TURKEY: If you haven't had your fill of turkey ... hunting season for the big bird continues through early next year ... details are ahead on Passport to Texas ... ____________________________________________________________ PTT from TPW and the SFWR Program SXF ... turkey ... first gobble, then fade under actuality Turkey hunting is really beginning to pick up in popularity. (:04) Which is good news for the sport, but bad news for turkeys, says upland game bird manager, Steve DeMaso. We hunt a couple of different turkey sub-species in Texas, the eastern and the Rio Grande. The eastern turkey where we've done the introduction, we don't have a fall hunting season, we only have the spring. But we do have a fall season for the Rio Grande. (:06) The introduction DeMaso mentioned is a restoration effort to increase the population of the eastern wild turkey to east Texas; the Rio Grande turkey remains fair game. And if you think turkey hunting doesn't offer a challenge, because you've heard they're the dim bulbs of the bird world, DeMaso challenges you to think again. That's pretty much just the domestic turkeys. Anybody that's spent any time out there trying to harvest a bird will figure out pretty quick that they're pretty smart. They have exceptional eyesight. They can pick up movement real easy. Their hearing is outstanding. Turkeys tend to cover a lot of ground. So they know their backyards pretty good when they're out moving around. (:20) That's our show for today, supported by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program ... working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti. Total sound bite time: 0:30.0 Maximum Script time: 0:56.0 Suggested show time: 86.0 = 1:26