Cindy Mclean, age 9, of Mt. Holly, N.C., for her question:
ARE THERE STILL WILD TURKEYS?
We all know the story of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving day dinner where roasted wild turkey was the star of the menu. From that first feast, it became almost a tradition for the delicious turkey to be selected for holiday dinners.
Today many families also use the noble bird when it is time to celebrate birthdays or special occasions.
In the days of the Pilgrims, the wild turkey was in plentiful supply throughout the New England area. In fact, until the Revolutionary war started, the birds were hunted by almost every citizen and were also available in the markets for one cent per pound.
As men moved back from the coast and settled deeper into North America, the wild turkeys were literally wiped out. More than 100 years ago they all but vanished from the New England woods.
Today, thanks to carefully spelled out hunting regulations and management of the wild birds, turkeys in limited numbers can be found in woodlands from Pennsylvania south into Florida. In some areas, a limited open hunting season is even offered for those who want to find their dinners in the wilds.
Turkeys have been domesticated and raised by poultrymen as an important food product for more than four centuries. During recent years, however, special selective breeding has brought about a type of bird that especially pleases the home chef. Very popular now is a small white turkey which can be plucked much more easily by the poultryman than was the larger bronze bird. The white bird matures more quickly and has a much larger breast of white meat than his old relative. He's also very tender and flavorful.
Still, the 20 to 30 pound noble turkey continues to have his place although lots of new home ovens have to pass him up for the smaller variety.
Turkeys are natives of the New World. The Spanish conquistadores found them domesticated by the Indians in Mexico in the 16th century and took them back to Europe, where they quickly became favorites. Wild, they originally could be found from Main to South Dakota and then southward through Mexico to Guatemala.
Benjamin Franklin put up a good case to select the wild turkey as the American national symbol, rather than the bald eagle. The eagle, he pointed out, was a fish eating scavenger that was a native of Canada and northeastern Asia, while the turkey was thoroughly native and was also very handsome and useful. Franklin lost his campaign, as we know, and the eagle was selected.