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A Total Forest Management Plan and Wildland Management Decision Support System
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The Wild Turkey Group

Like Rural System Deer Group, The Wild Turkey Group represents a radical departure in wildlife and game management in North America. First described by Giles in a wild turkey conference in 1981, the concept of the wild turkey "guild" (as in a group of superior workers) has been taught, discussed, and improved. The concept is one of intensive, single-species management. It is not in opposition to but a test of the alternative to state and federal programs that emphasize multiple-use and upland game management.

The opposition or alternative is in response to:

1. lack of awareness of the numbers and importance and interest in the wild turkey;
2. lack of knowledge about to whom to turn for management on private lands;
3. unresponsiveness of agencies to requests for action (limited staff, limited budgets, conflicting policies, and competitive programs);
4. concern over high program costs (with no insight about financial returns); fragmented efforts;
5. and agency inability to resolve the policy issue of extensive projects of localized intensive action.

The Wild Turkey Group represents a major natural resource alternative. It is similar to that proposed for The Deer Group and other faunal enterprises. It accounts for the unique nature of animals. It denies that all animals are mere 'wildlife' and subject to the same generalizations. It demands superior managerial skills and knowledge and uses them, not merely collects them.

From one perspective, the Group is a large agribusiness management firm. It manages land for profits related to the 'crop', defined as human benefits associated with the bird. The human benefits are diverse and many, and likely to be increased.

The approach and the actions of the Group are as follows. They will be developed cautiously but rapidly to achieve a diverse, sustainable enterprise that brings a diverse clientele to wildlands, assures stable use in the hunting season as well as other times, and operates a consulting group to assist other land owners in achieving positive gains from their land and turkey resource. The actions include:

1. Offering voluntary memberships for individuals and corporations.
2. Promoting a systems approach to single-species management for maximum benefits over time
3. Providing forest and wildland taxation advice
4. Providing improved forest land value assessment for long-term valuation and land and water banking
5. Providing advice on agro-energy land use incentives
6. Providing income from lands usually idle that can at least pay real estate taxes
7. Providing access to a foundation or relating to an educational and research group that provide tax incentives for progressive investment in the natural resource
8. Developing publications and media related to the turkey
9. Providing a scoring service, partially for public relations purposes, partially as a means for corporate officers to evaluate progress being made on their lands. For example, a score might be reported: "The corporation lands were certified by The Wild Turkey Group to have a score of 76." The corporation might boast of such a score, show progress, and show scores relative to competitors. Such scores may have importance in certain corporate stock values. A new development on the land may increase or decrease such a score and thus public relations values.
10. Providing a convenient, highly-effective methodology for assessing environmental effects of proposed corporation changes, on or off corporation lands
11. Promoting competition between corporations in wild turkey management. Use of the above score may be a major part of the competition
12. Providing full-service fee-hunting on corporate lands. These include centralized services, high efficiency, impartial administration, experienced procedures, maximum safety and security, improved hunt quality, and financial returns to the company from their lands
13. Conducting special shows, workshops, and educational events, at cost, for the corporation on their lands to communicate to workers, unions, citizens, etc. the program, the progress, and related land management interests
14. Arranging for special advertising of corporate wild turkey work to assure maximum public relations benefits from investments in the resource
15. Forming cooperatives, combinations of adjacent lands, allowing large-area management, improved hunting opportunities, desired habitat interspersion, and significant economies of scale in labor, supplies, software, and contractual services
16. Providing uniform modern law enforcement service and trespass and vandalism deterrence
17. Creating a highly competitive national program for the Stalker. Individuals purchase applications and materials and begin an arduous educational, hunting, wildlife knowledge, safety, and 'appropriate wildland behavior' course. Hunters and others may achieve various levels of success, the latter of which permit hunting and observation privileges on scores corporate lands and special areas at reduced costs (some reserved exclusively for Stalkers X). The program includes opportunities for youths
18. Presenting successes in areas other than the turkey. Clearly turkey-oriented, the program benefits song birds, reduces erosion, protects stream banks, and improves conditions for several other kinds of wild animals and plants. These reports can be used in various ways by corporations
19. Seeking creation of a multi-state turkey hunter's license
20. Providing ornithology groups tours (at cost) so that some members may add the bird to their life list
21. Operating several major hunting lodges that enable significant, high-quality hunting to be experienced by executives and special friends of the Group and the corporations
22. Providing prescribed burning and wild fire management services
23. Providing detailed turkey management plans for each area including dynamic plans at a web site
24. Providing special users' and hunters' insurance.

