Wild Turkey Management In West Virginia

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Wild Turkey Management In West Virginia
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Introduction

• Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
• Native to North American continent
• Found in every state except AK
• Five subspecies
• Eastern (M. g. silvestris)
• Florida (M. g. osceola)
• Merriams (M. g. merriami)
• Rio Grande (M. g. intermedia)
• Goulds (M. g. mexicana)

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History In West Virginia

• Widespread distribution when European settlers
  arrived
• Population decline due to
• Over-harvest, especially market hunting
• 1863 outlawed market hunting, baiting and
  trapping. Established two month hunting season
  (Oct 15 Dec 15).
• bag limit restrictions followed

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History in West Virginia

• Population decline
• Widespread logging
• Steam engine
• Railroads
• Subsequent fires
• Peak of logging activity 1902 1925
• Turkeys rare except in the most inaccessible
  mountain regions
• App. 1,000 turkeys statewide

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The Comeback

• WV Conservation Commission (now DNR)
• Hunting regulations
• Land acquisitions
• Coopers Rocks State Forest 1936
• Lewis Wetzel Public Hunting Area 1957
• Wild turkey releases
• 1911 Weeks Law
• 1 mil. acres Monongahela National Forest

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Wild Turkey Releases

• First attempts to stock turkeys
• pen-reared game farm birds
• wild mating system pen-reared birds
• over 5,000 released 1933-1940 and 1961-1965
• completely unsuccessful
• captive-reared seldom survived in the wild
• tameness and inability to adapt to the wild

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Trap and Transfer

• 1950 - Wild birds trapped and transplanted into
  unoccupied range
• first stocking on Coopers Rock State Forest
• 1950-63, 213 turkeys stocked at 19 areas in the
  state
• releases, for the most part, were successful
• slow population growth
• mistakes were made with fall hunting seasons

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Trap and Transfer

• Improvements from scientific research and
  experience
• new trapping methods and techniques
• mortar-thrown nets
• rocket propelled nets
• knowledge on wild turkey population dynamics and
  behavior
• illegal hunting effects
• larger flocks released together
• Moved 2,251 turkeys to 32 counties

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Wild Turkey Research

• Wild Turkey Hen Population Dynamics Study
• cooperative study between VA and WV
• Sept. 1989 Aug. 1994
• reproduction
• effects of fall turkey hunting seasons
• mortality
• home range estimation

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Reproduction (WV)

• 599 hens (293 for gt1 yr) monitored between 4/90
  8/94
• Mean incubation date May 6 0.9 days
• Older adults initiated incubation earlier
• App. 69 nesting rate
• A poult survival rate to 28 days of 30 (from
  subset)

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Mortality

• Identified 633 deaths of 1,032 radioed hens
• 71.7 from predation, poaching, and legal harvest
• Predation - 46
• bobcat
• great horned owl
• Poaching 21.6

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Legal Fall Harvest

• Five year mean of 4.3 (2.0 9.1)
• fall harvest rates lt10 will allow population
  growth

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Mid-Atlantic Gobbler Study

• Cooperative study between WV and VA
• Sept. 2004 Aug. 2007
• Annual survival rates, causes of mortality, home
  range
• Effects on gobbling rates
• weather, mast conditions, hunting activity
• data loggers

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Hunting Mortality of Gobblers in WV
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Timing of Spring Gobbler Season

• Two goals
• Protect the hen
• Permit hunting for bearded turkeys
• WV spring gobbler season opening date fourth
  Monday of April

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Protecting the Hen Resource

• Set season based on average peak of incubation
• HPDS May 6
• aged 3,381 juvenile turkeys April 30
• Several studies have shown an increase in illegal
  harvest with seasons before peak
• Nesting hens have higher average survival during
  nesting season

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Percent Survival of Nesting and Non-Nesting Hens
in WV
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Timing of Spring Gobbler Season

• Arguments for opening the season earlier
• earlier season will result in better gobbling
• gobblers are gobbled out
• vegetation growth makes it more difficult
• safer with an earlier season because of less
  vegetation
• outlaws hunting prior to legal hunters, earlier
  season would level the playing field

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Gobbling Rate

• WV season corresponds with peak gobbling
• Peak period occurs between April 22 May 1
• Hunting pressure does depress gobbling

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Fall Turkey Season

• Traditional and non-traditional counties
• Traditional
• eastern mountains
• 4-week season lengths (ex. Preston Co. 2 week
  season)
• Non-traditional (criteria for fall season)
• Spring gobbler harvest of 1 bird/sq mile of
  turkey range
• Be adjacent to a county that qualifies for a
  season or currently has a fall season

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Gobbling Rate

• Gobbling recorded by 2005 WV spring gobbler
  cooperators

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Questions