This would be bad news to all my friends Outside. They tell me if there were wild turkeys in AK, they'd never see me!

My friend works at the new SW in Anchorage and he says that there is are turkey within 45 minutes of Anchorage; does anyone have any information about turkey? Thanks - KMule

There are Turkey in Anchorage? Come on! I've seen Turkey's in Bear Valley, they look wild, but they are not! Within' 45 minutes, you are either in Girdwood or Wasilla/Palmer. A "game farm" for sure. They are no wild turkeys in the AK! Keep smokin' whatever your buddy gave you. If you find the turkey's let me know, but I'm sure we'ed be shooting someones pet bird. Later outa-stater!

I have heard of some turkey running around near lazy mountain in Palmer.
There is a turkey farm there and I bet this is no coincidence.

Personally I have not seen turkeys in the wild but I have seen a couple pheasants < !--color--> near lazy mountain on the matanuska riverbed.

Can't believe it. I don't even live in Alaska and I know there are Turkeys there. Don't any of you guys go to the WTF Banquet? Contact Gus Gillespie at the Alaska Fur Exchange and ask him.

NO

Here are some other animals see in Alaska:Cougar caught in a trap got away before F&G got there,mule deer by Summit lake,racoons,buzzards.I wish elk were loose in the interior,a few escaped yaks also.There was a bird hunting place and the quail,chuckars,pheasants lasted a few years.That was a suprise.I forgot wild hogs went nuts a few years back .I have seen one of them .Its suprising how animals can adapt.

Where did you see the hog?

I thought for sure there were turkeys introduced in SE a few years ago. I did some checking after reading this thread, guess not. The NWTF banquet is tonight in Anchorage, according to the NWTF web site. I went to the first two here, but that's been a while.

Mule deer near Summit Lake, wild hogs???? Yaks?????
I want some of what dgr416's been smokin'! WTF?

"Mule deer near Summit Lake,"
Perhaps the sitka blacktails seen around the Seward cut-off on the Kenai?

"wild hogs????"
There were a few "escapees" from a Russian Boar impoundment in Sterling, just east of Soldotna (were'nt very cooperative...they spoke little english )

"Yaks?????"
Heck if I know...although there were some feral cattle on the lower peninsula around Anchor Point a number of years ago. Never saw one, but rumor has it they were mean son-of-a-beeches though

Seems like the Kenai is turning into one wild place. All you "tenderfoots" better keep away...it could be dangerous!
best,
bhtr

Lots of turkeys here in Alaska during the summer but most of them go back home to New York and such places by winter.

Eric

Sure....we have a lot of turkey's I beleve the highest population is up on the North Slope.

The Yak was a penned one that got loose .There are alot of people who raise them.Its a weird thing to see in a pen.The Mule deer was seen down by summit lake by a friend bird hunting.It was a big mule deer he said ,supose to have came over from canada.He also saw the buzzards down there too.The cougar was caught in a wolf trap but got loose when fish and game came to see it.The hogs were penned hogs that got loose and went wild .They did pretty good till F&G opened the season they got wiped out pretty good but there are a few still around.I wish I had shot the one I saw .It was hauling butt it look over 300 pounds a big black bore.There have been alot of pigs at one time or another.They dont last long cold or wolves get them if hunters dont.

Some years ago a hunter from Wrangell shot one while on a mainland campout. The kill was aided by a flashlight and there is no season on Lions in AK. He got busted and the mounted Lion is on display at Wrangell Hi.

A couple years ago a trapper did catch and kill one (big Lion) across the channel from Petersburg (Kupreanof Is) in a wolf trap or snare.

Last winter a resident of Myers Chuck (Cleveland Pen)took a picture of a large Lion standing on his woodpile looking at him.

As for the SE Turkey transplant, that started about in the mid 80's over on Prince of Wales Island. Many from NW Oregon and especially NW Washington transplanted. Those Turkeys are now plentiful on the Island. They are all trying to stop all the rest of us hunters (Ak non POW Island residents and non-res alike) from coming to "their" Island to hunt "their" Deer !!!!!

Didn't get that job you wanted up there, eh?

There are thousands of two-legged, wingless turkeys running/driving around up here.

As for the feathered variety, my family has been raising turkeys here near Palmer (Expermental Farm area) for years. They occasionally wander off to where folks see them, but they always come home.

I've also seen more than one variety of pheasant running around here over the years. Most were ringnecks, and they were always in the winter.

Once a Lady Amhearst pheasant showed up in our yard the day the farm next door was being mowed. That was one beautiful bird.

Mule deer have been reported to wander up into the eastern interior. It happens, but it's uncommon.

We're getting reports annually now of blacktail deer in Anchorage.

Several reports of cougars near Palmer, Fairbanks, and even Elmendorf Air Force Base have been described "credible" by ADFG investigators.

All of these "exotics" are either introduced or wild animals wandering out of the extremes of their ranges. None can be considered "common".

That is the crazy thing. For mule deer and couger the extreme of their range is still a thousand miles from the places you mentioned for sightings.

I heard there have been couger in the chickaloon river valley .

Oh yeah, we have turkeys in Juneau, they'll be here till mid May or so....Then they go back to roost in their home towns throughout the state.

There are wild pheasants on the Kenai, mostly from Anchor Point south. In the winter in Homer they come into the bird feeders. I have personally observed a wild pheasant in Anchor Point area. I believe that ADF&G estimates population at about 150 birds.

No true wild pigs, although there are pigs that are let run loose by their owners. A few years back a 4X4 pickup got high centered on a big one the guy intentionally tried to run over out on the Knik Road out of Wasilla. Seems there was bad blood between the driver and the guy who let his pigs run wild. The thing was huge. The guy was caught in the act obviously.

You will never get me to believe that there was a mule deer at Summit Lake (if you are talking abou tthe one on the Kenai Penninsula), a blacktail maybe, but not a Mule Deer. It is just too unlikely that the deer could make its way onto the very isolated Kenai Penninsula. Over by the Canadian border I can believe, but not the Kenai.

As for wild turkeys, I believe that they may be able to survive on the Kenai through most winters, but would probably not be able to make it indefinitely. Would like to know where there are wild turkeys, because they are not regulated and there is no season or limit on them. Only in some put and take operation could you hunt "wild" turkeys in Alaska.

It was Summit Lake by Paxon not on Kenai.There are two Summit Lakes in Alaska.The Kenai is the Flordia of Alaska to me tourist trap with too narrow of roads.I spent about 4 months down there and didnt like it.

There are three Summit Lakes in Alaska, One on the Richardson Hwy, one on the Parks Hwy, and one on the Keni, probably a few more I don't know about. Turkeys? Yes every few years someone turns some loose hoping they will extablish a population here. They don't last long due to the weather. Mule Deer? Not to my knowledge. Mountain Lions? Yes! Every few years some move into Southeastern from a well extablished population in British Columbia. Pheasent? Sure every year people are turning them loose in hopes of establishing a resident population here but one cold winter and they are gone. I've seen several here in North Pole. I've heard the farmers down in Delta turn them loose and charge people to hunt them.