Here we are in the Christmas season; please accept my best wishes. It is my sincere hope that this year’s gift-giving will be more about the spirit than the ego, about giving than receiving, thanks to the subtle magic of inflation.
Even greater than awesomeness is thoughtfulness, and awesomeness itself rocks. Putting the preaching aside, there is a wide variety of gifts that would be appreciated by sports fans and nature enthusiasts.
Eyewear, blades, footwear, electronic gizmos, computer parts, and other assorted apparel items are always appreciated. Despite the fact that many guys enjoy fishing and using tools, there are some unique considerations that should be taken into account while making purchases of this nature.
Men tend to have quite specific tastes and brands that they prefer. As a matter of fact. This holiday season, please support your neighborhood shore businesses. Many establishments in Southern Ocean County have websites that may be accessed from afar, particularly on shopping holidays like Cyber Monday.
You can never have too many Pooping Pooches calendars on hand, whether you’re stuck buying white elephant presents for the office or looking for a funny stocking stuffer. You can pick from a dozen or so various flavors. Check Google. I would wager that not a single dog is receiving any form of compensation.
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The Bird Is the Word
While leisurely driving on a gravel road across Mayetta way last year, a flock of wild turkeys, numbering perhaps a half-dozen, suddenly sprinted out in front of me and darted toward a densely wooded area of the Forsythe Refuge. This was a pretty neat sight to see, albeit not particularly unusual.
But as quickly as the rafter darted by, a fresh batch of gobblers appeared from the bushes, all hot-footing, a dozen strong. Now I was really impressed, and I was about to proceed with a grin on my face, but then another throng of people burst out.
Excuse me! To go to Winslow, Arizona, I had to wait like I was in a flatbed Ford for a mile-long freight train. I would estimate that there were at least fifty people crossing. Evidently, there is no scarcity of wild turkeys throughout the state.
The New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife has begun a Wild Turkey Brood Sighting Survey in an effort to get an accurate headcount. This springtime survey is meant to help state and national surveyors keep tabs on the health of a quintessential American bird.
Enjoying in New Jersey
Evidently, wild turkeys like Garden State a lot. Perhaps some people would secretly agree that they enjoy living there. While there are many of these native species here, the display is decidedly contemporary.
Overhunting by early settlers, back when New Jersey was known as Nova Caesarea (from the Latin for “New Caesar”), led to the extinction of the same species in the state. It is believed that by the middle of the nineteenth century, every last wild turkey in the state of New Jersey had been eradicated.
Although it’s disputed, I think that some buffalo hunters may have been implicated in this genocide, as the colonists and their relatives were well aware that the neighboring Lenni Lenape tribes relied on turkeys for food, decoration, and most importantly, arrow “feathers.”
How did we get to be so awash in them? To put it dramatically, it’s the fruit of what is almost certainly the biggest success story in wildlife management in the state’s whole history. In a wait-and-see effort to repopulate native turkey populations, biologists from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and the New Jersey Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation released 22 imported birds in 1977.
They did remarkably well to survive. Within a few years, their population had grown to the point that live traps could be used to relocate slew after slew to different parts of the state. This process of transplantation lasted for a long time.
After being released, the turkey population exploded, which was especially significant in central and southern New Jersey, where the birds’ remarkable speed on the ground and in the air at low altitudes made them excellent at evading the fast-moving forest fire flames.
Flashback
When I was younger, I used to actively pursue wild turkeys. The combination of their 25 mph ground speeds and their seemingly supernatural ability to dip and weave through the vegetation made it hilarious to watch. I didn’t even come close enough to scare them away.
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Among New Jersey’s avian residents, they were my favorite.
Since then, I’ve had a few of them come up to me expecting handouts, having been nourished to the point of naive trust in humanity. The state’s turkey population reached a sustainable level, making hunting possible, by 1981.
Given the contributions of the fine-feathered people at the New Jersey State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation to the bird’s recovery, the state of New Jersey expeditiously and justifiably established spring and fall hunting seasons for wild turkeys.
There are as many as 23,000 turkeys thriving in New Jersey, according to a press statement from the state. Wild turkeys can be found just about anywhere in the state that has the right conditions for them to thrive.
Intensive restoration efforts have greatly increased the number of wild turkeys in South Jersey, where they were in danger of extinction only a few short years ago. About three thousand birds are taken each year on a statewide basis. In addition, the wild turkey’s success story is being shared with audiences across the country.
About 7 million wild turkeys roam the United States, making them one of the most abundant and successful animal species in the country. Over 200 million turkeys are raised as pets or on farms across the United States, contributing to the country’s thriving turkey industry.
Wild turkeys have an important survival advantage because they are not popular dinner fare. Many people dislike them because of their “gamey” flavor. Not everyone enjoys it, and it has a hard time competing with domesticated turkeys that have been bred to eliminate any gaminess.
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Talk About Turkey
Time to discuss the strange origins of the idiom “talk turkey.” According to some sources, the phrase first appeared in print in an 1835 issue of Niles’ Weekly Register, in which it read: “An Indian and a white man went a shooting in partnership; a wild turkey and a crow were all that the day’s work produced.”
