Community Corner

Bag Your Own Turkey From Saturday Through Wednesday

Third year of five-day wild turkey-hunting season starts Saturday morning.

For the hunters out there looking to bag their own turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, a five-day wild turkey hunting season begins on Long Island Saturday morning — including over 8,000 acres in the Riverhead area —  and lasts through Wednesday evening.

The hunt will be the third year turkeys have been game on Long Island in the fall, as the Department of Environmental Conservation instituted the hunt as the turkey population continues to swell. The number of turkeys on Long Island is guessed to stand around 3,000 and rising, after starting out as a group of 75 in the early 1990s, when they were brought down from upstate and released in three separate areas of Suffolk County.

“The fall turkey hunt has proven to be a great success in the area, allowing DEC to not only continue offering the seasons, but to even add a spring youth turkey hunt," said DEC Regional Director, Peter Scully. "Department of Environmental Conservation staff will continue to monitor turkey populations to assure the continuance of these seasons for future generations.”

Find out what's happening in Riverheadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hunting will be permitted in the area - for those with proper permits and licensing - at a few locations:

  • Otis Pike Preserve: Roughly 5,400 acres in Calverton, Northampton and Eastport, the Otis Pike Preserve consists of several parcels. It can be accessed from exits 69 and 70 off the Long Island Expressway. A .pdf is attached with more detail.
  • David Sarnoff Pine Barrens Preserve: Over 2,700 acres north of Route 27, mostly surrounding Route 104, between Westhampton, Northampton and Riverside. (.pdf attached)

Hunters are allowed one turkey of either sex per season, and are permitted to use archery or a shotgun. They must carry a New York State hunting license and turkey permit, and shooting is allowed from sunrise to sunset.

Find out what's happening in Riverheadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For more information, visit the DEC website.


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