From atop a rugged bluff in this picturesque chunk of
Minnesota, the sounds of gobbling again echoed in the dawn the other
morning.

To a wild tom turkey, a spring morning is the time for
gobbling from the tall oaks and limestone ridges. It is also a time
to announce his presence to any hens within earshot.

It is an X-rated gobble.

If a hen should need a mate, the gobbler's message goes, he is
available, if not downright anxious.

Most Minnesotans miss this spring version of turkey
hanky-panky.

For one thing, the most ribald turkey talk - gobbles, purrs,
putts and yelps - typically starts before the gray light of dawn and
might end before the sun rises.

The timing is unfortunate. Because if you've never attended a
spring turkey concert, I must say - and will never apologize -
you're suffering a huge gap amid the pleasures of life.

You're also missing the sounds of Minnesota's most remarkable
wildlife restoration success story.

Amid all the eco-doom and enviro-gloom, it's nice to know
America still has the world's best wildlife program, including the
ability and know-how to bring critters back from the brink.

Minnesota's wild turkey was just such a bird.

Once upon a time, the wild turkey, a native woodland bird, was
pushed to near-extinction by uncontrolled shooting by settlers who
also cleared the bird's forested habitat.

Nobody knows when Minnesota's last wild turkey disappeared.

The last reported sighting was in 1871 in southern Rock County,
according to Dick Kimmel, DNR research biologist. Other recorded
wild turkey sightings were: 1766 in Goodhue County; 1773 in northern
Blue Earth County; 1850 in southern Fillmore County and 1863 in
southern Jackson County.

For decades thereafter, Minnesota's Aprils were silent of
gobbles, purrs, putts and yelps. Attempts to restock the woods with
game-farm birds were tried and retried. All failed.

It was not until 1964 when 39 wild birds, imported from
Nebraska, South Dakota and Arkansas, showed signs of surviving after
being released in Winona County in the state's southeast corner.

Starting in 1971, 29 wild turkeys from Missouri (exchanged for
ruffed grouse) were released in Houston County.

A few years later, Minnesota's wild turkey flock in Winona
County increased rapidly. The bird count in the Whitewater Wildlife
Management Area grew to 60 birds per square mile.

And then, just as suddenly, collapsed.

Although the exact cause of the turkey crash is unknown, DNR
officials suspect semi-wild birds were released or simply the wrong
bird - a Merriam subspecies - was unfit for Minnesota's type of
habitat.

In the meantime, the "Eastern" variety of turkeys from Missouri
continued to increase in Houston County. DNR managers decided to
stock more of the Eastern subspecies.

Trading Minnesota-grown Hungarian partridge, pine martens,
prairie chickens and Canada geese, the DNR imported more wild turkey
stock from Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Oklahoma and
Missouri.

As the state's flocks grew, a DNR trapping and transplanting
program, headed by Gary Nelson, captured and relocated hens and
gobblers in unoccupied woodlands.

Starting in the late 1970's, the Minnesota Chapter of the
National Wild Turkey Federation held fund-raising events and
contributed more than $500,000 to fund DNR's turkey-restoration
projects.

Caledonia, Minn., took claim to the title of the state's wild
turkey capitol. And to prove it, the townsfolk, businesses and area
farmers in the last 10 years have contributed $250,000 to further
the bird's future.

Last week Bob Nybo, of Red Wing, and I stood on a bluff top and
listened to the early-morning chorus of turkeys. We were turkey
hunting and lucky enough to hold two of the 9,000 or so permits
issued by the DNR in the 16th modern turkey season.

"Have you ever heard so many wild turkeys?" Nybo asked, while
the sounds of gobblers seemed to surround us.

Nybo and many others have worked long and hard to replay the
turkey's call in Minnesota.

Later that evening we shared a meal of grilled breast of wild
tom turkey.

And savored the reality of Minnesota's most historic and
successful wildlife conservation story.