the driving force behind the Staying Connected Initiative (SCI). The 55+ partnership includes three Canadian provinces and five states. SCI describes itself as an “international collaboration working to sustain the forested landscape connections” across the northeastern U.S. into Canada. The SCI seeks to conserve, restore, and enhance landscape connectivity across the Northern Appalachian and Acadian region. A fundamental goal being the protection of native wildlife and plants from the impacts of habitat fragmentation and climate change.
Connecting to the Berkshires
The Staying Connected Initiative identifies the “Berkshire Wildlife Linkage” as a vital connector of land between New York’s Hudson Highlands and Vermont’s Green Mountains. The Berkshire Linkage covers roughly 2.4 million acres of western Massachusetts, including small portions of southern Vermont, eastern New York, and northern Connecticut.
SCI Designated Berkshire Wildlife Linkage
From south to north, the Berkshires encompass thousands of acres of public land. There are seven large parks located here and the Appalachian Trail. According to SCI, along the 90 miles of the AT are more than 40 roads. The increasing forest fragmentation from development and roads in the Berkshires is dividing ecosystems into more isolated pockets of habitat. This results in dire consequences for the plant and animal species of the region.
In response, The Nature Conservancy and its SCI partners are maintaining existing connected ecosystems and restoring links between fragmented areas. SCI works to protect and connect core habitats using natural and man-made corridors. People would continue to move along roads, while wildlife and water can move more freely under the roads. Mammals, amphibians and other moderately mobile wildlife are the measuring stick for success. The overall goal is a reconnected landscape stretching from New York and Connecticut to Vermont and beyond.
SCI 2019 Update: Rapid Assessment for Terrestrial Passage
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) informed me that a protocol for rapidly surveying bridges and culverts to understand wildlife passage is now complete. It’s currently integrated into the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative online database. “Nearly 200 road-stream crossings in Massachusetts and New Jersey have been surveyed with this protocol.” The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is using the data to inform culvert and bridge contractors how to maintain or improve wildlife passage as part of the work. “A final report in February 2020 will use the terrestrial passage surveys to summarize the permeability of road segments in western Massachusetts to wildlife. This may be a useful tool for other SCI Linkages and states.”
Habitat and Wildlife Corridors in Neighboring States
Knowing that road-stream crossings, even in New Jersey, have been surveyed peeks my interest. New Jersey is a state that I hunted for the first time in 2019. The state is home to some unique conservation success stories and ongoing projects. Habitat and wildlife corridors connecting a natural landscape from New Jersey to the Green Mountains is no longer an inconceivable objective.
Currently a patchwork of state parks and public land in northern Jersey along the Sterling Ridge and Ramapo Mountains connects to Sterling Forest State Park in New York. Sterling Forest then connects to Harriman State Park. This corridor crosses the Hudson River moving north toward the Taconic Range and the Berkshires.
Brewer Brook – Conservation Success
On December 12, 2019, Fran Ryan for the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported on a conservation success story within the towns of Westhampton, Williamsburg, Northampton and Chesterfield. “New England is now losing 65 acres of forest to development every day,” according to a recent Harvard Forest Report cited by Ryan. In an effort to slow this trend, two local land trusts, MassWildlife and others, succeeded in conserving 1,033 acres of land known as the Brewer Brook Project.
“The newly conserved lands are within a 6,000-acre expanse of mostly undeveloped forest. While preserving and improving the management of these valuable areas, permanent protection also provides public access to thousands of acres of land for hunting, fishing and recreation.”
TNC considers the Brewer Brook Project as a great land protection success for 2019 and is pleased that the state grant funding came through to close the project by year’s end. The project came about in part because of the connection between land trusts working in the Berkshire Wildlife Linkage. TNC classifies the protected lands as a vital section of a forest core in the Berkshires. The Brewer Brook area holds further large tracts of forest that are ideal for additional conservation projects and habitat connectivity for the Berkshire Linkage.
Linking Spring to Fall in Massachusetts
The focus on conservation in the Berkshires is a win for sportsmen and women. While land trusts are connecting habitat in the Berkshires, turkey hunters have the opportunity of linking spring and fall turkey hunts. In Massachusetts, the annual limit for a hunter is two wild turkeys. Hunters can harvest either 2 bearded birds in the spring, or 1 in the spring and 1 of either sex in the fall.
So, for hunters like me who consider the October season as a fitting sequel, MA offers the interesting choice of saving one tag for a fall bird. In my case, I wouldn’t quite consider my remaining fall tags as a conscious decision. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed autumn turkey hunting in MA for the last couple of years.
My fall hunt always begins in the spring. In May, I mark locations on a hunting app that are probable autumn food or water sources, roosting trees and overall habitat that will attract gobbler flocks as winter approaches. I find that turkeys still inhabit their home range from the spring, however, the patterns of use change. With the birds becoming more dependent on mast crops, fall ranges can vastly expand and those flocks easily disappear into the forests.
Autumn in the Berkshires
Experiencing the autumn woods with the opportunity to bring turkey season full circle to its rightful end is surely a motivating factor to get in the field. Many hunters like to retell their allure with spring turkey season because it is a time when nature awakens after winter’s end. I agree. However, autumn invokes a similar reaction from me.
The woods are alive with nature undergoing change. Wildlife searching for food in quantity, bird migrations, autumn plants blooming before the winter chill and of course, foliage change. Pursuing October birds is a style of hunting that allows me to absorb the full fall experience. The method is different from bow hunting deer from a tree or the pace of chasing small game, which are all hunts that I enjoy in some form or another. Fall turkey hunts are a mix of stop and go. They include long sits and calling in one spot and then moving on to the next ridge, field, or stand of oaks. Slow tracking, or quickly relocating to another potential ambush point.
Tips and Wrap Up
I generally search for visual indicators of a flock. The birds are not as readily vocal in the fall, so relying upon calling as a locator is not the best option. I move through food sources and roosting sites looking for indications of turkey activity.
Also, I try to pursue those turkeys before November arrives. As soon as the trees lose all their leaves, the turkeys will hear and see movement more easily and hunters lose advantages over the flock. The woods become eerily quiet, seemingly empty, and all of a sudden you find yourself thinking about rutting bucks rather than the Thanksgiving dinner table. 
And yes, I harvested a fall gobbler in MA. Connecting to the Berkshires has exceeded my expectations. It does not hurt to have a hunting partner living in the region and for it to be within driving distance of my home in New York. Whatever factors influence my biases, I have enjoyed discovering Massachusetts.
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[i] USGS report
