Fall turkey season kicks off on Monday. Depending on the zone, hunters are able to shoot up to five birds for the season.

Wildlife management zones 1, 2, 4, 5 and 9 are closed to the taking of turkeys.

Maine’s fields and forests weren’t always filled with these entertaining game birds.

In the early 1800s a combination of intense farming and unregulated hunting eliminated turkeys from the state.

Decades of failed reintroduction attempts followed, including the release of 24 birds on Swan Island in Sagadahoc County in 1942 and the introduction of both wild and game-farm stocks in the 1960s.

It wasn’t until 1977, when 41 wild birds from Vermont were released into York and Eliot, that the population began to grow. Additional releases in Waldo and Hancock counties helped further rebuild

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