CEO Notes – July/August 2024

Wow! The spring comes and goes so quickly, yet it never ceases to inspire us all year. The woods ringing with yelps and gobbles, Mother Nature returning to her vibrant majesty, creating memories that last a lifetime – the season not only recharges our batteries every year, but it so clearly puts why we do what we do into focus.

Our mission is to ensure turkey populations are thriving and the tradition of hunting remains a staple of this great country. But there are many additional benefits from our mission, too, such as clean water, robust recreational opportunities, healthy wildlife habitats, resilient communities, lifelong relationships, helping others establish a love for conservation, and the list goes on. These are the life-changing powers of the outdoors brought forth by our mission, and this is precisely why we are constantly pushing the needle forward (see page 14 for more).

Just as we must ensure the wild turkey is thriving, and there are future generations of hunter-conservationists, we must also foster future generations of wild turkey biologists, managers and researchers.

The NWTF is proud to have recently announced the National Wild Turkey Federation Distinguished Professorship at the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. This NWTF-endowed professorship will last into perpetuity and will ensure that there is someone always studying wild turkey research (more on page 46).

The NWTF will work with the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia to appoint a professor to be named the first NWTF Distinguished Professor. That individual will receive the investment returns on a $500,000 endowment to facilitate wild turkey research endorsed by state wildlife agencies in the years ahead.

We live in an ever-changing world, and wild turkey management isn’t immune to the world in flux. We must ensure that wild turkey management practices and the ecology of the bird are studied perpetually, when populations are both stable and unstable, and we are doing just that.

As we move forward with this opportunity, we will look to create additional endowed professorships at key universities nationwide. These will all be positions that study wild turkey ecology and management forever.

And as this issue is hitting our members’ mailboxes, we will be announcing another historic investment in wild turkey research projects for the third consecutive year. The NWTF looks forward to making this annual investment for the bird we love. As a reminder, we invested over $360,000 in 2022, over $580,000 in 2023, and this year will be another monumental investment. With partner match funding through the NWTF Request for Proposals program, the total over two years exceeded $12 million for 17 research projects nationwide. This investment is possible thanks to the support of the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, Mossy Oak and NWTF state chapters.

As we look toward another spring season and the joy it brings, let us move toward that time with purpose and energy. We will continue to increase our wild turkey research efforts. We will continue to increase our conservation impact. We will continue to increase welcoming new hunters into our outdoor traditions. And it is all thanks to you, our dedicated supporters who engage with our mission. We are forever grateful, and we look forward to what we accomplish together.