Turkeys in NY

[nybuckboy]

Is the overall consensus that turkey's have been in decline in NY State? If so, why doesn't the DEC have a stocking plan where land owners could raise turkeys like they do pheasants?

[Dr Juice]

Absolutely, I agree that turkeys have been on a decline which is a sad situation.

I do not know honestly why the DEC has not restocked them and it is a great question. Our DEC has not been the best (nicest way I can phrase it) compared to other states when it comes to wildlife and hunting management.

[reeltime]

Below is a text I received from the dec earlier in the week. The wild turkeys have been in decline for the last 8 to 10 years, across a lot of states and across multiple species meaning easterns, rios, merriams, and Osceola. There have been many ideas talked about as far as cause.
Certainly bird flu is a factor, predation is a factor, habitat is factor, changes in pesticide in farming seeds. What is being discusses now is that inbreeding could be causing a weekend genetic line in the turkeys thus causing them to be more susceptible to disease. As is well known when we did alot of trap and transfer back in the 70s and 80s the numbers exploded and it was a huge success. But turkeys don't migrate 100s of miles to disperse so the belief is that the blood lines over a 20,30 year period are too close.
They want the upper leg section, so cut the spur off like normal where tou cut the leg off just above the spur and then send in that part which would be between the knee joint and just above the spur. They want the bone marrow to do the DNA analysis.
As far as trying to farm raise birds like the ringnecks,, that was tried in the past and was a complete failure both survival and financially.


Here is the text message



I just got off the phone with Dr. Mike Schummer and it sounds like this research may aid in sorting out the wild turkey population decline.

He indicated that he doesn't need the spur, just a section of scaly leg above or below the spur (the foot, for example). Put it in a ziplock bag, write the county and town of harvest on the bag with a sharpie and store it in your freezer.

You can coordinate with him directly for more details and where to send samples.

Anything you guys can do to get the word out would be greatly appreciated!

Sent from my SM-S536DL using Tapatalk

[airedale]

What was found about hatchery raised birds be they Turkeys, Pheasants, Quail etc. that they missed learning from experienced wild mother hens basic critical survival skills. Finding food and avoiding and evading predatory birds and varmints is learned from mother hens, without that training they are easy pickings and do not last long in the wild.

The catch and release program worked great, the wild birds propagated and the population basically exploded. Some of the very first wild caught birds were released just a couple of miles away from where I live and I got to see their numbers take off first hand.

There was no hunting season for a few years and another big factor was a huge booming fur market especially for the demand of nest raiding type varmints like Coons, Fox, Possums and Skunks, their pelts were all worth big time money and trapping and hunting  was going strong. Then add in the Raccoon rabies which affects all the above animals, as someone that hunted those animals I can say their populations went way down which in turn was favorable for the Turkeys, it was the perfect storm.

Al

Edited April 28, 2023 by airedale

[Grizz1219]

Below is a text I received from the dec earlier in the week. The wild turkeys have been in decline for the last 8 to 10 years, across a lot of states and across multiple species meaning easterns, rios, merriams, and Osceola. There have been many ideas talked about as far as cause.
Certainly bird flu is a factor, predation is a factor, habitat is factor, changes in pesticide in farming seeds. What is being discusses now is that inbreeding could be causing a weekend genetic line in the turkeys thus causing them to be more susceptible to disease. As is well known when we did alot of trap and transfer back in the 70s and 80s the numbers exploded and it was a huge success. But turkeys don't migrate 100s of miles to disperse so the belief is that the blood lines over a 20,30 year period are too close.
They want the upper leg section, so cut the spur off like normal where tou cut the leg off just above the spur and then send in that part which would be between the knee joint and just above the spur. They want the bone marrow to do the DNA analysis.
As far as trying to farm raise birds like the ringnecks,, that was tried in the past and was a complete failure both survival and financially.


Here is the text message



I just got off the phone with Dr. Mike Schummer and it sounds like this research may aid in sorting out the wild turkey population decline.

He indicated that he doesn't need the spur, just a section of scaly leg above or below the spur (the foot, for example). Put it in a ziplock bag, write the county and town of harvest on the bag with a sharpie and store it in your freezer.

You can coordinate with him directly for more details and where to send samples.

Anything you guys can do to get the word out would be greatly appreciated!

Sent from my SM-S536DL using Tapatalk

I've been involved with the NWTF for 30 plus years. That part about inbreeding is new to me but Damn that makes a ton of sense. All the trap and transferring we did back in the day spread genetics huge but we don't do that much any More. Damn that's a great point!! Thanks.

Sent from my LM-G850 using Tapatalk

[GreeneHunter]

Damn , I thought this Forum was about the Governor .... Never Mind !

[DirtTime]

It's very hard to say if the turkey population is on a decline. Even the DEC's polling numbers are skewed because they generally only poll certain areas, and rarely anything in the NZ gets a mention. In some areas there are fewer birds while other areas are steady, and yet different areas the population is booming. Just because one place has numbers declining the area 10 miles away might have numbers rising because birds are relocating due to predation or the ever growing population of development.

 

I really think it's just the birds moving from one area to another for whatever reason.