FAIRVIEW, W.Va. — Across West Virginia, hunters enjoy an abundance of wild turkeys. The critters inhabit all 55 counties of the Mountain State and have thrived in improved habitat.
The dispersal of the birds in West Virginia is a direct result of the trap and transfer program carried out by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources from the mid-1980’s until the early 1990’s. The agency has monitored the birds since then, but there hasn’t been any deep study on their habits or numbers.
“We’ve been looking at 30 year old data,” said Mike Peters, game bird biologist for the West Virginia DNR. “It will be nice to go back and repeat the study to see if what we found 30 years ago is still good today. Hopefully we’ll simply reinforce what we did 30 years ago. I suspect there will be some minor changes, but I think it will reinforce what we already know.”
WV DNR outfitting 200 wild turkeys with GPS transmitters for a four year study on movements and habits. pic.twitter.com/kMcxjDs3Bv
— Chris Lawrence (@WVOutdoors) February 15, 2024
Peters is heading up a four-year wild turkey study in West Virginia which has gotten started in the last couple of months. DNR personnel are trapping and tagging multiple birds in various parts of the state. All are being outfitted with bands and some select turkeys are getting GPS transmitters.
“We’re targeting hens, so we’re hoping to put out 200 transmitters over the course of the next two years in West Virginia’s four ecological regions. These transmitters will collect GPS data,” he explained.
Peters added there is other technology on the transmitters to help learn not only where the birds are located, but also what they are doing. Activity like nesting, roosting, or brooding will be discernable. The technology to make those determinations didn’t exist 30 years ago.
“We hope to get a better idea for what areas they’re using for nesting, brooding, and roosting. Also we’re looking at nesting data like clutch size, timing of nesting, success rates, and hatch rates. It should be a really good study,” he said.
The information will naturally be compared to the data collected by the agency’s biologists three decades ago. But, Peters admitted there could be some skewing since the last study on turkeys came after the trap and transfer program which caused population numbers to explode.
“Yeah, that study took place when we had growing populations. A new population, no matter if it’s ants or turkeys, will grow exponentially in the beginning, then peak out a little bit, and eventually level off,” he said. “We’re at the level off point, so I guess what we could see is a change in poult survival, but that’ s really hard to get at that.”
Along with the data collected from tracking birds, Peters said they intend to conduct a simultaneous human dynamics study. Although the work to determine turkey hunter participation isn’t firm yet, a lot of it may be done online. The biggest takeaway the data from the human dimension could yield is how many turkey hunters are there in West Virginia. For many years, the DNR has based the state’s turkey population on harvest data, but many, including Peters, believe that’s a somewhat flawed method. It’s highly unlikely West Virginia has the same number of turkey hunters in 2024 as it did in the 1980’s and 90’s.
“We’ve known for two decades we’re losing hunters. Years ago, we based our population estimates on hunter success. Fall turkey harvest is not a reflection at all of the population, it’s a reflection of participation, so hopefully we can get at that also,” Peters said.
The first birds have been trapped, tagged, and released and that process will continue for the months ahead. Peters hopes to get 190 or so transmitters in the field this year and maintain the level at close to 200 for the duration of the study.
Tagged birds are legal for harvest in the fall turkey hunting season or the Mountaineer Heritage season when hens are legal to kill. The agency simply asks if you kill a bird with a transmitter or tag to give them a call to report the kill and arrange to return the transmitter.