NWTF Funded Wild Turkey Research Presented at Conservation Conference
As part of the NWTF’s 48th Convention and Sport Show, the Conservation Conference brought together NWTF biologists, researchers, agency leaders and interested turkey hunters. The Conservation Conference’s Friday Agenda included numerous presentations highlighting critical NWTF-funded wild turkey research projects.
Presentations included:
Preliminary Investigation of Fertility Rates in Wild Turkey Eggs
The presentation was led by the project’s principal investigator, Richard Gerhold, Ph.D., associate professor focusing on parasitology and wildlife diseases at the University of Tennessee’s Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences. Gerhold illustrated to the attendees that wild turkey eggs that were initially considered unfertilized were actually fertilized, and for some reason early embryonic death occurred.
Examining wild turkey eggs in this way is entirely new in wild turkey management, and the results could be illuminating. Unhatched eggs are being analyzed for what may be causing early embryonic death. For instance, they will be tested for aflatoxins and neonicotinoids as well as other potent infectious and noninfectious diseases. The data will also be analyzed and compared as a function of state-specific data, such as spring season start dates, bag limits, season length and other factors, to see if there is any influence of causing a failed hatch.
To date, Gerhold and his team have examined 481 abandoned wild turkey eggs from seven states.
Gerhold and his team are continuing the research project through 2026.
Influence of Timing of the Hunting Season on Wild Turkey Reproduction in Tennessee
The presentation was led by Craig Harper, Ph.D, Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist at the University of Tennessee. Harper’s presentation covered impacts of the unique two-week delay in the spring turkey season the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency implemented in 2021 and 2022 in five counties in the southern-middle portion of the state. The project’s primary intent was to assess the reproductive ecology in these areas where experimental regulation changes were added. The project did not detect statistically significant increases in nesting rates, clutch size or hatchability, nest success or hen and poult survival with the two-week delay implemented. Harper recommended regulation changes that could mitigate the population decline in Tennessee, including limiting season length to 5-6 weeks, 3-bird annual bag limit (including fall season) and limiting jake harvests to youth only, among others.
Oklahoma Turkey Research and the Importance of Vital Rates
The presentation was led by Colter Chitwood, Ph.D, Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University. Chitwood’s presentation provided an update on the five-year project conducted by Chitwood and his colleagues at OSU and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. The project aims to better understand Oklahoma’s wild turkey decline by monitoring hen survival, poult survival, habitat selection and exposure to disease at locations in the southwestern and southeastern part of the state.
Chitwood’s “back-of-the-napkin” data summary suggested that, in the southwestern portion of the state, hen survival was 48%, and that nest success was only 8.7%. In the southeastern portion of the state, hen survival was somewhere between 28%-46%, and that nest success was between 13-22%.
The project is still ongoing.
Survival and Productivity of Translocated Turkeys in North Dakota - A Project Update
Presented by Cailey Isaacson, University of North Dakota Ph.D. student, the overview provided an update on a unique research project occurring in North Dakota. To aid in nuisance complaints of wild turkeys, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department captures and relocates about 200 birds every year and places them on state WMA’s. Isaacson and the team are studying the underpinnings of this unique program while also bolstering the overall wild turkey ecology data for the state.
The team is still in the process of trapping birds for the 2024 season and looks forward to all of the incoming data.
Update on Wild Turkey Disease Research, Surveillance and Diagnostic Investigations at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study
Nicole Nemeth, D.V.M, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Georgia wrapped up the research portion of the conservation with insights into her project that is taking a comprehensive look in to diseases in wild turkeys.
The team will examine LPDV and other diseases within cells and tissues of wild turkeys and assess patterns of how the diseases spread and how they manifest in a variety of circumstances.
Nemeth and her team will utilize the emerging capabilities of the RNAscope. The technology allows users to examine the distribution and extent of virus components within both diseased and non-diseased tissue at a cellular scale. Researchers will develop this technique specifically for LPDV and REV to not only study single virus infections, but also co-infections with both viruses.
Nemeth illustrated that key findings from 2019-2023 included 301 wild turkeys from 16 states; of these birds sent to Nemeth for apparent disease, 52.5% had LPDV and 28.6 had REV%.
Nemeth is continuing to gather disease data from multiple state and is rigorously studying its impact on wild turkeys.