How trading wild turkeys for other animals became a conservation success story

No one wants a weasel on their Thanksgiving table, but swapping turkeys for other animals was once surprisingly common.

Trading turkeys – for wildlife management, not dinner – was a key part of one of North America’s biggest conservation success stories

After dwindling to a few thousand birds in the late 1880s, the wild turkey population has grown to about 7 million birds in 49 states, plus more in Canada and Mexico, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation.

In many cases, restoration relied on trades. The exchange rates varied, but Oklahoma once swapped walleye and prairie chickens for turkeys from Arkansas and Missouri. Colorado traded mountain goats for turkeys from Idaho.

The Canadian province of Ontario ended up with 274 turkeys from New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Michigan, Missouri and Iowa in exchange for moose, river otters, and partridge.

“Wildlife biologists don’t suffer from a lack of creativity,” said Patt Dorsey, director of conservation for the National Wild Turkey Federation’s western region.

West Virginia in particular appears to have had an abundance of turkeys to share. In 1969, it sent 26 turkeys to New Hampshire in exchange for 25 fishers, a member of the weasel family once prized for its pelt.