Fall Harvest Rates of Female Wild Turkeys in PA

[dcheckman]

Note: for 2013 and 2014 Fall Turkey Hunting Season dates will change between WMU's in this Research Study.


Fall Harvest Rates of Female Wild Turkeys in Pennsylvania
2011-2014 Research Study

Summary prepared by
Mary Jo Casalena &
Dr. Duane R. Diefenbach

The Pennsylvania Game Commission manages wild turkey populations by setting fall turkey hunting seasons, because the fall harvest influences the number of hens that survive to reproduce the next spring. However, fall harvest rates of hen wild turkeys in Pennsylvania, and the effects of different fall season lengths on harvest rates, are unknown. This study will determine such.

Study Objectives:
1. Estimate female wild turkey harvest rates.
2. Determine fall hunter participation and hunter harvest throughout the season and hunter satisfaction (via a turkey hunter survey after each fall season).
3. Determine the effect of changing season length on harvest rates of hens to more effectively establish fall hunting seasons.

2 Study Areas: consist of groups of similar Wildlife Management Units (WMUs)
Study Area 1 - WMUs 2C, 2E, 4A, 4B & 4D; Units that have shown to be sensitive to long fall seasons.
Study Area 2 - WMUs 2F & 2G; Units that traditionally have had long seasons, but have lower population densities (turkeys per mi.2) than the state average.

Study Length:

4 fall hunting seasons (2011, 2012, 2013 & 2014).
Fieldwork began January 2010 (trapping birds Jan-Mar and Aug-Oct) and monitoring of birds will continue through the November 2014 hunting season.

Procedures:
Objective 1: Estimate female wild turkey harvest rates.
Leg Bands - In each Study Area 230 wild hen turkeys each year are trapped using rocket nets and fitted with leg bands that specify a $100 reward if reported. Leg bands also are stamped with a toll-free number to report the band number. A toll-free number results in greater reporting rates by hunters (compared to a mailing address) and is an effective means of collecting harvest information and paying rewards.

Satellite Radio Transmitters – A sample of hens also are equipped with a satellite radio transmitter attached as a backpack that remains on her for life. The batteries last over 4 years. Transmittered hens allow us to estimate how many birds survive to the fall hunting season. The harvest of reward-banded and transmittered birds allows us to estimate the proportion of birds that are harvested — the harvest rate for hen turkeys. We retrieve transmitters from hens that die and re-deploy them on other hens each trapping season to maintain a sample of transmittered birds each year.

Objective 2: Fall Hunter Surveys
After each fall turkey season a survey is mailed to 10,000 Pennsylvania hunters with a postage-paid return envelope. Only a few questions are asked to ensure at least a 70% return rate. Questions include hunting participation, success and satisfaction for the early and late segments of the fall hunting season as well as reasons why they did or didn’t hunt to determine hunter recruitment and youth participation.

Objective 3: Determine How Season Length Affects Harvest Rates
We’ll change season lengths in each Study Area after 2 years (2013) to determine how this affects female harvest rates. With actual data regarding hen harvest rates, hunter participation and satisfaction we can more effectively set future fall turkey hunting seasons.

Funding Sources:
- Federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research grant,
- The National Wild Turkey Federation, The Pennsylvania Chapter NWTF & local NWTF Chapters,
- U.S. Geological Survey, PA Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, at The Pennsylvania State University.

[Deleted]

It will be interesting to see the results of this study. Just an observation. I hunt deer in South Carolina during the third week of October, and they have a ton of turkeys. One reason they have so many is that they do not kill hens, and they do not have a fall season. I am not suggesting this for Pennsylvania in any way. Just like our past mistakes in managing whitetail deer where we protected does way too much, South Carolina will eventually pay a price for having too many turkeys. In fact they already are having problems with epidemics of disease among larger flocks. About the only limiting factor on turkey hatches there is the presence of wild hogs. This may come to pass in PA if we can't get a handle on our growing wild hog population, which has not been met with success in other states. All animal species need to be kept within limits, turkeys included. That is why I like the fall turkey season here even though I usually don't hunt it much.

[dcheckman]

I have a proposal in front of PANWTF I wrote about in an PATT article a couple years ago.

