8th Annual National Wild Turkey Symposium - 2000
Missouri Wild Turkey Population was 500,000 to 600,000 in 2001
The Symposium
was held at Augusta, Georgia - June 5–9, 2000
Proceedings have been published for all of the Symposia, and except for the second, they are cited as a series. The second Symposium was published by the University of Missouri Press in 1973 and titled "Wild Turkey Management, Current Problems and Programs."
Copies of all National Wild Turkey Symposia, including the second, can be obtained from the National Wild Turkey Federation, Edgefield, South Carolina
I recommend everyone start requesting copies.
Some information about Wild Turkey you only told parts about - You will really enjoy!!!!!!
Information from the 8th National Wild Turkey Symposium in 2000 from these states and countries Texas, Idaho, Arizona, Oregon, Kansas, South Dakota, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Missouri.
MISSOURI
One of the Father's - Restroation of the Missouri Wild Turkey Restoration
THE MISSOURI EXPERIENCE
Some work had been done by A. S. Leopold (1943) beginning in 1940 to determine how native wild turkey populations could be increased.
The project was conducted on 5,530 ac located in Ozark County in southwest Missouri. The area known as Caney Mountain Refuge.
Unfortunately, the turkey management program at Caney Mountain Refuge was discontinued in 1943 because of personnel problems created by World War II.
World War II either stopped or drastically curtailed wildlife management and research work across the country.
Following the close of World War II very little attention was given to the wild turkey in Missouri for the next 7 years except to continue with a statewide survey that had begun in 1942 and was maintained at 5-year intervals.
There were 4,340 wild turkeys counted in the 1942 inventory (Dalke and Leopold 1943). In 1952, only 2,379 birds were tallied which was almost a 50% reduction in just 10 year
When the figures from the 1952 inventory were made public some serious concerns about the future of the wild turkey in Missouri were expressed; primarily by hunters and sportsmen organizations. It may sound strange but the sentiments of the hunters and sportsmen weren’t necessarily shared by the Department of Conservation. However, due to a resolution from the Conservation Federation of Missouri in 1952 requesting that the Missouri Department of Conservation take immediate action to restore the wild turkey,
Missouri’s wild turkey program was jump-started from an almost “do nothing” to an “action” program. Shocked by the resolution, the Director and the Missouri Conservation Commission came up with a wild turkey restoration plan.
To establish a source of wild turkeys the Department of Conservation acquired a (36 mi2) area in southeast Missouri known as Peck Ranch. The area was selected because it was isolated, and a few native wild turkeys remained.
The Ste. Genevieve County release site was approved in January 1955 and later that winter 22 turkeys were released (7 males and 15 females).
During the second winter following the release the turkey population in Ste. Genevieve County was estimated at 100 birds. Four years later the number had increased to 300.
Perhaps 1 of the biggest surprises of the restoration program was how well wild turkeys adapted to habitat conditions in north Missouri.
Habitat guidelines for selecting release sites in southern Missouri required the area should be 70% forested.
Nowhere is there an area in north Missouri of (15,000 ac) that is 70% timbered. Corn and soybean fields more than make up for the lack of trees and turkey densities in the northern part of the state are much higher than in the more heavily forested parts of south Missouri.
REPRODUCTIVE ECOLOGY OF EASTERN WILD TURKEY FEMALES IN THE EASTERN MISSOURI OZARKS
Turkey populations in the northern regions of the state, on average, appear to have the potential to produce greater numbers of poults and, consequently, obtain and maintain higher densities than turkey populations in the eastern Missouri Ozarks.
MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
Biologists are sometimes forced to use data obtained from short-term, localized studies to model populations on large geographic areas. Often, the results obtained during these modeling efforts do not reflect actual changes in the population.
These types of problems are evident when comparing similar research between northern and southern Missouri. Obviously, average reproductive potential differs substantially between the 2 regions.
Reproductive ecology of radiomarked eastern wild turkey females in the eastern Ozarks of Missouri on 2 study areas during 1990–98
Across years and study areas, nesting rates ranged from 45.3 to 100%.
Nest success of females that did attempt to nest ranged from 14.1 to 63.3%.
Survival of poults to 4 weeks of age ranged from 0 to 82%. Even though the 2 study areas were only about (19 mi) apart, differences in nesting rate between areas were detected.
On both study areas, nesting rate of juveniles was lower than that of adults. When compared with data
from radiomarked females in northern Missouri, nesting rates, female success, and poult survival in the eastern Ozarks were substantially lower.
Average reproductive rates were much lower in the eastern Ozarks than in northern Missouri and do not appear to be sufficient to maintain population levels observed at the beginning of the study.
We conducted our study in 2 locations in the eastern Missouri Ozarks. The Peck Ranch Conservation Area is a 9,187 ha (22,508 ac) area in Carter county.
The South Study Area is located south of U.S. Highway 60 in southeastern Shannon, northern Oregon, and southwestern Carter counties.
Nesting rates observed in the eastern Missouri Ozarks (<0.85) were lower than those observed in northern Missouri (Vangilder and Kurzejeski 1995).
In addition to having lower nesting rates in southern Missouri than in other parts of the eastern wild turkey’s range, the overall nesting rate differed between the 2 study areas which were in relatively close proximity [19 mi] apart).
We also observed a difference in the overall nesting rate of juvenile and adult females. In northern Missouri.
Poult survival to 4 wks in the eastern Missouri Ozarks (0.24–0.26) was less than those reported elsewhere in the eastern wild turkey’s range. 0.45 in northern Missouri.
Suggested that annual fluctuations in wild turkey populations may be most impacted by changes in nest success and variation in poult survival. For the eastern Ozarks, we agree with Roberts et al. (1995) that nest success and poult survival have the greatest impact on population fluctuations because female survival is similar to that observed elsewhere in the eastern wild turkey’s range (Vangilder 1996).
Turkey populations in the northern regions of the state, on average, appear to have the potential to produce greater numbers of poults and, consequently, obtain and maintain higher densities than turkey populations in the eastern Missouri Ozarks.
MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
Biologists are sometimes forced to use data obtained from short-term, localized studies to model populations on large geographic areas. Often, the results obtained during these modeling efforts do not reflect actual changes in the population.
These types of problems are evident when comparing similar research between northern and southern Missouri. Obviously, average reproductive potential differs substantially between the 2 regions.
