By Jim Knox

With the possible exception of the Atlantic Cod, there is no other animal more closely tied to our colonial past than the wild turkey. While “fowl” was certainly served in 1621 at the three-day autumn feast that marked a successful harvest for the Plymouth Colony, those “fowl” could have been any number of bird species including ducks, geese, swans, or even the now-extinct passenger pigeon. This feast — the predecessor of modern Thanksgiving — also likely included: clams, mussels, eels, venison, corn, and even lobster. Yet, within that calendar year, Governor William Bradford’s journals speak of the great abundance, table value, and palatability of the wild turkey. In fact, the turkey became so popular with the colonists that the colony’s leaders recognized the need for conser

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