Wild Turkey

"By integrating the effect of rain, temperature and snow cover in a population model, our deterministic analysis reveals that snow depth is the main factor affecting the population growth rate through its effect on winter adult survival. . . During the last 15 years, direct field observations and locations of harvested wild turkeys showed that wild turkey abundance has been increasing northward. . . Our stochastic analysis shows that if harsh or extreme snowfall occurs with variable temperature and rainfall similar to those observed over our historical period, the population at the northern species range will decline to extinction. . . The northernmost population is projected to decline by 2100."

"Before 1992, you couldn't find a wild turkey anywhere on Long Island, according to Mark Lowery of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The birds disappeared from the Island in the late 19th century. Mr. Lowery was the leader of a team that set out to reintroduce the eastern wild turkey to Long Island. The reason was to help restore the Island's natural habitat that existed before forests were cleared for colonial farms and firewood. Acorns, beechnuts and hickory nuts are staples of the turkey diet. . . The total wild turkey population now on the Island is in the "several hundreds," Mr. Lowery estimated, but less than 1,000. Mark Maghini, a wildlife biologist at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at Wertheim, estimated that there are about 120 turkeys there alone. . . "With the exception of fish, the reason we have less animals is not so much hunting, it's loss of habitat," Mr. Bernstein [director of the Institute for Long Island Archaeology] said.”

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) found only 1,335 breeding birds remaining in the United States. The heritage breed are turkeys bred from the oldest continuous stock of heritage turkeys in the world, raised free-range and in low density, sustainable circumstances. According to the ALBC, “The turkey known as the Broad Breasted Bronze in the early 1930s through the late 1950s is nearly identical to today's Heritage Bronze turkey. This early Broad Breasted Bronze is very different from the modern turkey of the same name . . . Only naturally mating turkeys meeting all of the above criteria are Heritage Turkeys.”

“These days, though, countless hens wander freely, broods in tow, through the woods and fields of rural and suburban America and are often seen feeding along heavily trafficked roadways. There are wild turkeys in metropolitan Atlanta and the suburbs of New York and Boston. Wild turkeys have even been spotted in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. ‘Wild turkeys have proved to be more adaptable than we ever thought,' said Dr. James G. Dickson, a research biologist for the United States Forest Service in Nacogdoches, Texas.”

“The support of the private sector and state and federal agencies substantially aided the restoration effort. Combined population estimates nationwide in 1990 showed wild turkey numbers about 3.5 million birds. . .The primary limitation on wild turkey population levels––besides having all suitable range occupied––was habitat loss. Also acting negatively in some areas were illegal kill, lack of brood and winter habitat, summer droughts, poor mast production, severe winters, predation, and suspected diseases.“

“Those same causes - overhunting and habitat loss - continued to decimate wild turkey populations in other areas of the country as well, and by the middle of the twentieth century the situation reached its nadir. . . In the 1970s, though, captive breeding and relocation programs began to reverse the decline, and by 1980 the count, nationally, was back up to 1.8 million.”

“What eventually made possible the capture of large numbers of wild turkeys was the cannon net, originally designed to capture waterfowl. This capture technique allowed more states to move wild-trapped birds into restored habitats . . . The first wild turkeys known to be captured using this method were on the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina in 1951.”

“From 1925 to 1943, an effort was made to halt the decline in turkey numbers. Approximately 14,000 game farm turkeys were released to supply more breeding stock. The hunting season for turkeys was closed in 1937. However, turkey numbers still decreased . . . It became evident that restocking wild turkeys to unoccupied range was the solution to restoring the species, but it could not be done easily. First, a source of native wild turkeys was needed. Secondly, a method of trapping wild turkeys had to be developed . . . ”

“Connecticut had lost its wild turkeys by 1813. Vermont held out until 1842 and other states followed. By 1920, the wild turkey was lost from 18 of the original 39 states and Ontario, Canada, in its supposed ancestral range.”

“In many states where the wild bird once flourished, they may now be classed with the dodo. The one place, within my observation, where their number has decreased but little, in the last two decades, is the country of the Big Cypress in Florida. Here their environment protects them . . . It would be a misfortune for this grand creature, perhaps the bird most closely associated with the progress of our race on this continent, to become extinct. Yet this has already happened in most of the States of the Union. If we are to continue to treat the turkey simply as a game bird, to be protected only that it may be killed for sport, the finish of both turkey and fun is in sight.”

“Early settlers found the wild turkey in a variety of habitats as they pushed westward and felled forests with the axe and saw. Wild turkey populations dipped to their lowest numbers between the end of the 19th century and the 1930s, surviving only in the most inaccessible habitats.”

“Laws enacted early in this century-such as the Lacey Act in 1905 prohibiting the interstate sale of taken wildlife-along with other laws and their enforcement gave needed protection to the remaining wild turkey flocks.”

“Thanksgiving was first celebrated as a national holiday in 1863, after Abraham Lincoln's presidential proclamation, which set the date as the last Thursday in November . . . It was, however, in late 1863, when the Lincolns received a live turkey for the family to feast on at Christmas. Tad, ever fond of animals, quickly adopted the bird as a pet, naming him Jack . . . On Christmas Eve, Lincoln told his son that the pet would no longer be a pet. ‘Jack was sent here to be killed and eaten for this very Christmas,' he told Tad, who answered, ‘I can't help it. He's a good turkey, and I don't want him killed.' The boy argued that the bird had every right to live, and as always, the president gave in to his son, writing a reprieve for the turkey on a card and handing it to Tad.”

“Turkey habitat was lost when forests were cut for timber and turned into small farms. The early settlers and farmers also killed wild turkeys for food all year round, since there were no regulated hunting seasons at the time. The last of the original wild turkeys disappeared from New York in the mid-1840's. By 1850, about 63 precent of the land in New York was being farmed. This trend continued until the late 1800s when about 75 percent of New York State was cleared land.”