Scenes like this have been common throughout the wilder parts of Florida, with one notable exception: Holmes County.

On a map, Holmes County looks like a turkey hunter’s paradise. This rural county in Northwest Florida has fewer than 20,000 human inhabitants. It’s split down the middle by the wild Choctawhatchee River, and criss-crossed with innumerable spring-fed creeks. Amid pine forests, cypress swamps, sandhills and farms are thousands of acres of public and private hunting lands. The largest city—if you can call it that—is tiny Bonifay, home to the “Biggest All Night Gospel Sing in the World,” held each year in July.

Some would say Holmes County is more Alabama than Florida, which to a hunter would seem a good thing.

Until recently, there was one thing missing from this picture: The wild turkey, Meleagis gallopavo, the very emblem of wildlife conservation in North America.

Thanks to management efforts dating back to the 1950s, two subspecies of wild turkey, the eastern and Osceola, have thrived in Florida since the 1970s. The only major exceptions have been Florida’s urban areas, which was expected, and that little county tucked away on the Florida-Alabama border, which was not.

It was at a meeting of the old Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (GFC) in November of 1997 that Florida game managers became aware of the Holmes County situation.

At the time, I was serving as a commissioner. Our formal agenda for the meeting indicated there would be a delegation of citizens from Holmes County, who wanted to address the disappearance of turkey from their county, and to request assistance from the GFC.

During this period I was also the Florida State Chapter President for the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF). The alleged absence of wild turkey in one of Florida’s counties aroused my attention.

The other GFC commissioners, as well as the wildlife management staff, were of the same impression: that the entire state had healthy populations of wild turkey. In fact, turkeys were being hunted during both the fall and spring seasons in all 67 of Florida’s counties. The news from Holmes County was a shock.

Roy Harris, a long-time property owner in Holmes County, passionately presented the evidence—or lack thereof. Knowledgeable residents had made no sightings of wild turkeys or sign for the past several years. It was their contention that the birds had vanished from this part of the state.

Commissioners agreed to take up the case.

Larry Perrin, the GFC biologist in charge of wild turkey research, was directed to begin an investigation. The results were to be formally presented to the commission in March of 1998.

Through affiliation with the Turkey Federation, I’d had many occasions to observe the results of Perrin’s labors over the years. He was thorough and committed, conducting many programs relating to research and the enhancement of Florida’s wild turkey population and habitat. With his experience and track record, commissioners had no doubt he would turn over every stone before he came to a conclusion.

We also knew that veteran wildlife officer Larry Morris had been patrolling Holmes County for years. Familiar with the local habitat and turkey population figures, Morris would be a valued asset in conducting the investigation. With these two experienced men working together, the final report would be factual.

Over the years, wild turkeys have been restocked by the GFC in Florida’s unpopulated areas, starting with an aggressive program soon after World War II came to a close.

Local activitsts and state authorities release wild turkeys in an ambitious restocking plan for the county.

This, incidentally, was around the same time that the GFC (now Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC) was formally established.

It was also a dark time for wild turkey populations. Most of the native birds in the continental United States had been wiped out by commercial hunters. Across the country, fewer than 30,000 birds were thought to remain by the time of the Great Depression, according to the NWTF. Florida was one of the rare exceptions. A few rough swamps within the state provided suitable habitat where some sizable flocks managed to thrive. Amidst isolated areas of impenetrable wilderness, Florida turkeys found protection from the year-round illegal hunting. These birds were identified as a unique subspecies; today they carry the name of the heroic and never-defeated Seminole War Chief Osceola, who also made good use of the swamps.

Over the years, these small, secluded flocks provided hundreds of mature gobblers and hens that were trapped and transported not only throughout Florida, but also to many other states with brood stocks of wild turkey. This helped to reestablish flocks of wild turkey to much of the nation.

Interestingly, on many occasions back in those days, the GFC would swap a wild turkey for two or an even greater number of whitetail deer. At that time, the Florida deer population was way down and needed a lot of help.