Bellows bill would expand turkey hunting in Maine

A bill introduced by Sen. Shenna Bellows, D-Manchester, would expand turkey hunting in Maine to help alleviate the problems caused by the exploding turkey population in recent years. A public hearing on the bill was held in the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee on Monday.

The bill, LD 1117 “An Act To Encourage Turkey Hunting,” would eliminate the turkey hunting permit fee and the requirement to tag wild turkeys. A hunter would be required to inform the Department of Inland, Fisheries and Wildlife at the conclusion of each season how many wild turkeys he or she had harvested. Furthermore, the spring limit would be increased to four male wild turkeys and the fall limit to eight turkeys of either sex.

“This bill is the result of having the same conversation over and over with constituents: Can you do something about all of those turkeys? They’re overrunning yards, gardens, and most concerning, roads,” said Sen. Bellows. “I heard from experienced turkey hunters that they would shoot more turkeys if they could, and that they wished that more people would join them in hunting turkeys.”

Sen. Bellows worked with former Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine Executive Director George Smith to write LD 1117.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife “doesn’t know how many wild turkeys we have, but they recognize that we need to reduce the population in central and southern Maine,” Mr. Smith stated in his testimony at Monday’s hearing. “Only 16,000 of us hunt turkeys in the spring and 5,000 in the fall. We need more turkey hunters, and we need those hunters to kill more turkeys.”

The National Rifle Association also testified in favor of LD 1117.

Jim Connolly, the Director of the Bureau of Resource Management in the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, testified in opposition to LD 1117, but noted DIFW currently is undertaking rulemaking to “increase the fall turkey bag limit in certain WMDs [Wildlife Management Districts], open the fall hunting season in mid-September instead of October 1, establish a fall youth day, and expand the types of shotguns and loads that are legal for turkey hunting.”

The deadline for public comments on the proposed rule is April 29. More information will be available at this link later this week: https://www.maine.gov/ifw/news-events/rulemaking-proposals.html.

LD 1117 faces further action in the committee, as well as votes in the Maine House and Senate.