CEO Notes – March/April 2025
Spring 2025 is another year that we get to feel the cold turn to warmth, watch the woods fill in with Mother Nature’s array of colors, and hear gobbles thunder across the timber — what a blessing.
For us, and for many members of the NWTF, the spring turkey season is not just about harvesting a wild turkey, it is so much more. It is about filling our souls with the sights and sounds of the spring and cherishing everything the season represents, including sharing the hunt with others, giving back to the resource and uniting a nation through the life-changing power of the outdoors.
Last summer, numerous state agencies reported a higher increased poult-per-hen ratio for turkeys in their state, a promising sign. A poult-per-hen ratio is a measurement of young turkeys that have successfully made it into the population based on the number of hens. For instance, thanks to 1,952 citizen reports, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife was able to determine that their statewide poults per hen for the year was 2.9, a marker of a healthy population.
However, as you may see and hear more turkeys on the landscape this spring, depending on where you are hunting, the work does not stop. Birds in other areas are not doing as well, with some states reporting areas of a poults-per-hen ratio below 2.0, a sign of a declining population.
As the fruits of our hard work and the hard work of our partners comes to fruition, we must not let our foot off the gas — it is our responsibility to keep the work going in states that are growing their population, and we must work harder in states that are experiencing declines.
The varied degree to which wild turkeys are increasing or declining based on location is a prime example that wild turkey management is not a monolith; rather, it is nuanced and is often based on many factors, such as development, habitat availability and quality, hunting season frameworks and much more.
This is why we must continue to invest in wild turkey research in places where turkeys are doing well and where they are declining. Right now, there is more wild turkey research happening across the country than there ever before. We must continue the momentum we have built around research and increase the breadth and scope of practical, result-driven wild turkey research. And we are. From the 13th National Wild Turkey Symposium later this year to some exciting forthcoming announcements, there is a lot happening in the world of wild turkey research in 2025.
Likewise, we must continue to increase habitat management efforts on a landscape scale. Regionally based NWTF initiatives — such as Habitat for the Hatch, Forests and Flocks, Waterways for Wildlife and new initiatives on the horizon — are addressing regional conservation challenges while simultaneously creating better turkey habitat on a landscape scale. Wild turkeys do not know boundaries, and neither should our conservation efforts.
The one-two punch of investments in research and habitat management is how we continue to sustainably manage wild turkeys into the future.
As we are blessed to enjoy and share another spring season filled with gobbles, it is a reminder of the important work we, as a national federation, must continue to do for the wild turkey and our nation’s natural resources.
Whether it is watching a golden-lit sun beam illuminate a strutting tom’s tail fan or helping someone harvest their first wild turkey, we hope that you experience the life-changing power of the spring this year.