To divide the meager haul fairly, the white man exhibited his signature snobbery: “You may have your choice: you take the crow, and I’ll take the turkey; or, if you’d rather, I’ll take the turkey and you have the crow.” The Native American considered this preposterous gift and remarked, “You no say turkey to me…”
I removed the racist portions of the article, but the core phrase, “talk turkey,” remained. It was probably around that time that Native Americans coined the phrase “White man speak with forked tongue.” For the record, the early uses of the term came to be connected with polite conversation during a Thanksgiving meal.
Later, it was used to mean “getting down to the nitty-gritty,” but that usage has its own history. Turkey, it is said, got its Middle Eastern flavor since it looks like a bird that can be found in… Turkey. It would be helpful if you could elaborate on it.
A Turkish expatriate, whose name has been forgotten, first encountered wild turkeys in the early days of colonial America. In a sudden outburst, he declared, “That looks like a bird we have in Turkey.” As he spoke in his own tongue, the only word the other colonialists in the area understood was “Turkey.
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The name of a bird is announced. Now picture the bird looking like it was plucked straight out of Constantinople. As a matter of historical importance, I must debunk the widespread misconception that Ben Franklin personally lobbied to have the wild turkey designated as our national bird.
You may take it from a born prankster like me that Ben had the greatest tongue-in-cheek in history. Ben was never funnier than when he ran out into a thunderstorm to fly a kite while under the influence of a few too many drinks, knowing he’d get a good chuckle before being hauled back inside by his friends and family.
The story is based on a letter Franklin wrote to his daughter Sarah, in which he expressed his regret that the bald eagle had been selected as the national bird. His moral fiber is as weak as a feather. The way he makes his money is dishonest. You may have seen the bald eagle perched on a dead tree, where he watches the hard work of the fishing hawk below.
When the hawk finally catches a fish and brings it back to his nest to feed his family, the eagle chases him down and steals the meal. In contrast, the turkey is a much more respectable bird and withal a true original native of America.
Once again, I feel the need to underline my status as a sardonic lampooner by saying that Franklin’s letter was written when he was in the midst of a full-blown sarcastic rant. His daughter was frequently the target of his most ludicrous and caustic writings.
A Rule of Law Must Exist
The pond and aquatic plants at a historic site in the north end of town were recently “vandalized.” Many people wrote letters to the newspapers and magazines wondering what kind of weirdo would do something like that. A reporter with SandPaper is checking into the situation.
Until we learn the true motivations behind such a horrific act of looting, I’ll take the safe bet and put my money on animals, specifically river otters. They are well-known for their penchant for “pond pounces,” the practice of clearing vegetation from a pond in order to have easier access to the fish that have been confined inside.
You shouldn’t skepticism about anything so ottery. You may recall the laughter that ensued after I made the initial report of LBI coyotes in that area. Back in the day, Bill “Porky” Huelsenbeck, the mayor of Ship Bottom, had his backyard koi pond besieged by nocturnal invaders who stole all of his fish. All of the mayor’s backyard goldfish vanished overnight.
The quantity of otter footprints indicates that this was a well-planned operation. Porky is an ardent hunter, therefore he knows how to read such clues. Otters can be seen in abundance along the entire bayside of Long Beach Island, but I have previously written about their concentration near the Causeway.
When we used to annually fish for winter flounder near Hochstrasser’s Marina, an otter or two would periodically come out into the sunlight, often jumping out of neighboring runoff pipelines. In those waters, I had had an encounter with a particularly belligerent otter. In the middle of the night, when kayak fishing for bass, one of them came sneaking up to my boat.
And gave me a nice drenching in the process. While they are very little, when they throw their entire body into a splash, they can release a surprising amount of cool water. Jigging continued as normal, and I wrote off the splashing as an isolated incident. After waiting a few minutes, they sprayed again.
After the third drenching, I understood how intimate the situation had become. The one who attacked me wanted me dead. It all started when I tried to object. “What exactly is your issue? Plenty of room to spread out here, bro! His next splash was a full-on drencher, so the “guy” must have really gotten under his skin.
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Stop it, you cowardly idiots! You read that right, Virginia; there was a time in my life when I was having a heated discussion with a bay otter while sitting in a kayak in the middle of the night. I can’t decide if it was the best or worst time of my life.
The end result was that I was unsuccessful. I paddled dejectedly to the south side of the East Thorofare Bridge, past the otter bounds, as I grew cold from the splashing and spooked by wondering where the next attack may occur.
Rundown
It’s past time that you signed up for the 2022 LBI Surf Fishing Classic. The lengthy Thanksgiving holiday is renowned as a prime time for successful submissions. A movement called “Don’t Be a Turkey, Get Out and Fish” has been established by the event’s organizing committee.
Warning: November is going to be a busy month for Surfcasters on Long Beach Island. Is this the time of year when the striped bass population on Long Beach Island finally explodes? From what we’ve heard to the north, it appears that may be the case! …
Still, plenty of ideal fishing time remains until the end of the Classic on December 11. The check-in scales are still accepting new registrants. There’s Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven, and then there’s Surf City Bait and Tackle and Fisherman’s Headquarters in Ship Bottom.