Today throughout estimated population formula data grids from Game Take Survey database PGC estimates appx 325,000-350,000 +- state-wide population with a possible 3 bird tag limit.

I proposed working that estimated state-wide population up to 450,000, stable over 3 years, then increasing tags to 4, 2 spring and 2 fall.

Key is stable over 3 years 450,000 estimated state-wide population. Another key is hunter density's. Just how many spring and fall hunters do we have? Spring only?, Fall only?, Spring/Fall hunters? PGC has estimates but they seen high, but it is what it is and the numbers they will be using in their wild turkey population model for state-wide wild turkey management.

Like I have repeatedly said a dozen times, 2 or 3 dozen times in my articles... since 1958, the year that I can go back to and find adequate hunting and population data to start the state-wide population increases, and what I use for my 1958-2008 50 year wild turkey management article, since undated in 2010 and 2011.

Out of 60 some major achievements and accomplishments that I have documented for wild turkey management since 1958, not one, NOT ONE, state-wide wild turkey management regulation or management change, and not one, NOT ONE, Regional (TMA-now WMU) wild turkey management regulation or management change has been documented to negatively impact any regional or state-wide wild turkey populations anywhere in the state.
NOT ONE!!!

Granted so far in soon to be 55 years, Pennsylvania and PGC has been fortunate, no overabundance of wild turkey populations, no habitat decimation, no large - wide spread flock disease reported, no major issues. Winter weather, Spring rains, predation, lost of habitat there has been, are all manageable negatives so far. And my fingers on both hands and both toes remained crossed as we talk about such conditions.

However... WHY??? Because PGC has had and continues to have successful wild turkey planning and management tools in place, successful staff from wild turkey biologists and GPs and WCOs that have participated in wild turkey trapping for management documented research studies and movement priorities, somewhat successful poaching game laws and enforcement, and always working on habitat on Games Lands. Multiply that habitat by a factor of 4 times and you have public hunting land pretty well covered, and private land habitat management is doing well since the "old years" of complete forest lumbering, oil drilling up in the Northwest spreading these past 50 years to Southwest, Northcentral, and Northeast counties. Strip mining is about over-done, and land reclamation has been working well. Insect predation of our forests is another issue, a bad situation that seems to have no ends. But although part of the population equation and formula, a situation that is being worked on, monitored, and habitat improvements being made as workforce and dollars can be extended. In the southern regions human population needs have reduced hundreds of thousands of acres of farm land, forests, woodlots, and other types of habitat being replaced with concrete, blacktop, housing developments, business parks, shopping centers, plazas of all kinds, everywhere one can drive and even walk.

Bottom line wild turkey populations are doing well, tag limits do not seem to be a problem, turkey hunter numbers have seemed to declined in last 10 years somewhat, and all seems to be good in the turkey woods and fields.

I have a ton of articles documenting all this, PGC has many tons of data and articles and wild turkey management materials they use, and all seems to be doing well, as long as Commissioner's and PGC Staff adhere to and follow the PGC "Management Plan For Wild Turkeys In Pennsylvania -- 2006 - 2015".

The next PGC management plan update will start all over again in a couple short years and will be from 2016-2025.

I call this 2000-2025 the most important years of Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Management since 1958 for a very good reason, as documented in the Executive Summary of the first Management Plan, and the current Management Plan. They are absolutely GREAT reads if one is dedicated to wild turkey management and wild turkey hunting.

Notice I never mentioned NWTF/PANWTF in all this information, reason, we are a source of information, funding, support for PGC, DCNR, Corps of Engineers, Allegheny National Forest, Delaware Water Gap, and other public lands, and for private land owners willing to improve their lands for wild turkey and wildlife habitat management or reclamation.

PANWTF has done well over the last 37 years because a select few have made it their lifelong passion to provide that information, funding, support, hunting skills to the rest of Pennsylvania. We have been extremently fortunate the few involved, dedicated volunteers and staff have had the opportunity do fulfill our mission statement and provide leadership and tolerence to achieve all these positive end results over all these years.

And I could go on and on with the success story, and much more, however until later...
Don...