The Wild Turkey Group does not exist now; it is being designed and planned. Nothing in it is absolutely new; nothing has to be invented. Its newness is in its concept, its diversity, its emphasis on large land holdings and corporate lands. The turkey resource (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is passively managed. Millions of private landowners cannot be contacted with the resources, time, staff or interest available. To spend a meaninglessly small 2 days with each forest landowner in the turkey range would require a team of 10 biologists over 3,000 working years just to make the first contacts! An option to that silly scenario is to work with corporations wherein a few decision makers control vast areas of habitat of the turkey. The Rural System may create the demonstration areas and the center of such activity. Centralized for knowledge and service, centralized for Geographic-Information-System-based mapping and land analyses, dispersed for cost-effective field work, The Wild Turkey Group can meet many objectives within the Rural System.

Active Management Turkeys are a function of the land. The turkey population is a resource and the manager usually seeks to maximize total net benefits from all of the uses of the population. Emphasize that management of the turkey tends to benefit game and non game species. In Georgia about 2% of the people control 33% of the land. There are about 3 million landowners within the turkey range. Gaining management is not a function of areas but of owners.

General bjectives of a biological nature are to maximize poult production, increase forage, and sustain a viable breeding population. This needs to be made more specific.

Good turkey habitat contains mature stands of mixed-hardwoods, groups of conifers, relatively open understories, scattered clearings, well-distributed water, reasonable freedom from disturbance, and adequate area. Mixed-hardwoods produce mast which is a primary winter food of turkeys. A combination of hardwood species is necessary as a buffer against the variable nature of mast production. Conifers afford roosting sites and protection during extreme weather. Open understories permit excellent use of the turkey's remarkable eye-sight in detecting and escaping enemies. Clearings or forest gaps produce the food needed during the warm months (grass seed, insects, fruit and forage). Managed openings or clearings serve as breeding, nesting, and brooding areas and supplement native food supplies year-round when planted. Even though the turkey's demands for water are not completely understood, they readily use open streams, ponds, and prepared waterholes. Frequent and sustained disturbances by free-running dogs or by people may cause turkeys to leave portions of their territory. Reasonable freedom from disturbance implies that turkeys can utilize all the necessary elements of habitat available. Nest predation can limit populations in some areas.The daily range of turkeys varies a great deal depending upon season, food supplies, and disturbances. Cruising radius is estimated at 2 miles (12 sq. miles per flock). Mosby and Handley (1943) suggested a management area of 15,000 to 50,000 acres. Populations persist in 5000 acre areas. The essentials for protection from poaching and accidents, cover, abundant and sustained supplies of food of high quality, water and reproduction should be provided within each 640-acre unit area. About 60% of the area in which turkeys occur is privately owned; 90% of that is corporate-owned, suggesting the potential areas for management.

Prescriptions

The "turkey" is one name but name but two distinctly different birds requiring different conditions, thus two types of active management. The two birds are poults and adults. They require attention for different periods in different faunal space. They require three environments (grass/forbs, edge/shrub/, mature forest of at least two different ages each ... thus 24 separate considerations and action programs. Managing for turkeys is said to be for all species, since in their 24 conditions if met, many needs of many species are met.

The following is the first cut at a growing list of prescriptions for increasing wild turkey populations on a mid-Atlantic area wild turley range. The assumption is made that the turkey population is insufficient to meet demand. Maintaining it within about 5% of the carrying capacity may be aguide, but the following practices suggest ways to increase that capacity. Achieving the capacity, once developed is part of the task. Influencing demand is another. It seems important not to attempt to produce more birds or have higher numbers than can be reasonably expected. The maximum capacity is unknown. Stauffer estimated 15-20/ sq.mi.; Vaughn estimated 5-6/sq.mile (after winter and before production). In Ohio, 1980-1987 the highest density was estimated at 9.7/sq.mi. A Michigan study had an estimate of 10/sq.mi.

