The restoration of wild turkeys in Vermont is one of the Fish and Wildlife Department's most notable wildlife restoration efforts. It began on February 28, 1969, when wild turkeys were live-trapped by the department's former turkey biologist William Drake in southwestern New York and stocked in Pawlet, Vermont.
At 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, representatives from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wild Turkey Federation, National Shooting Sports Foundation, and the Town of Pawlet will meet at the West Pawlet Fire House and present a Wildlife Restoration Marker plaque to commemorate that 1969 turkey stocking that set the stage for the return of wild turkeys, statewide.
Loss of habitat through extensive forest clearing and unregulated subsistence harvest of wild turkeys led to their demise by the late 1800's. For decades, Vermonters did not see wild turkeys or hear the gobble of a tom on early spring mornings.
"The restoration of native wild turkeys to our state is important biologically, ecologically and for the heritage value of their return for all Vermonters to enjoy," said Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Jason Batchelder. "It was accomplished after a thorough scientific assessment to ensure we again had suitable habitat that would support a population of wild turkeys.
Vermont's wild turkey restoration was funded by federal excise taxes on firearms and ammunition through the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937 and state hunting license dollars. Wildlife biologist William Drake was sent to Steuben and Allegany Counties in New York to trap and transport wild turkeys back to Vermont. This resulted in 17 wild turkeys, 5 toms and 12 hens, being released in Pawlet between February 28 and March 31, 1969. Drake released an additional 14 turkeys in Hubbardton in 1970. These were the ancestors of wild turkeys that came to inhabit the entire state today.
By 1973, the first regulated turkey hunt occurred in southern Vermont where 579 hunting permits were issued for a 12-day season resulting in 23 gobblers being harvested.
From 1973 to 1986 Vermont Fish and Wildlife trapped and transferred our wild turkeys to Windsor, Windham, Bennington, Chittenden, Addison, Grand Isle, and Orange Counties. Vermont's turkeys were also sent to Ontario, Germany, New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina, and Rhode Island.
Vermont's wild turkey are now found throughout the state, and their population is estimated at more than 45,000. Hunters harvested 5,799 wild turkeys during the Vermont turkey hunting seasons in 2025, providing hunters with more than 132,000 servings of locally sourced, nutritious protein, according to the Fish and Wildlife Department.
The West Pawlet Fire House is located at 2806 Vermont Route 153, West Pawlet, VT 05775.