Ohio's Wild Turkey Study

Weather events, predation, disease, and hatch productivity all play a role in fluctuating turkey populations. Each summer, the Division of Wildlife conducts a turkey brood survey to estimate population changes. Biologists expect the wild turkey population to be a temporary dip, as the 2021 survey showed promising results.

The experts at the Ohio Division of Wildlife, biologist Mark Wiley being one, suspect turkeys have been victims of weather gone wrong. The fallout for hunters has been a one-bird spring limit and a 2022 season take of 11,872 bearded birds, a meager result in the modern era.

This data has led The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio State University to partner on the first wide-scale study of hen survival in nearly two decades. The work is funded, in part, by a local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, a nonprofit focused on wild turkey conservation and hunting.

"There are growing concerns about the potential impacts regarding the timing of the removal of males during the hunting season, and therefore it is important to know as precisely as possible when hens begin incubating nests," said Ryan Boyer, NWTF district biologist for Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. In many cases, state agencies set their season open dates to coincide closely with the median date for nest incubation initiation, allowing time for hens to be bred and for nesting to begin. Ensuring that season start dates align with nesting chronology greatly reduces the chance of negatively impacting populations by removing males too early.

In the early 2000s, researchers determined May 1 to be the median date for which hens begin incubating. However, in recent years incubation start dates began to vary in different regions of the state. Changing weather and habitat conditions also may be impacting the initiation of nest incubation from the median date established in the early 2000s.

"Just like the world around us, wild turkey ecology is dynamic," Boyer continued. "We are proud to partner with the ODNR and Ohio State University to provide support for this research project and continue to ensure the best available science is being used in informing management and regulatory decisions."

Beginning in early January and through March, ODNR staff will capture birds using rocket nets. Once captured, researchers and ODNR staff will attach leg bands and GPS transmitters. The information gathered will be invaluable to the study.

Mark Wiley, a Division of Wildlife game bird biologist, notes that it is not just timing that can have an effect nesting success, but also changes in habitat.

"Researchers from OSU will download and monitor turkey location and activity data two to three times per week," Wiley said. "They will use turkey location and activity data to detect nesting activity, movements and mortality events."

The researchers will confirm nesting activity by locating the birds on the ground, and after the incubation period, the team will be able to determine nest fate, hatching rates and causes of nest failure, if it fails.

Three weeks after a successful hatch, the research team will locate and count the number of poults with each hen. They will also establish an annual survival rate of hens from transmitter data. That data will allow researchers to determine the sources of mortality and investigate the seasonal movements of hens.

Results of the study will be shared with nearby states that are conducting similar wild turkey research projects, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and data will be compiled to provide a larger representation of how climate and habitat changes impact nesting on a landscape scale.

"The research project is important to all hunters, experienced or new," said Bill Sulicks, NWTF Ohio State Chapter president. "We are all eager to see the turkey population begin to thrive again as in earlier years. We believe this study can guide us, in a way, to approach the recent decline, and so in saying this: 'Once you are aware of a problem, you need to understand how it works before you can fix it.'"

The study will occur this year and next. The final project report, thesis and scientific manuscript will be available at the end of the project in 2025.

For more information, visit:
https://www.nwtf.org/content-hub/wild-turkey-research-begins-in-buckeye-state
https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/2022/07/10/outdoors-wild-turkey-population-dropping-due-bad-weather/10017818002/