A beta approach might be used with low-3, high-14, and likely-7.5

Foods need to be known. Feeding is diverse. Foods of adults differ from those of poults.Plant material is 95% of the diet. The following 10 native species are most important:

1. Oak
2. dogwood
3. grasses
4. grapes
5. greenbrier
6. poison ivy
7. gums
8. beech
9. ash
10. sumac

Other hard mast producers should be noted. Wild grapes seem to influence movements during the hunting season. Hard mast production is the manager's task.Other prescriptions:

Have sufficient clearings near forests for insect production for poults (they eat 267 species; main foods are grasshoppers, walking sticks, flies (diptera), ground beetles, spiders, milipedes, centipedes, snails, slugs..about 275.9 cm³ / poult / year
1. Reduce insecticide use of surrounding areas
2. Mow patterns in grassy areas since poults (9 poults per brood) have difficulty in dense grass
3. In crease amount of low shrub cover for nesting
4. Regulate hunting to take 95% of the net production
5. Plant food patches of grains that remain upright in winter snows
6. Reduce turkey predators
7. Reduce disturbances of all types (logging, recreation, feral dogs and cats etc.) during nesting
8. Plant small stands of conifers for thermal cover
9. Take brood counts for monitoring annual changes in the population
10. Use track counts for monitoring
11. Conduct prescribed burning to achieve varies forbs growth
12. Increase farm hedgerows
13. Plant road and trail sides to desired grasses and foods
14. Daylight roads and plant them to desired foods and grasses
15. Plant a variety of mast producing shrubs and trees in sunlit areas

Monitoring

Monitoring turkeys is done by a combination of the following (using weighted results):

• Hunter reports of sightings
• Checking station reports of kills
• Springtime gobbling counts (5:45 am starting time; drive .25 miles; get out and listen for gobbling; repeat over a 5-10 mile route, same date each year (adjust for phenological differences - service berry blooming; redbud bloom; may apple leaf diameter)
• Spring brood count observatuions (and mapping occurrence)
• Dropping counts along a standard stretch of road
• Track counts along a standard dirt road during a set period each year
• Birds comming to bait at a set time in a year

County	Population Harvested	Population Estimate (/10%)	Maximum Population Estimate
Giles	284	2840	3560
Craig	221	2210	3360
Botetourt	351	3510	5490
Roanoke	55	550	2760
Franklin	343	3430	7160
Floyd	251	2510	3830
Montgomery	214	2140	3950
Pulaski	149	14901490	3270

Such a table is developed by a simple multiple but it shows totals, magnitudes, and suggests further revisions for differences in counties and the results of adding and averaging for regions of the state being managed as a unit and not on a per-county basis. Further revisions based on acreage of a county has to provide an improvement.

A club needs to be formed; affiliation with the National Wild Turkey Federation considered; records kept; trends observed; management practices undertaken; publications shared; competitions sponsored; memorials (such as a graduate program being sponsored or a book written) suggested. Rural System options may be promoted.

As a comprehensive wild turkey system might be developed, the information needed from past as well as local sources can be considered. These include:

• List of habitat and diet requirements (min and max) and limiting factors
• List of objectives of citizens in the area
• Public attitude survey results over time
• Dynamics in the public with the turkey on their bird "life list"
• Existing conditions (?)
• Other related species present-absent
• Site-specific "bottleneck" conditions
• Present reported distribution (map)
• Population estimate per county per year
• Maximum populations and maximum harvests (projections)
• Harvest estimate by county
• Estimated management by year area
• Sex ratio
• Age ratio
• Area of county (each one)
• Land use types in each county over many years
• Forested area
• Road length
• Stream, pond, and water locations
• HSI (mapped) for each life group (topography, tree density) See Wildl. Soc Bul 1987 GIS article
• Brood counts/year
• Gobbling counts/year
• License sales/county/year
• Total hunters/county/year
• Hunting regulations (available hunting days/year) and desirable harvests
• Access index (public, private)
• Money in tourism-hunter units
• Presence of hazards (disease maps, predator maps)
• History
• Available areas intensively managed (standards)
• List of methods and techniques useable or used by others
• Soil types (?); Insect abundance (?) snail abundance? salamander abundance
• Available budgets
• Available staff
• Time constraints (planning horizon)
• Bibliography - studies, reports

