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Tracking wild turkeys in West Virginia over the last three years via radio telemetry equipment has yielded a wealth of knowledge to DNR biologists. Photo: National Wild Turkey Federation |
Seasoned turkey hunters accumulate knowledge each time they set foot in the woods, but a study by the West Virginia DNR is winding down and has yielded results that came as a surprise to even the most knowledgeable turkey hunting woodsmen.
"We’re in the third year of our radio telemetry study," said DNR biologist Bill Igo. "We’ve learned a lot from it that we previously were just guessing."
Tiny radio transmitters that look like a miniature backpack were affixed to the backs of birds in areas all across
"We’re finding out that they’re killing 17 or 18 percent of gobblers. That’s much lower than we thought," Igo said when considering hunting’s impact on the population. "About 21 to 22 percent of those are adult birds and about seven percent are jakes."
The data concludes that hunters aren’t having any negative impacts on the numbers of wild turkeys in the state.
Igo says they’ve also been able to throw a wet blanket on a long held theory that jakes are easier to call than the adult gobblers.
"That’s another interesting thing," Igo said. "We’ve looked at the two-year olds versus the older birds and it doesn’t appear there’s any difference. It doesn’t look like it’s a behavioral thing like we thought, but rather it’s just the quantity of birds."
The same data has also helped biologist more accurately predict the turkey population year-to-year. A good brood year will be more quickly noticed and will immediately serve up a good hunting season two years into the future. The data is golden as biologists make their recommendation for future hunting seasons and bag limits, especially fall hunting.
Prior to the study, very little was known about the range of wild turkeys in
"There was a big movement this fall because our acorn crop was pretty poor in the mountain counties. We figured mortality would go up and movement would go up and it did," said Igo.
Food isn’t the only motivating factor that puts birds on a pilgrimage to greener pasture. The lure of love is also playing a big role, especially with the well-seasoned gobblers of the flock.
"The dominant gobblers, big birds with big spurs, they have a tendency to move great distances right before gobbler season and during gobbler season. They might move two miles in one day," Igo said. "I think they’re following girlfriends is what they’re doing."
The data also reveals however, many of those gobblers that are paired up with other males of the turkey population tend to move very little.
"I think they’re the sub-dominant gobblers myself," Igo theorized.
A lot of
"Coyote predation was a minor factor in our hen study from ten-years ago, but in the gobbler’s it’s very minor."
The DNR reports 65-percent of the gobblers are actually surviving through the year, which is considered a high number. Hunters take Eighty-five percent of those turkeys that are killed each year.
The study is due to end officially in September. Igo says he wants to add to the data with another spring hunting season and a brooding season. He considers the study quite a success.
"We’ve got to thank the state chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. They bought all the radios and spent tens of thousands of dollars to get us started. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten it up in the air."
Also helpful will be a similar study that’s been ongoing around the same time in the state of