LET’S talk turkey.

Thanks to New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, you’ll be able to do just that – and more – on Youth Turkey Day, scheduled for the weekend of April 24-25.

The new regulation will permit youngsters ages 12-15 to hunt wild turkey, provided the young hunter has a valid junior hunting license, a turkey permit and is accompanied by a fully licensed adult.

The weekend is for junior hunters only; the accompanying adult or guardian can assist only by calling the gobbler. Gerry Barnhart, director of the DEC’s Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources, said that the youth hunt would always precede the start of the regular spring turkey hunting season by three days and that the bag limit is restricted to one bearded bird.

“That bird would then become part of the youth’s regular spring-season, two-bird limit. The second bird can be taken during legal hunting hours between May1-31,” Barnhart said.

Barnhart also said the DEC is proposing a similar early youth hunt for deer and bear that would allow youngsters ages 16-17 to hunt big game the weekend of Nov. 13-14

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The folks who live in Northwest Woods, an area just north of the Village of East Hampton, have some new neighbors. The DEC released 24 eastern wild turkeys near the Grace Estate, just on the edge of Northwest Harbor. The birds were trapped Feb. 28 and March 8 at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Suffolk County by DEC staff who where assisted by members of the East Hampton Chapter of Waterfowl U.S.A.

A number of years ago, wild turkeys were released in Napeague and Montauk, but those birds seem to have stayed put. According to DEC regional director Peter A. Scully, “Turkeys don’t fly far, and they may have been unwilling to venture across the narrow strip of land at Napeague to go further west. We’re hoping that birds released west of Napeague will be able to disperse throughout the town.

“The outlook for Long Island’s wild turkeys has been greatly enhanced by relying on the release of genetically pure turkeys with origins from well-established native flocks,” Scully said. He added that “the continued expansion of Long Island’s wild turkey flock is strongly dependent on the ability of our wild birds to find foods naturally occurring in the environment.” For this reason, DEC recommends that no one feeds wild turkeys because even wild birds may become too accustomed to people and cause problems.

Scully credited Waterfowl U.S.A. members, some of whom had participated in the first restocking project, for doing much of the “leg work” for the most recent effort. They helped to find several release sites and were on hand for both the trapping and release efforts.

At present, turkey hunting is prohibited in Suffolk County, but the DEC hopes the current flocks will expand so it may be able to offer some limited opportunity to hunt turkeys on Long Island.