A useful way to consider management is like that of the three elements of ecological production (flux = kcal/m²P = x_i / ha / t

where X is how much to do of what ith activity, and
ha is where to do it, and
t is when to do it.

Wild Turkey Relations to Elevation and Latitude (Factors available from GIS maps of a tract of land)

• Initiation of breeding season - nests are established earlier in the south and lower elevations. The lapse rate is 0.4 degree C/100 meters. After the elevation is changed to meters, the amount of temperature difference can be estimated.
• The length of the period between hatching and winter affects over-winter poult survival (shorter time to mature at high elevations and in more northern areas. A gross relative poult survival map can be created for any property based only on 3 elevation and 3 latitude classes.
• Food types ( insects, mast) are affected by elevation and latitude
• Nesting habitat changes some with elevation and aspect (in that mountain laural is a preferred nesting habitat, it is found mostly in south and west aspects)
• Poult mortality may be higher in northern and high elevation areas due to cooler precipitation. Cold spring rains are a major mortality factor in young poults.
• Lnad use patterns vary significantly with elevation (farms in bottoms provide insects for poults and forets on mountain sides provide mast and nesting habitats)

Stocking

Stocking is typically done to:

1. Rehabilitate unoccupied range (reintroduce an extirpated species in suitable but unoccupied range)(the wild turkey is an example)
2. Bolster a diminishing population (rarely successful; diminished range is usually the cause of the decline)
3. Supply additional animals to the hunters "bag" (rarely practical because of high costs of released animals and the few that are taken)
4. Introduce a new species, usually an exotic but may be used to transport native species across an ecological barrier(rarely successful; of many attempts, only the ring-necked pheasant, chukar, and Hungarian partridge have been successful) (Exotics can present many problems.)

For the future, a simulator seems feasible for creating an area index for wild turkey populations, this how proposed changes affect that index. That model must work (display the index) over a 150 year period. Eventually a regression can be developed for likely numbers of sightings, birds harvested, and hours of hunting success as related to that index.

Not Enough Land for Turkey (one computer system output for the land owner based on the reported number of acres available ...

Wild turkeys cannot be successfully managed and maintained on isolated units of less than 5,000 contiguous acres, but specific programs can help support turkeys and attract them to specific areas.

Good turkey habitat contains a mixture of several components: mature stands of mixed hardwoods with relatively open understories, stands of conifers, scattered clearings, well-distributed water, and reasonable freedom from disturbance. Although you do not have 5,000 acres of forest land, turkey management is possible if your forest, combined with those of your neighbors, total 5,000 acres or more. For additional information, you may wish to read Wild Turkey Management: Current Problems and Programs, by Sanderson and Schultz, University of Missouri Press.

The wild turkey is the largest game bird in the United States and probably the most difficult of all to bag. Gobblers main attain a length of 48 inches and a weight of 16-18 pounds; whereas, hens rarely exceed 36 inches in length and 10 pounds in weight. Weights in excess of 30 pounds have been reported, but birds larger than 20-21 pounds are a rarity. A gobbler can usually be distinguished from a hen by a tuft of coarse feathers on its breast; called a beard, and an upwardly curved spur on the inside lower part of each leg. Hens occasionally have beards and in some instances beards do not develop on gobblers. However, these cases are rare.

Turkeys are polygamous breeders, with one gobbler mating with several hens during the mating season. The male comes of breeding age at two years, while females take only one year. The male attempts to attract as many hens as possible by gobbling during the mating season, which usually begins in late February or early March, depending on the severity of the weather. The hen lays from 8 to 15 eggs in a well hidden nest on the ground. Incubation of the eggs takes 28 days. Turkeys have only one brood per year, but following unsuccessful attempts, they will continue nesting attempts until success is achieved.

