[fryz]

It's cool to see some commentary regarding how hunters and federal policy helped (and hurt).

The National Wild Turkey Foundation is solely responsible for the reintroduction of the turkey across most of the entire US. The entire purpose of the mission was to bring wild turkey populations up for hunting, and that hunters would be the best way to conserve and manage the population.

An excellent podcast done by Steve Rinella (another hunter/conservationist, famous for his Meat Eater TV Show) about the topic: https://www.themeateater.com/listen/meateater/ep-104-turks.

From the episode: the way the NWTF and DOW people captured Wild Turkeys was to design a gun that could shoot webs, capture the turkeys, throw them into a van, and drive them out and drop them off in the woods in another state.

[larrik]

Hunters were the bulk of the original conversation/nature pushes historically, since they want lots of outdoor space and large animal populations. They bumped heads a bit with preservationists, but at the time most people felt nature was something to be conquered or done away with in the pursuit of progress (up until shockingly recently, frankly).

[nerdponx]

Judging by the flat green lawns and lack of trees in most suburbs in New England, I get the impression that a lot of people still feel that way.

[foobarian]

I don't know which part of New England you live in but the part I see is the most tree-lined residential area on the globe.

[ericmay]

Yea but it's also because people aren't able to connect the dots. Like I live in the suburbs in Ohio, I want to preserve nature, but I'm kind of trapped in my environment. We've planted trees, we do gardening, and we're adding plants that attract pollinators, but there's only so much we can do.

[AbrahamParangi]

Flat lawns and few trees doesn't sound like any New England I'm familiar with.

[nerdponx]

Certainly not in rural Maine or Vermont, but huge tracts of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are like this.

[bee_rider]

Where? I grew up in the coastal area of MA, most of the yards had trees as far as I remember. Is this a Middle Mass thing?

I'd believe they clear cut their yards in Connecticut, but that's just because Connecticut is devoted to doing things as wrong as possible while still being part of New England.

[paleotrope]

I only live about 25 miles from Boston and I don't have any idea what you mean here.

[vibrio]

Huge tracts of New Hampshire are flat and have no trees? Ahhh……The Lake District.

[larrik]

This sounds more like new developments (where they level the land before building anything). Most older neighborhoods are much more diverse.

[meroes]

Conservation of what and for whom? In England the hunting land was for the royalty. Anyone caught in royal hunting grounds was severely punished and probably executed for hunting.

[bitxbitxbitcoin]

Piggybacking off this.

If anyone reading this has the gut reaction that hunting and conservation don’t go hand in hand, please listen to Steve Rinella and Shane Mahoney’s podcast episodes about the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.[0][1]

As an American, it is a huge source of pride.

[0] https://www.themeateater.com/listen/the-hunting-collective-2...

[1] https://www.themeateater.com/listen/the-hunting-collective-2...

[rupi]

Second this one. Absolutely amazing listen, especially if you grew up thinking hunters just go around shooting anything that moves, which admittedly, I did.

[burntoutfire]

> gun that could shoot webs, capture the turkeys, throw them into a van, and drive them out and drop them off in the woods in another state

Sounds like one hell of a gun.