The NWTF is supporting a new initiative led by Kansas State University, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and the U.S. Geological Survey, Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit as part of its 2023 funding in wild turkey analysis.
A larger state-wide statistical study that aims to release important wild turkey data, such as success, nest success, hunter influence, and more, includes the nutrition research.
Three different Kansas research locations, including Trego, Lincoln, and Osage counties, will host the poult and hen feed ecology component, which will also include regions where Eastern and Rio Grande wild birds live.
Both subspecies of wild turkeys were accounted for in the state’s past brood surveys, which measure poults per hen, a ratio that wildlife managers use to measure the stability of a population. In 2021, the statewide poults-per-hen ratio in Kansas was 1.2, and in 2022, the ratio was 1.4.
A community of wild turkeys is declining if there are fewer than two poults per bird.
A successful bird raising a healthy nest and attracting poults to adolescents is necessary to establish an egg-to-hen ratio of two or higher. In the upcoming study, the diets of hens and poults will be looked at during their most crucial recruitment stages — the first two weeks of the latter’s breeding season.
According to Dan Sullins, Ph.D.,” While the significance of food sources from hatch to a fledgling state has been widely reported, we are not fully aware of the specific food sources that poults chose during this vulnerable time.” D., a Kansas State University associate doctor. For the first three days of their lives, poults can eat from the egg sac, but from 3 to 14 weeks old, they need insects to meet their 28 % protein needs. Previous studies on the diet of livestock either used small samples of wild birds or local poultry. With the help of contemporary bowel DNA metabarcoding techniques, it is now possible to better understand poult nutrition and how they differ across Kansas landscapes.
Researchers can use DNA metabarcoding to extract DNA from mature and poult adult feces during the mating season. During these crucial time periods, the intestinal DNA information will be used to determine which bugs and food sources poults and hens use the most. The wildlife that produces the crucial worm forage necessary to maintaining a population may eventually be optimized by wildlife managers thanks to the findings.
According to Kent Fricke, the little game coordinator for the KDWP and a member of the NWTF Wild Turkey Technical Committee, this investigation will close an important awareness gap in our understanding of turkey ecology. In the Midwest and Southeast, lower production has been the main cause of declining turkey populations. But, it is still questionable in some regions whether nest survival or poult survival is the key life stage. We are aware that forage is necessary for poults to develop fast and thrive as fledglings. As long as poults have access to high-quality brooding habitat, it is a fundamental tenet of turkey management that the forage they consume there— mostly insect feed — will be of high enough quality to meet their growth requirements. There are significant justifications for testing this supposition, though. Second, in some areas of the wild turkey variety, we’ve seen landscape-scale declines in insect diversity and abundance. Subsequently, the characteristics of a good, honest, and excellent brooding habitat vary. We can better understand how these factors may or may not be limiting turkey populations by researching food supply, consumption, and general hunting ecosystem.
In January 2024, research will start. In each study area, researchers hope to catch on 60 female and 60 adult turkeys( a total of about 360 birds ).
Each bird’s body state, estimated age, and other crucial characteristics will be evaluated by the group. The right leg of each animal will then be strapped with a foot circle that is individually numbered and riveted. Over the course of the three review sites, child birds will also receive GPS-VHF transmitters. Researchers will be able to tell when eggs are off the colony and when they are nesting thanks to the transmissions. The team may find a hen’s nest, count the eggs, and report its GPS location when it is away from the nest.
Sullins stated that” we will attach mini-transmitters to poults after they hatch at a successful nest in order to track them as they develop into juvenile states.” Over the course of the two-year project, we intend to add transmissions to 90 poultry each year.
Finding the brooding bird using VHF and then scanning the poult frequencies will be used to monitor the status of each poultry at least three to four times per month.
By locating area include connected to wild turkey wildlife, such as food plots, grazed pastures and burned areas, the group will also create land-cover maps for each research site. To ascertain the applicable vegetation structure and composition, researchers will test vegetation at various locations within each patch that has been identified during the winter, spring, and summer.
The group will also count the bugs in each of these different habitats. They will be able to examine a distinctive strong of poultry survival, poultry and hen diets, and animal forage availability across various habitat types thanks to this information.
The project’s findings may have applications outside of the Sunflower State, even though the work will take place at three different research sites there.
The amount of conversation among condition turkey biologists on the NWTF Technical Committee may surprise some NWTP members, according to Fricke. By facilitating discussions about emerging problems, research objectives, and population trends, the Technical Committee” provides a basis for discussions at nationwide, regional, or native levels.” Both the Rio Grande and Eastern bomb populations can be found in Kansas’s very diverse scenery. The study findings will be relevant to a much larger audience in the turkey management community as well as to habitats in both the Eastern and Western U.S. due to this diversity and the study’s extensive geographic scope. S..”
As work gets underway, the NWTF will update you on this fascinating new job. Keep an eye on NWTF. org.
With$ 582, 374 invested in these crucial projects, the NWTF is funding 10 new research projects across nine states. The NWTF and its partners are funding these tasks as part of a nearly$ 9 million funding in wild turkey research for 2023.
The National Wild Turkey Federation
Over 22 million acres of vital wildlife habitat have been preserved or improved thanks to the National Wild Turkey Federation’s over$ 500,000 investment in wildlife conservation since 1973. By collaborating across geographic boundaries, the organization continues to promote wildlife conservation, forest resilience, and solid recreational opportunities across the United States.
The NWTF will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2023, providing a chance to advance the organization’s mission while preserving its abundant past. The NWTF has six ambitious objectives for its 50th anniversary: improve the habitat for wildlife on 1 million acres, raise$ 500 000 for wild turkey research, increase membership to 250 000, spend$ 1 million on outreach and education programs, invest$ 5 million in technology and the people who work for the organization, and build toward a$ 50 million endowment in the future. Find out how you may support our aspirations.
National Wild Turkey Federation is the cause.
