Wild turkeys were reintroduced to Ontario several years ago and the program has been tremendously successful. I have now resident turkeys on my five rural acres property north of Toronto. Apart from taking every last of my grapes last year in my veggie garden protected by an electric horse fence, (the darn things can fly. It is actually quite amusing watching them, like watching a B 52 taking of), they are not a big nuisance and have not come as close as my back porch. Coyotes and raccoons are a much bigger problem. There have been sightings of bears not far from here and there is persistent rumor of cougar sightings in Southern Ontario although the Ministry takes it with a grain of salt. Yes, the turkeys are protected here, sort of, and you have to have a permit to take ONE tom during the short spring hunting season. Do not know if there is a fall one too. Now, wild boars are tremendously destructive, but they are not here yet although my hunters would love an opportunity to hunt them. When you live in the country you cannot complain that you live next to your neighbour's manure pile so the wild life comes with the territory, although some people do want to sanitize everything. For you city folks. Yes, nature is tremendously unforgiving. You only have to see the dead deer that starved in winter in the woods up north because they could not get to the food, but a responsible hunter does not shoot animals out of the hunting season which is designed so that "the babies do not starve slowly somewhere". On the other hand when coyotes are killing your sheep, are you going to just watch it, because they may have pups? A tough call! Bea -----Original Message----- From: James Frelichowski Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2013 7:49 AM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] a new pest I hear you. Chipmunk, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits dig up or eat most of what my mom tries to plant (Chicagoland) ranging from Petunias to Chestnut trees. As for the Turkeys, hey give the family a 'free range' bird for Thanksgiving, lol (but i imagine they are protected species?). James Frelichowski Bryan, Texas, if it can grow here, it can grow just about anywhere, lol. From: Kelly Irvin <kellso@irvincentral.com> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 7:10 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] a new pest Would make even a PETA member want to become a hunter! Aaargh!! Until I got a crossbow, the deer were ruining me. No, I'm not a member of PETA, and I was already a closet hunter. Mr. Kelly M. Irvin 10850 Hodge Ln Gravette, AR 72736 USA 479-787-9958 USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6a/b On 10/30/13 4:06 PM, Dennis Kramb wrote: > I came home from work yesterday to discover the flower pots on my back > porch were all knocked down, smashed, with plants uprooted, and > disheveled. The culprit? A wild turkey. :-) _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com/