The preferred habitat for turkeys is an all-aged woodland of mixed hardwoods and pines. Although oaks are of primary importance for turkeys, a variety of hardwood species is desirable in case of acorn failure. Turkeys need openings in the forest for insects and grass seeds, both of which are important in their diet. Turkeys drink water daily, so abundant free water, well distributed over the range, is essential. Since turkeys depend on their eyesight for protection and escape, woodland cover should be fairly open. Turkeys roost in trees, usually the tallest ones that can be found. Pine and cypress in swamps are the favorite roosting trees.

Turkeys eat a wide variety of food, depending upon the season of the year and what is available. The diet of adult wild turkeys is comprised of about 85% plant matter and 15% insect matter. This percentage is reversed for poults under six weeks of age. Although young turkeys eat a great variety of insects, grasshoppers, crickets, and cicadas probably comprise the bulk of their diet. Choice fall and winter foods for adult turkeys include acorns, chinkapins, beechnuts, dogwood berries, wild grapes, chufas, corn, barley, clover oats, rye, and winter wheat. Some favorite spring and summer foods are huckleberries, blackberries, mulberries, browntop millet, cowpeas, peanuts, grain sorghums, soybeans, bahia brass, yellow-eyed grass, carpet grass, and insects.

Management for wild turkeys can be quite complicated due to their variable productivity rates and extensive habitat requirements. However, a few things that can be done to ensure suitable turkey populations are: (1) produce more food in wooded and open areas, (2) provide suitable drinking water throughout the range, (3) maintain favorable cover and roosting areas, (4) protect turkeys from poaching, and (5) ensure against the spread of parasites and disease.

Food production in the forest can be provided by leaving a variety of mast-and fruit-producing trees. For optimum range conditions, at least 25% of the forested area should be mast-producing hardwoods, especially oaks. Oaks at least six inches in diameter and 30 feet high are the most valuable for acorn production. Prescribed burning is also an excellent turkey management tool, as it increases production of native grasses and legumes, prescribed burning should be done no later than February 15 so nesting won't be disturbed. Food in openings can be increased by planting with such species as clover, chufa, barley, oats, rye, bahia grass, cowpeas, millet, and soybeans.

If drinking water becomes critical during droughts, turkeys will leave the range. Therefore, it is essential to have a year-round source of drinking water. Ponds and wells with windmills are means of assuring a supply of water.

Open ground cover, well distributed clearings, and suitable roots sites are three of the most important aspects of good turkey habitat. The forest floor can be maintained in an open condition by a regular program of prescribed burning and by thinning timber stands when they become extremely dense. From 10-30% of a turkey's range should be in open land. Often grasslands, fallow fields, and utility rights of way can serve this purpose. If more openings are needed, wildlife food plots of 1 to 5 acres scattered throughout the area can be created. Swamps containing tall trees, preferably cypress and pine, should be left for roosting areas.

Although the adult wild gobbler is probably the keenest of all game species, hens and young poults are highly susceptible to poaching. To avoid unlawful trespassing and poaching, posted signs and locked gates on entry roads should be installed. If the landowner or his caretaker does not regularly visit the property, assistance in patrolling the land can be obtained from the local game warden.

Turkeys are plagued by a large number of parasites and diseases. This is probably due to their flocking nature, which facilitates rapid spread. The most serious disease affecting turkeys is blackhead, which often causes 100% mortality in flocks. The following practices are recommended to keep infectious diseases and parasites to a minimum: (1) food patches should be kept small and should be rotated every year, (2) free ranging domestic turkeys and chickens should be curtailed, (3) fields should not be fertilized with droppings from domestic poultry, and (4) pen raised wild turkey should not be released.

Notes:

G.B. Crim (Iowa Coop Unit 1980) found with radio telemetry that adult males used habitat significantly differently from other sex or age classes; between years; and from month to month between years, probably due to snow depths, low temperature, and food availability. He also found turkeys used some types of areas more than others, not just because of the larger area of each. Studies, as others, suggest high variability. He sought cause and means to manage winter habitat.

