FW 404: Wild Turkey Management, 11/6

Wild Turkeys in North Carolina

  • Restoration

  • Current Status

  • Biology and Habitat Use

  • Habitat Management

  • Some other turkey stuff

Restoration

  • The wild turkey restoration program has been one of the most monumental and successful wildlife management programs in the history of the Commission

1970

  • Statewide population estimated to be 2k turkeys

  • R. Wayne Bailet hired as the WRCā€™s full-time Wild Turkey project leader

  • Restoration

    • fall hunting seasons closed and shifted to more conservative spring hunting

    • trapped and relocated 6031 wild turkeys to 358 restoration sites

Current Status

  • What areas and habitats support the highest numbers of turkeys?

  • Sandy Mush Game Landā€”2795 acres

    • reported harvest in 2020 was 36 turkeys (8.2 turkeys/square mile)

    • reported harvest in 2021 was 11 turkeys (2.5 turkeys/square mile)

Biology and Habitat Use

  • What are the limiting factors and how do we improve them?

The Omnivorous Turkey

  • 90% plant material

    • mast, fruits, seeds, green, and ag crops

    • acorns make up 1/3 of diet

    • soft-mast producing shrubs like wild grape, dogwood, black gum, black cherry, hackberry, are also important especially when hard mast crops fail

    • grasses and seeds are important winter and spring foods

  • 10% animal matter

    • insects comprise the majority of the summer diet for young turkey poults

Poult Foods

  • Insects are critical for poult growth and development

    • beetles

    • true bugs

    • grasshoppers

    • leafhoppers

Diversity is Key

  • A mixture of forested and open land provides the best turkey habitatĀ 

  • diversity in structure, age (uneven) and vegetation

  • diversity in uses

    • foraging, nesting, breeding, cover, roosting, bugging, etc

  • think landscape

Nesting Habitat

  • Turkeys prefer mature woodlands comprised of a mixture of tree species with open understories growing with herbaceous (nonwoody) plants

  • Turkeys usually select areas with dense brush, tall grass, fallen tree-tops (recent clearcuts) for nesting

Brood Habitat

  • Forested areas with moderate herbaceous understories, forest clearings, forest savannahs, power line right of ways, old home sites, and spring seeps

  • These areas usually have an abundance of insects

  • The moderate vegetation allows the young poults to move freely

  • Brood range can be created in forested stands by thinning to a basal area of 40-60 ft/acre and control burning the thinned stand

Forested Lands

  • Timber lands should be managed to optimize hard and soft mast production and to provide a dispersed system of permanent forest openings

  • create a mosaic

  • longer timber rotations

Hardwood Stands

  • Roughly 60% of the trees on your property should be in mast producing age (50+ years)

  • protect soft mast producing shrubs, vines, and forbs

  • mixture of hard mast producing species

Pine Stands

  • Promote herbaceous understory vegetation

  • Increase sunlight to forest floor

  • Thin heavy and often

  • Prescribed fire

    • rotation 3-5 years

  • Wider tree plantings

Open Land

  • should comprise 10-50% of the area

  • size and distribution is important, well dispersed smaller openings is best

  • turkeys typically do not use the center of clearings larger than 20 acres

  • management should not be conducted during the nesting season (May to June)

Predators

  • Predators that have been known to prey on turkeys include:

    • Bobcat, coyote, red fox gray fox, opossum, raccoon, skunk, rodents, hawks, owls, eagles, crows, ravens, snakes, dogs, and many others.

Survivalā€”Adults

  • For an upland gamebird, survival rates for adult turkeys are quite high

    • higher in late summer, fall, winter

    • naturally lower during reproduction in spring and early summer

Survivalā€”Poults

  • Poults not able to fly during first two weeks of lifeā€”high mortality

  • once they can roost in trees, survival rates improve, but still low

Habitat Management

  • What tools do we have for improving habitat, and when, where, and why should we use them?

Fields

  • Umbrella effect:

    • overhead cover

    • horizontal cover

    • movement

  • Disking

    • exposing bare soil

    • forbs and cover

    • timing is key

  • Fire

    • control woody plants like trees

    • promote forbs and native grasses

    • timing and frequency vary depending on site

    • selective use to improve plant composition

    • frequency varies, but generally 3-5 years

    • very little direct impact to nesting

Forest Management

  • ground cover

  • hard mast

  • soft mast

  • basal area

  • commercial vs non commercial harvest

Some other turkey stuff that wildlife students should know

NCWRCā€™s Goal for Wild Turkey Management

  • The goal for wild turkey management in NC is to emphasize spring gobbler hunting by managing the population below MSY in order to:

    • maintain high quantity spring hunting and

    • maximize continued increases in population size and distribution

Multi-Scale Assessment of Wild Turkey Ecology in NC

  • 4 year project (2020-2023)

  • Three study areas (1 study area/region)

  • Capture and radio telemetry of 480 wild turkeys

TOPHAT

Which of the following is a true statement about wild turkey?

A

hens typically lead their broods to roadsides, field borders, and fallow fields

B

urban development is not a real threat to sustaining wild turkey populations

C

prescribed fire generally is not used to manage turkey habitat

D

all answers are correct

E

no answers are correct