Wild Turkey Project Leader
Division of Wildlife Management
Raleigh, North Carolina
Revised 1993
James B. Hunt Jr., Governor
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Wild Turkey Project Leader
Division of Wildlife Management Raleigh, North Carolina
Revised 1993
James B. Hunt Jr., Governor
|
Classification
The scientific name of
the wild turkey is Meleagris gallopavo. It belongs to the Class-Aves,
Order-Galliformes, Family-Meleagrididae, Genus- Meleagris, Species-gallopavo.
There are six subspecies of wild turkey found in North America. The subspecies
occurring in North Carolina is the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo
silvestris).
Description
The wild turkey is our largest game bird and is a streamlined version of its domestic counterpart. Adult hens weigh ten to twelve pounds with gobblers frequently attaining weights of over twenty pounds. Despite their size, their powerful wings can propel them at speeds of over fifty miles per hour. Unless startled, wild turkeys usually prefer to travel and escape danger by walking and running. The head of the wild turkey lacks feathers and is multicolored. The gobbler's head may appear red, blue, white, or some combination thereof, depending on his state of emotional excitement. The feathers of the wild turkey are beautifully iridescent. Gobblers differ from hens in that the breast and body feathers have black rather than brown tips, thus accounting for the overall darker appearance of the males. Adult males and a small percentage of females possess a beard which protrudes from the breast. Although hairlike in appearance, the beard is actually a modified feather. Males also possess a spur on the inside portion of each leg. In females, only a small knob or scale is present. The wild turkey's vocabulary consists of six basic calls: the cluck, the alarm putt, the yelp, the whistle or kee kee of the very young bird, the tree yelp, and the gobble of the mature male. In addition, there are sex and age variations in pitch, tone quality, volume, and inflection.
Life History
Wild turkeys are groundnesting
birds with nests often found at the bases of trees, partly concealed by overhanging
cover. A clutch of twelve to fourteen eggs is laid from midApril to midMay
in North Carolina. The poults hatch out twentyeight days after incubation
begins. They are quickly able to follow their mother and begin foraging for
themselves. As a result of inclement weather and predators, more than half the
young usually die in the first few weeks after hatching. When a nest is destroyed,
particularly during the early stages of incubation, the hen will frequently
renest.
Part of the adaptability
of wild turkeys lies in the variety of foodstuffs on which they are able to
subsist. When available, acorns are a favorite; but a wide array of mast, buds,
fruits, grasses, seeds, insects, green vegetation, and small animals are consumed
regularly.
Ranges for wild turkeys
vary widely with season, food supplies, and habitat type and quality. Birds
may roam over only a few hundred acres during some seasons and in some habitat
types, while annual ranges in different habitat types may cover several thousand
acres. Movements of up to
fifty miles have been
recorded for banded birds but this is the exception rather than the rule.
The maximum recorded lifespan
for a turkey in captivity is twelve years and four months. For wild birds, the
maximum is less than ten years. The average life expectancy, however, is less
than two years; and a four or fiveyearold bird can compliment
itself on its survival capabilities.
Bobcats, foxes, raccoons,
skunks, owls, hawks, and snakes are all natural turkey predators; but do not
pose a serious threat to an established turkey population. Wild or freeranging
dogs, on the other hand, are unnatural predators and can pose problems for wild
turkeys, especially in newly stocked areas.
History
Turkeys
have been of great importance to
man in America since before the dawn of history. Fossil turkey
bones have been found in numerous deposits dating back to the Upper Pliocene
geological period.
Early eastern colonists
were surprised at the great numbers of wild turkeys they encountered. The high
esteem in which this noble bird was held and its importance on the banquet tables
of those days made it the symbol of our national holiday, Thanksgiving. Benjamin
Franklin even campaigned for the wild turkey to be the national emblem of this
country instead of the bald eagle. No other bird can compare with the wild turkey
in importance to the early settlers.
Following settlement of
this country, the wild turkey disappeared from large sections of its original
range due to unrestricted
hunting coupled with elimination of much of its original forest habitat. Diseases
introduced from domestic poultry may have also aided in the rapid reduction
of the original turkey population. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, the wild
turkey had disappeared from many sections of North Carolina and this decline
continued through the 1960s despite efforts to reverse this trend. By 1970,
the estimated population of wild turkeys in North Carolina was only 2,000 birds.
Although an unpopular move
at the time, a moratorium was placed on fall turkey hunting in 1972 and a spring
gobbleronly season was established. This move coupled with intensified
restoration efforts marks the beginning of the comeback for the wild turkey
in North Carolina.
Restoration
Early efforts at restoring
wild turkey populations by releasing penreared or game farm birds failed
miserably. These birds were simply not capable of withstanding the rigors of
life in the wild and most quickly died. These efforts may have even been detrimental
to the remaining wild birds by introducing diseases to which the wild birds
had little or no resistance. For this reason, it is now illegal to release penreared
wild turkeys or to allow them to roam freely.
The livetrapping
and relocation of wild birds is the only way to insure successful restoration
of the wild turkey. Crude traps made of boards and chicken wire were used originally
but trapping efforts were not successful at moving large numbers of birds until
the advent of the cannon net. Even more advanced rocket nets and sedative drugs
are used today to capture the birds.
From 1970 to 1988, over
1,100 birds have been livetrapped and relocated to some sixty different
restoration areas in North Carolina. Strict guidelines are followed in evaluating
and selecting potential wild turkey restoration areas to insure the success
of these projects. Generally, fifteen to twenty birds are released per site
at the rate of two to three hens for each gobbler.
