April 2, 2008
With wild turkey season slated to open Saturday, April 12, Kentucky Afield gives hunters an opportunity to bump heads with experts on the programs live call-in show, Saturday, April 5 on KET.
A panel of wildlife and law enforcement specialists, including Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Turkey Program Coordinator Steven Dobey, will join host, Tim Farmer, to answer viewer questions. Any turkey related query is welcome.
Turkeys are a relative newcomer to the Kentucky wilderness. While the species thrived here prior to settlement, habitat loss and unregulated harvest all but eliminated native populations. Thanks to successful reintroduction efforts between 1978 and 1997, the game bird is now found in every Kentucky Dobey estimates the statewide population to be approximately 210,000 birds.
As gobbler populations have grown, hunters numbers have followed suit. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife expects the season to attract in excess of 115,000 sportsmen, women, and youth this spring, up more than 10,000 since 2001. Kids 15 and under have their own season this weekend, April 5 and 6, while the statewide season runs April 12 through May 4.
The wild turkey call-in special airs Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern /7:30 p.m. Central and will be repeated on Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern/3 p.m. Central on KET 1.