Scabby Mess

Whether it was winter’s final roar or a soothing song of coming spring depends upon your perspective, I guess. But to my gray tiger cat sleeping peacefully across my lap on a bright, spring-like Monday afternoon, it was threatening indeed.

Visibly alarmed, she rose to her feet, jumped down, scooted off in the opposite direction and vanished for more than an hour. It was clear that, be it sweet melody or vicious roar, Kiki wanted no part of that short sudden earthquake created by weeks’ worth of heavy, icy, accumulated snow finally tobogganing off the barn’s slate roof to the ground. The west side broke free first, triggering the east release, the loud, trembling avalanche over in a matter of seconds, then eerie silence.

To me, the event was a clear, happy harbinger of spring. Oh how I have waited through weeks of bitter-cold trips to the woodshed for that burden stressing the barn’s chestnut frame to fall. Now it’s gone with limited if any damage to the slates, and the sugar-maples are ready to perk up and push sap upward into pails and tubes and vats that will someday soon sweeten breakfast.

Soon our winter-famished deer that have survived on buds and canes and whatever else they could find during a difficult winter will appear along the edges and around residential neighborhoods, devouring whatever greens they can find for sustenance. But something to look for in coming weeks is wild turkeys, which should first start appearing in large, noisy flocks before breaking off into smaller groups leading up to the spring mating season.

People accustomed to seeing turkeys should try to assess the status of this year’s flocks. The question is: Are the numbers dwindling? If so, the decline could be related to a disease being tracked nationwide. This turkey-flock scourge, known as lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV), is believed by the National Wild Turkey Federation to have, at the very least, contributed to a 15 percent population reduction across the range. The disease showed up in New York in 2012, and is now impacting Maine and New Hampshire turkeys as well.

I had not heard a word about the disease here in Massachusetts until placing a call to MassWildlife information guru Marion Larson, who confirmed through Turkey Project Leader Dave Scarpitti that the disease has indeed infiltrated our state, appearing first in 2012. Birds carrying the disease are obvious because their heads become an ugly, scabby mess that is easily detected from close range or when looking through binoculars. So take a look if you’re used to viewing turkeys through the picture window. And, of course, checking-staion personnel will also be on the lookout.

This disease began in domestic European and Israeli turkeys but somehow crossed the big pond to the sunny South approximately seven years ago before spreading in all directions. Maine and New Hampshire have been proactive in response to the disease, but the other New England states have not been as aggressive. Some states have been examining birds at checking stations, confiscating the carcasses of those infected and supplying the hunters with another harvest tag because it is not advised to eat infected turkeys.

Thus far, infected turkeys have been found in 17 states from Colorado to Maine, and seven states have reported turkey fatality resulting from the disease. According to a recent Associated Press story, the New York State turkey population has plummeted from 300,000 in 2001 to 180,000 today, not in the least bit and insignificant drop.

The same report claimed the disease is not responsible for declining numbers, but it seems that the jury’s still out on that.
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In case you missed it: Bear Project Leader Laura Conlee reported a record 240 bears were harvested during the split fall season, 203 in September and 37 in November. In total, 132 males and 107 females and one unknown. Harvest breakdown by county is as follows: 78 in Berkshire; 56 in Franklin; 51 in Hampden; 43 in Hampshire; 4 in Middlesex; and 8 in Worcester.

The preliminary deer harvest for 2014 (excluding Quabbin and any data not yet received) is 11,165, which is close to last year’s harvest. The preliminary archery season harvest is 4,456, the preliminary shotgun season harvest is 4,742, and the preliminary primitive season harvest is 1,967.
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Feedback: A few people responded to last week’s question about parking in Vermont near the Massachusetts border on the shore of the Sherman Reservoir, walking across the border to fish with a Massachusetts license, catching fish and returning to your vehicle in Vermont carrying legally caught fish. The question was: Should the angler be worried about getting pinched in Vermont for possessing fish without a Vermont license?
Well, all three respondents thought it bordered on paranoid to entertain such fears, claiming that hunters routinely cross state lines to hunt and transport what they kill back home without fear. In their opinions, the worst outcome would be getting approached and questioned, maybe even hassled by an overbearing law officer, but that in the end, everything would work itself out without any serious consequences. Sounds about right to me.

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