yoderjac
5 year old buck +
First, the decline is not uniform, and quite honestly, I expected it. Wild turkey populations were decimated back during the days of market hunting. The restoration of the wild turkey were one of our most successful conservation stories and it was done primarily thorough sport hunters. I would contend that the restoration functionally acted as an non-native invasive species introduction. What happens when a new species is introduced into an ecosystem is that it is either not well enough adapted and dies out quickly, or the ecosystem is not well adapted to balance it and the population takes off. I would contend the latter is how wild turkey responded to the introduction. Keep in mind that for years after market hunting was banned, predators were not only unprotected, many had a bounty and most were killed on site. So, turkey entered an ecosystem (where they previously lived in balance) that now had limited predators. Because of logging and farming, it offered an even more conducive habitat for wild turkey. Killing many predators was banned and wild turkey populations skyrocketed.
Like non-native invasive species, they populate like mad and suddenly hit a ceiling. The numbers fall fairly dramatically, then rebound, and eventually a balance is found. I expect we've hit that peak with the wild turkey and in time, things will balance.
Sure, one can kill predators, many legally, but it isn't really that simple. For example, coyotes kill and eat wild turkey and predate nests, but some studies show they have a slightly beneficial impact on turkey when they establish in an area. It turns out they kill more nest predators and the net effect is slightly positive.
So, what can we do? I think the most effective long-term thing we can do is habitat management. Good nesting habitat makes nests harder to find by predators. Proximity to good brooding habitat means poults and hens have to move less to get to brooding. Brooding habitat is a crop that attracts insects that grows vertically rather than matting like fescue so that young poults can run through it. Since insects are 90% of the diet of young poults, avoid insecticides. Perennial clover is a great brooding habitat crop as it greens up quickly and attracts insects. Planting it next to a crop that provides vertical cover gives birds good escape cover from avian predators. Soybeans may be a good crop for this as the canopy protects poults from prying eyes of hawks and the like. Connection is important. If hens have to cross open areas with poults to get to brooding, those birds are at risk. Poult mortality goes way down once they are a couple weeks old an can fly up to roost. At first, they can't fly far or high. Having shrubs close by the brooding grounds helps with this.
On the other end of the equation from poult survival we have hen survival. More breeding hens means more clutches of poults which helps with recruitment. In the south, having young pine stands can be helpful. Birds seem to like pines as rooting spots, probably because avian predators can't see them at a distance on the roost. In the north, winter food may be more of an issue than in the south. Things like dogwood berries last into the winter and are in trees above heavy ice and snow. Getting hens through the winter in good condition helps populations.
Hunting regulations play a role here too. We previously had a fall season that overlapped with the first two weeks of gun deer season. With many more hunters in the woods for deer season, flocks got broken up much more often making birds more vulnerable. Many birds were shot by opportunistic deer hunters rather than folks hunting turkey. In our state, they were able to provide more fall hunting opportunities for turkey hunters by moving the fall turkey season outside the first couple weeks of deer season while reducing hen harvest increasing the number of breeding hens for the next spring.
Some level of predator control within the law can be a part of a management plan, but it is probably not the most critical factor.
Thanks,
Jack