The ultimate goal of the
wild turkey restoration program is to restore the wild turkey to all suitable
habitat. With over two million acres of potential, unoccupied range remaining
in North Carolina, restoration will clearly remain the primary objective of
the wild turkey project for many more years.
Present Status
From about 2,000 birds
in 1970, the wild turkey population in North Carolina has grown to over 17,000
birds by 1988. The occupied range was expanded from some 5,000 square miles
to over 11,000 square miles during this same period. Presently, 80 of the state's
100 counties have a population of wild turkeys. The primary areas of occupation
are the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base and the Roanoke River basin in the coastal
region, about ten counties in the piedmont region, and both private and national
forest lands in the mountain region.
Successful restoration
projects have resulted in increased population levels and harvests in all three
geographical regions of the state. In the short term, this trend is expected
to continue. However, in the long term, each region faces very different and
difficult problems. Largescale draining and clearing operations continue
to eliminate much of the habitat in the coastal region. While the piedmont region
offers the best quality habitat, this region has also shown the most rapid urbanization
and industrialization. Habitat loss will also be the main problem facing the
wild turkey in the piedmont region. The mountain region, with vast acreages
of national forest lands and private lands offering good habitat, provides the
greatest opportunity for the wild turkey in North Carolina in the future. The
greatest obstacle in the mountains is the lack of adequate brood range.
Hunting
The
most popular method of hunting the wild turkey is by calling. Hunters listen
for the bird to gobble at dawn, then quickly move into position and try to call
the bird to them. It is helpful to get within 100 to 200 yards of the bird and
be above or at least on the same level with him. A tightly choked shotgun with
number 4, 5 or 6 shot is the favorite weapon combination and the hunter should
aim for the vital head and neck of the bird. Rifles and pistols are not legal
for hunting wild turkeys in North Carolina. Total camouflage is a must and the
hunter should sit with his back to a tree or lie in a depression and remain
perfectly still. A wild turkey's eyesight and hearing are excellent and any
movement or unnatural sound will quickly spook the bird. A wide assortment of
calls are available and the serious hunter becomes proficient with their use.
In hunting the wild turkey, patience is a virtue that is rewarded by the sound
of the thundering gobble of a mature bird and the thrilling sight of this magnificent
game bird in full strut.
Management
Once the wild turkey population
is established in an area, the goal of management is to provide turkey hunting
on a sustainedyield basis by regulating seasons and bag limits, manipulating
habitat, monitoring population trends, and providing protection for the bird.
1 ) Hunting Season and Bag Limits
(a) Spring Season-The hunting
season for wild turkeys in North Carolina usually opens in April and runs for
four consecutive weeks. Only bearded turkeys are legal with a daily bag limit
of one bird and a season limit of two birds. The spring season is established
at such a time when the peak of mating activity has elapsed. This type of season
is the safest form of hunting in terms of the turkey population. At this time,
incubation has begun and the chance of a hunter killing a hen accidentally or
intentionally is at its lowest. After mating season, the gobblers are not considered
to be a vital entity in the population and can be harvested without seriously
affecting the productivity of the population.
(b) Fall Season-The establishment
of a traditional fall turkey season, when and where population levels warrant,
is one of the goals of the wild turkey project in North Carolina. A fall season
would allow hunters to harvest surplus birds from areas with high population
densities. Since young birds comprise a large portion of the population in the
fall and their sex is difficult to distinguish at this time of year, fall seasons
should be eithersex. In formulating recommendations for fall turkey seasons,
biologists must not only consider population levels, but also the size of the
area in question and the timing in relation to other seasons. Opening relatively
small areas to fall eithersex turkey hunting would concentrate hunters
and result in higher harvests. If fall turkey seasons were concurrent with other
hunting seasons, incidental kills by hunters primarily after other game must
be considered.
2 ) Habitat Manipulation
Habitat quality is the
key to the abundance of any game species and the wild turkey is no exception.
It can be improved by properly applied timber management practices such as rotation
length for cutting; the size, shape, and distribution of cuts; prescribed burning;
thinning; and preservation of adequate mastproducing trees. Direct improvements
are made by establishing and maintaining openings to provide adequate brood
range. These openings can be in the form of fields, logging decks, or seldomused
roads that are gated and seeded. Commission biologists cooperate with the U.S.
Forest Service and other landowners in an effort to implement these practices.
3 ) Monitor Population
Trends
Proper management requires
that we understand wild turkey population dynamics and trends. Mandatory tagging
and checking of wild turkey kills began in 1977 and provides the annual harvest
information by county. Spring gobble counts and summer brood surveys provide
information on range expansion and reproduction. Observations are recorded and
tabulated for both restoration areas and statewide. Every five years, wild turkey
range maps are prepared. These include occupied range, potential unoccupied
range, and an estimate of the population by county.
4) Protection
Protection of the wild
turkey from illegal hunting, especially in newly established populations, is
critical. Both the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation
and the North Carolina Bowhunters Association offer rewards to anyone reporting
an illegal turkey kill. The Wild Turkey Federation has also played an important
role in educating the public to the needs of the wild turkey and donating time,
money, manpower, and equipment for habitat improvement, research, and restoration
projects. Anyone wishing to report a violation can call the North Carolina Wildlife
Resources Commission's tollfree hotline number-18006627137.
List Of References
Hewitt, O. H., editor.
1967. The wild turkey and its management. The Wildlife Society, Washington,
D.C. 589 pp.
1986. Guide to
the American
wild turkey. The National Wild Turkey Federation, Edgefield;
S.C. 189 pp.
Giles, Jr., Robert H.,
editor. 1971. Wildlife Management Techniques. The Wildlife Society, Washington,
D.C.