TPWD and NWTF are still hard at work getting turkeys reestablished in east Texas. I was at the release last week when they released 7 birds in Anderson county on a co-op started by a THF member I've become friends with over the past few years.

They released 12 in all last week and an even larger number this week. There's been 4 super stockings in Anderson county and 1 on the Cherokee/Anderson county line over the past several years. Anderson county is probably going to be the eastern turkey capital of east Texas once there's a season in the next 3-5 years. Most people regard Red River county as that, but there are actually more turkey's in Anderson county along the Neches river than anywhere else in east Texas.

Hopefully some other landowners and managers can start co-ops and connect with the biologist to have super stockings done on their place. Anyway, here is a link to some pictures on my facebook page... Eastern Turkey Pictures

Do you have a place in Anderson County?

I was there this morning and they released another 14 birds and a truckload was headed south to another location with more. It sure will be nice to have new options in the near future to chase them.

ranch I was on had about 40 turned loose a few years ago.. Houston co. hope they still doing good

Yes...about 12 miles just northeast the the current release site

Are you sure there are more in Anderson County than in Red River?

We see as many as 50-75 birds a year just on our place in Red River County and have pics of polt production for the last three years!!!!

That is a beautiful site!!

I used to have birds like that before the neighbors clear cut their adjacent section. I still have a few birds but nothing like I used to.

Yes Sir...those are the words of the head turkey biologist who heads the turkey program in Texas. He said that area along the Neches has the highest number in the state and those numbers are comparable to the established rio populations in certain parts of the central Texas.

The number has been growing exceptionally in southeast Anderson county since the first super stocking efforts in Anderson county back in 2007. Even before then there was already a population in that area as I used to hunt type 2 land up near Sloccum and Dennison Springs back in 1999 and 2000. Last time I hunted before they closed the area I ran into some lumber jacks who had just seen a flock of 18 birds on the Neches river even back then.

Since the 2007 Super Stoking at Bobcat Ridge they've released between 80-90 birds at several other sites in Anderson county and on the Anderson/Cherokee county line and those birds have done well also. I know there are a lot of birds in Red River and I hunt an area in Newton county that has lots of birds, but Anderson county has the best population right now by far...just no season there yet since stocking efforts are still underway.

Yep...Gary sent me a video of one of the releases from this week. He said there was 20 total this week. They have all 20 gobblers now but still need 53 hens so I hope to mae it up for at least one more release before they're done.

Our small 33 acre place is a few minutes right up the road from Brushy Creek, and 1 or 2 minutes from the Neches river off Hw 175. I'm looking to buy some more land out that way in the coming years and look forward to hunting easterns on my own place.

I worked for TPWD for five years and was one of the first biologist to be involved in the super stocking efforts in East Texas. I helped release approximately 120 birds in Houston County, several groups on the Winston Ranch and assisted on the initial stocking at Bobcat Ridge. Last report I got was that the Houston county birds are all but gone. However, Winstons birds are still hanging on at his place and the Expiremental Forest of SFA. Just before I left in 2010, Bobcat ridge had minimal survival and no reported plot production.

Turkeys are my passion!!! Which is why we bought our ranch in Red River county. The first year we saw five birds total. After thinning, burning, clearing, mulching and planting food plots we typically see flocks of 20-30 birds in the winter and I have heard as many as 8 different gobblers in one morning during a spring hunt. We have had years of great polt production and years we just couldn't make anything happen between heavy rains and extreme drought, but we maintain a viable breeding population. I believe this is because birds are always traveling along the river north of us and along the numerous streams that connect them to the greater populations of birds in Oklahoma.

I am beginning to lean towards immigration and emigration as being one of the greatest limiting factors facing the Anderson County birds. My prayer is that the released birds join up with the hidden pockets of birds within the Davy Crockett and along the River all the way down to South Boggy. Maybe these resident birds can teach these released South Carolina and Tennessee birds some new tricks. (Or vice versa) I hope their populations reach numbers that can overcome normal predation, natural disasters and consecutive years of poor polt production!!! I would love to hear some birds gobbling thru the bottoms again in deep East Texas!!!

Turkeys are also my passion...I've been a turkey fanatic since I was a youngster and actually used to raise both easterns and rios when I was a youngster. I learned their mannerism and how to call by mimicking the birds I was around. I started hunting turkeys in my teens and early 20's and now at almost 40 I'm still crazy about turkeys which is why I do what I do and stay so involved. I'm also like you that in the fact that although my family has land in Anderson county, I intend to acquire more of it in the coming years and the turkey population will be a big determination as to where we purchase.

Back in 2010 my NWTF chapter hosted an event at the Bass Pro store in Pearland, TX to educate the public about super stockings and the turkey restoration program in east Texas. Jason Harden (TPWD), Scotty Parsons (NWTF), and Jason Isabelle (SFA grad student) who were all working on the project at the time gave a different report of Bobcat Ridge back then. The birds were were slower to reproduce the first year after the release and there was like 30-40% mortality in hens, but the following years survival rate had increased and there had been fair to decent productivity in recent years. The population after a few years was comparable to regions in other states with established eastern turkey populations.

Staying in touch with the biologist working on the project and landowners is one of the things I stay on top of, as I have a committee and many NWTF supporters who are all interested in staying informed with the progress.

I'm sure as a biologist who's participated, you know that the point for all these super stockings is to connect turkey populations along the Neches river basin, so with all the super stockings up from Angelina, Trinity, though Houston up to Anderson county is strategic. The plan is for the Neches to function as a super highway since turkeys are known to travel water ways and expand into new territory. The birds are known to travel good distances, and recently a hen traveled over 25 miles from the Neches all the way to the Trinity, then made a straight line all the way back to the release area.

Whatever the report you last heard of the super stocking, I assure you that today the numbers have grown exponentially from the bobcat ridge site and those birds have really expanded their territory. Several years ago I heard a gobbler on our neighbors place off 175 just east of Frankston, and the landowner who just started the Brushy Creek co-op has pictures of several gobblers in Cuney, TX just across the Neches river near the 175 bridge. Both of those locations are over 20+ miles north of Bobcat Ridge. The success at bobcat Ridge and a couple of other original test sites are the reason that the super stocking methods are still being used and are being done in greater numbers in recent years.

Last year they were trapping some of the Texas born descendants of those birds originally released at Bobcat Ridge. During that period someone made a yelp call and the entire bottom lit up with gobbles all up and down the river bottom. I believe at that particular site they trapped about 9 Texas born long beards last year and fitted them with transmitters to further research factors that would help create the same success at other release sites.

As far as Houston county, there have been lots of reports of birds around the Neches in recent years, so those birds have been maintaining their numbers in that area and traveling up and down the Neches as well. I've also heard several reports from members on this forum who has seen decent numbers of birds in Houston and even Loen county.

The numbers are definitely increasing and for someone who does this every day and has headed up the program for years, I'm confident that Jason knows what he's talking about. If he says there are more turkeys in that area of east Texas I believe him. Either way I'm excited about it and looking forward to seeing what the next 5, 10, and 15 years bring...

Wish they would do a release in Panola Co., say, 5 miles north of Carthage in the Sabine River bottom!!!