Credit: NWTF Click image to download
	A real helicopter, donated by the USDA Forest Service, is part of a prescribed burn display showing how this land management technique benefits wildlife.
	Credit: NWTF Click image to download
	The world’s largest box turkey call gives museum-goers a chance to use various, regular-sized turkey calls while literally standing inside of one.
	Credit: NWTF Click image to download
	One exhibit offers a wall of wild turkey oddities displaying unique turkey traits that occur in nature including unusual color phases, multiple beards and double-spurred birds — things a person might never see in a lifetime of walking through the woods.
	Credit: NWTF Click image to download
	In the early 1900s, North America had fewer than 30,000 wild turkeys, today there are nearly 7 million, thanks to the work of wildlife agencies and the NWTF's many volunteers and partners. The museum's Traveling Turkeys exhibit shows visitors how conservationists and wildlife biologists move turkeys from areas where birds are plentiful and relocate them to areas where there are none, but the habitat is suitable.

Turkey Museum is Twice as Nice
The National Wild Turkey Federation recently unveiled the newest wing of its Winchester Museum, which houses a larger-than-life turkey call, a retired USDA Forest Service helicopter and many more displays.

The expansion is the newest addition to the Federation’s Wild Turkey Center in Edgefield, S.C. The new wing doubled the size of the original Winchester Museum, which opened to the public in 1998, to 7,200 square feet. To modernize the museum, planners incorporated outside-the-box ideas including an inside-the-box exhibit — a giant box turkey call.

“The addition offers more hands-on exhibits,” said Dick Rosenlieb, NWTF’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “The exhibits and displays give you an inside look at the ways wild turkeys influence our culture — from North America’s enthusiasm for wild turkey hunting to American folk art and wild turkey collectibles.”

The museum showcases a streetscape with two small-town storefronts — a hardware store and barbershop — displaying collectible items including salt and pepper shakers, decorative plates and figurines, all featuring wild turkeys.

"The American folk art exhibit is one we're particularly proud of because it's an example of how wild turkeys influence our culture," said Rachel Seltzner, NWTF museum coordinator. "The new streetscape exhibit is one of many in the museum that will show the wild turkey's broad appeal among people from all walks of life — from North America's nearly three million wild turkey hunters to folk art aficionados."

Among the original exhibits is an animated, old-time storyteller who sits in a rocking chair and tells 14 different stories about the history of the NWTF, turkey hunting and conservation. Nearby, an animated Cherokee Indian shares legends and stories about the wild turkey. There's also a video highlighting the wild turkey and its amazing comeback story.

For more information about the Wild Turkey Winchester Museum or the Wild Turkey Center, contact Rachel Seltzner, NWTF museum coordinator, at (803) 637-3106.