The same investigator (1982) , with radio work, found brood survival in the first 2 weeks after the hatch was 52 to 56% (and afterwards broods merged). Unsuccessful hens do not associate with broods and use habitats differently than hens with broods. Adult males also use different habitats.

If there are 3 million land owners interested in turkeys and a biologist devoted 2 days to each it will take 6 million days of expert attention to achieve the fullness of the wild turkey resource. Turkey biologists may spend 200 working days a year, thus we need 30,000 biologists ( more than there are members in The Wildlife Society) or ... a few years without re-visiting the same areas... a travesty. There has to be an alternative strategy beyond those ecological and biological. They must include organizational, monetary, marketing, and personnel dimensions. It can be accomplished with Rural System's Wild Turkey Group on rural privately owned lands, corporate lands, forest industry lands, and some public lands under contract.

See

• Lasting Forests Notes Included herein and to be deleted)
• Turkey Age Card
• Turkey Research
• Turkey Guild
• Turkey Linear Program (Food Plots)

See other resources (e.g., Media Tool Box) at the National Wild Turkey Foundation www.nwth.org

Robert H. Giles, Jr.

References

Beck J.R. and D.O, Beck. 1955. A Method for Nutritional Evaluation of Wildlife Food. J. Wildl. Manage. 19(2):200.

Brenneman, R. J.E. Kennamer, and M. Kennamer. 1991. Managing openings for turkeys and other wildlife ... a planting guide. National Wild Turkey Federation, Edgefield, SC, 39p.

Crampton, E.W. and L.E. Harris. 1969. Applied Animal Nutrition. W.H. Freeman and company, San francisco. 735 p.

Donahoe, R.W. 1990. The wild turkey: past, present, and future in Ohio. Ohio Fish and Wildlife Report 11, Dept. Natural Resources, Div. Wildlife, Columbus 47p.

Hewitt, Oliver H, (ed). 1967. The Wild Turkey and its Management. The Wildlife Society, Washington D.C. 589 p.

King, Thomas R. and Harold E. McClure. 1944. Chemical Composition of Some American Wild Feedstuffs. J. Agriculture Research 69 (1) : 33-47.

Korschgen, Leroy J. 1967. Feeding Hapits and Food in Oliver H. Hewitt (ed). 1967. The Wild Turkey and its Management. The Wildlife Society, Washington P.C. 589 p.

Kozicky and Metz. 1948 Transactions

___ 1973. April Foods of Wild Turkeys in Missouri. in Glen C. Sanderson et al. 1973. Wild Turkey Management. University of Missouri Press. Columbia, Missouri. 355 p.

Larson, J.S. 1966. Wildlife Forage Clearings on Forest Lands--A critical Appraisal and Research Needs. Masters Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Blacksburg, Virginia. 143 p.

Marsden, Stanley J. and J. Holmes Martin. 1949. Turkey Management. The Interstate. Danville, Ill. 774 p.

Mosby, Henry S. 1973, The Changed Status of the Wild Turkey Over the Past Three Decades in Glen C. Sanderson et al. 1973. wild Turkey Management. University of Missouri Press. Columbia, Missouri. 355 p.

Schorger, A.W. 1966. The Wild Turkey: Its History and Domestication. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman, Oklahoma. 625 p.

Sanderson, Glen C. 1973. Wild Turkey Management. University of Missouri Press. Columbia, Missouri. 355 p.

Smart, Charles W., Edward B. Rayburn, Oscar T. Sanders. 1972. Formulation of an Optimum winter Food-Patch Mix for Bobwhite Quail. Proceedings, First National Bobwhite Quail Symposium. pp. 366-372.

Stoddard, Herbert L. 1963. Maintenance and Increase of the Eastern Wild Turkey on Private Lands of the Coastal Plain of the Deep Southeast. Tall Timbers Research Station. Tallahassee, Florida. 49p.

Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries. 1942. The wild turkey in Virginia, Education Div., Richmond, VA 45p.

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision September 14, 2006.