"Pity the beast, the poor poor beast, the turkey upon
whom we feast." Such might be the words and thoughts of
those opposed to or uneasy about eating meat (especially that of
a turkey), or celebrating the second-most loved holiday in the
U.S., Thanksgiving Day. Surely many American Indians, along with
the Pilgrims, relied upon wild turkeys for food and didn’t have
much difficulty in procuring them.
It is estimated that around ten million of these wily birds
existed in our country during the mid-1850’s. Over-hunting and
destruction of these birds’ habitats brought this number,
nationwide, to a surprising low of about 300,000 by 1950.
Wisconsin’s wild turkeys disappeared from the state by 1881.
It was the wildlife biologists with the Missouri Conservation
Department who did much research with wild turkeys and developed
successful methods of increasing the numbers of these large
gamebirds. Those birds raised on game farms and released into
the wild did not survive, leading the scientists to develop a way
of obtaining wild turkeys and using them in their reintroduction
program. Large nets shot by small cannons came to be the
preferred method of capturing the birds that had been lured to
bait.
Apparently the first turkeys that the Wisconsin DNR obtained
from Pennsylvania and introduced into the state were game
farm-raised and did very poorly. The next turkeys, 335 of them,
were wild birds from Missouri that were released in the rural
community of Romance in Vernon County in 1976. Those birds did
exceptionally well and, from the newly developed flocks, other
turkeys were released into various other Wisconsin sites.
What an amazing success story this program has been. Today
the estimated number of wild turkeys in our state stands at
320,000, more wild turkeys than in the entire country just 50 or
so years ago! The U.S. population of these very popular
gamebirds stands at 5.4 million today. Turkey hunting has become
a one billion dollar-a-year industry that is enjoyed by 2.6
million hunters.
The five-year Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas project, recently
completed, indicated that wild turkeys successfully breed in all
but around nine counties in the state today. Contributing to
the northward-moving range of these birds have been mild winters
in recent years, available habitat, habitat improvement, the
introduction of wild turkeys and good reproduction. The sale of
turkey stamps, purchased by hunters, funds much of the work
being done in our state to increase the turkey population and
further the hunting of them.
The record spring harvest in Wisconsin this year of 42,237
turkeys, up from the previous spring harvest of 39,336, consists
of more turkeys than existed in the entire country (30,000) a
hundred years ago!
The very best turkey habitat is where crop fields, old fields
and hardwoods are interspersed. Every time Charlotte and I have
driven into Baileys Harbor in recent weeks the road takes us
right through the middle of such an area. Yesterday morning on
our way to church we counted over forty of the birds, about half
of them feasting on kernels of corn on the ground within 50 feet
of the road. The other half of the flock busied themselves
picking weed seeds in the field across the road to the north.
Seve ral of those we studied were "Toms" who sported
beards that were at least eight inches long.
The greatest concentration of these large birds, some weighing
nearly 25 pounds, that we’ve ever experienced occurred on our
Christmas bird count in southern Door County in December of 1999.
One flock of over 200 birds was seen feasting on corn adjacent to
a large tract of woods.
Come spring, I wonder what that woods looks like! I’ve seen
where a large flock of these exceedingly strong-footed creatures
leads one to believe that a battery of powerful roto-tillers has
gone through the area. Imagine the damage they can do to native
plant species, and the number of invasive weed seeds, such as
garlic mustard, they can spread and perfectly plant by their
scratching.
I have a few nagging questions: "Can wild turkeys survive
well on small parcels of land, and, has the success of the
turkeys been at the expense of other native species, especially
in regions that were considered beyond the wild turkeys’
historical range?" Today, thanks to successful
reintroduction, they are hunted in every state with the
exceptions of Alaska and Hawaii.
One of our professional biologist friends claims that turkeys,
in their vigorous scratching for acorns, insects, tubers, etc.
are also devouring great quantities of salamanders, wood frogs
and spring peepers that spend the winter just inches beneath the
fallen leaf cover in many woods.
Yes, we’ll join the American crowd this year, enjoying the
great biodiversity of Thanksgiving, by devouring our share of
(tame) turkey, cranberries, yams and pumpkin pie. In our prayers
we’ll hope that the wild turkey population levels out in such a
way that other native species of plants and animals will also
continue to successfully survive.
This wild turkey scratches for seeds under the bird feeders
at the Lukes home.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 11/29/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
