Are the good ol’ days gone?
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Photo by Ryan Kirby
Many states, from the lower Mississippi River Valley to the East Coast, have reported declines in turkey populations. |
After another morning without hearing a single gobble, Lackey Stephens looked at me and said, “I wonder where all the turkeys have gone.”
Chances are you too have asked that question during the last five years. Many states, from the lower Mississippi River Valley to the East Coast, have reported declines in turkey populations. Harvest rates have also dropped — nearly 40 percent in Arkansas and Mississippi, 30 percent in Missouri — in the past five years.
Wild turkey surveys indicate that poult recruitment (young-of-the-year birds that mature into adult hens and gobblers) is not occurring at a sufficient rate to replace normal population losses. It’s a serious issue we can all do something about.
So, where have all the turkeys gone?
If you had asked that question five years ago, wildlife biologists would have chalked up declines to predictable population fluctuation based on weather patterns. The declines were within normal limits, and most turkey biologists believed populations would bounce back with a few “good” weather years.
Unfortunately, expected rebound has not happened, even with wetter than normal years in parts of the Southeast. We now have a more serious issue that requires forensic research to identify the underlying reasons for the decline.
The following are potential causes — real and imagined — of wild turkey declines, as discussed among NWTF and state agency biologists with an eye toward addressing these issues.
Brood and Nesting Habitat: A lack of habitat improvement is a prime reason for the wild turkey population decline. But we’re losing habitat, too.
Landscape-scale loss (urban sprawl) is a very real issue that has crept in like a thief in the night — unnoticed by hunters, farmers and even wildlife managers. But aerial photographs from the 1980s compared to today tell the story.
Weather: As noted, weather influences wildlife populations, especially ground-nesting birds. We can’t do anything about the weather, but wildlife managers can do a better job of encouraging landowners to manage habitat and landscapes according to weather patterns and predictions. Proactive habitat management gives all wildlife a shot at survival.
Predators: Far too often hunters point to predators as the “smoking gun” of population declines, but only in the most extreme cases is that true. Predators have preyed on wild turkeys for ages. Their reproductive cycles have evolved to offset such losses.
We encourage the legal, ethical harvest of fur-bearing predators as part of a holistic wildlife management program, but landowners and wildlife managers can make a much more dramatic difference using proven habitat strategies that reduce predation.
Supplemental Feeding: While supplemental feeding of wildlife may work in the short term, this strategy is fraught with problems.
Concentrating wildlife on a feeding site can lead to increases in predation, exposure to diseased animals, disruption of normal seasonal movements and exposure to toxins that grow on the food provided. Again, providing better habitat for the year-round needs of wildlife is the preferred approach.
Disease: Unlike white-tailed deer, sick turkeys generally succumb to disease relatively quickly, preventing its spread. So far, no serious outbreaks of disease have been detected where wild turkey population declines have been reported.
Poaching: Fortunately, the rate of poaching is not such to have affected wild turkey populations. Poaching can, however, become an issue when populations are already depressed.
Agricultural and Forestry Practices: Forests and meadows throughout the afflicted regions have lost much of their wildlife value. Changes in forest management in the 1990s led to a decline in “early successional” habitats, which is a biologist’s way of referring to new growth, or young forests. They are critical to nesting and brood habitat.
What’s Being Done
The NWTF has partnered with state, federal and local agencies and other conservation organizations to create the North American Wild Turkey Management Plan. It calls for strategic planning, landscape-scale initiatives for brood habitat, increasing forest openings and opening understory across much of the affected regions.
Proactive habitat conservation provides the only holistic solution that addresses all of the ills currently affecting wild turkey populations. — James Earl Kennamer, Ph.D.