The NWTF and state authorities are actively working to better understand what is happening to America’s favourite game birds as many state across the nation experience a decline in wild turkey groups.
And this is particularly true in Tennessee and Kentucky, where a multi-state study job is being conducted in collaboration by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Kentucky Department of Fisheries, and the NWTF.
In the second month of its four-year period, the Tennessee-Kielton creative band project is one season closer to better comprehending harvest and survival information that may be affecting populations.
The band initiative aims to collect information that will improve our understanding of the biological factors that affect male crop and survival rates in Tennessee and Kentucky, such as mating phenology or timing, habitat quality, and regulatory factors( such as season timing and bag limits ).
Produce rates can affect populations in two ways: first, by eliminating juvenile and adult gobblers in their entirety, and second by eradicating strong males from the population.
The rooster population is highly dependent on annual selection and could negatively impact populations( not to mention looking pleasure ) if too few mature males remain, according to Roger Shields, representative of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Wild Turkey system.” In the first case, harvesting too many adult men can shift the population balance to younger male members ,” he said. The latter could result in a community decline and have an impact on female sexual rates.
The schedule, length, and case limits of the flower turkey time are crucial for population management because they are hunted and harvested during their breeding season, unlike other upland game birds in North America.
To better tell their season-setting suggestions, state agencies must have a better understanding of the crop rates of gobblers across the state. And in order to learn more about this crucial details, TWRA and KDFW are doing just this.
The regions cover a variety of landscapes in Tennessee and Kentucky and have lots of study locations in both state, on both public and private property. The data between the two companies is being combined to create a complete image of wild turkey crop and survival statistics that have never before been available for both says.
” Kentucky is very similar to Tennessee in most natural respect, but neither have they recorded the same drops in output that we have experienced ,” said Shields. However, Kentucky has not had reports of declining groups to the extent that Tennessee has. ” The variations in Tennessee’s flower harvest period dates and bag limits, as well as those between Kentucky and Tennessee, may make it possible to directly model harvest regulations and assess the sensitivity of harvest rates to several factors, such as season frameworks and habitat quality.”
Researchers in Tennessee and Kentucky have been using jet nets to catch birds over hooked sites since 2021 and up until 2024. Each adult is categorized by the team as either a juvenile or an adult, and each bird is therefore fitted with an aluminum leg band that is riveted and numbered.
According to Zak Danks, coordinator of the wild turkey program for the Kentucky Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Resources,” Our goal is to get more than 300 male exotic Turkeys every within each state, generally distributed on public and private properties.” In order to accurately measure life and harvest rates, our analyses require at least three years of capture, recapture, and recovery data from a minimum of one cohort.
In Tennessee, 669 animals have so far been banded, including 178 in 2021, 2022, and 2023. 310 of them were privy, and 359 were adults. Hunters have so far found 107 of those songs, and as the 2023 spring season begins, more will undoubtedly be found.
659 adult birds have been banded in Kentucky, where the practice first started in 2022. This consists of 425 animals in 2023 and 234 animals banded in 2020. In order to monitor disease, KDFWR staff is also capturing sexual birds( 140 to date ) and gathering heart and other biological samples from species of both sexes.
TWRA and the KDFWR may have a better understanding of the science behind management and, in the end, the ability to retain turkeys thanks to collaboration and information sharing. The task is still ongoing, though, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
Abigail Riggs, a graduate research assistant at TTU’s Cohen Wildlife Laboratory, said,” Right then, it is too early to tell what is similar or different ] between Tennessee and Kentucky. ” To ascertain how regulations affect harvest levels, we are using the data on hunting laws from both states.”
The venture is moving forward thanks to the multi-partner cooperation, even though it is still ongoing and needs many more data collection and evaluation before Riggs, Shields. Danks and the entire team can begin making sense of the information.
The creative effort from the state firms, law enforcement, personal owners, and the general public makes this venture interesting, according to Riggs. ” We’ve received a ton of help from these organizations, and it’s been inspiring to see how committed individuals are to supporting this work. Additionally, the task raises awareness of Eastern wild turkey communities in the two says and any potential problems they may be dealing with. I’ll be interested in what the statistics tells us and what it might mean for the two claims.
In Tennessee, the NWTF and its chapters are also contributing to the funding of two additional exotic turkey research projects: one that looks into sexual success, wildlife use, disease ecology, and other topics, as well as egg fertilization and evidence of early embryo mortality.
