© Copyright John Trout, Jr.

Will wild turkeys become a common target of poachers?  Or are they already?

The turkey hunter moved slowly and quietly along the logging road on the fine spring morning, listening intently for a gobbler to announce his presence. He stopped and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then picked a large red oak to sit against.  Moments later, his slate call sent a string of soft yelps into the dense valley.

Twenty minutes had passed when the hunter spotted movement in the foliage in front of him.  When the bird stepped onto the logging road 30 yards away, he squeezed the trigger. The bird dropped instantly.  The hunter meanwhile, didn’t hurry to his quarry, for suddenly he doubted he had shot a legal bird.  He couldn’t remember seeing a beard, or anything else that would identify the bird as a male turkey.
 
Will turkeys be victims?

When most of us think about wildlife poaching, we seldom think about the wild turkey as a victim.  In most states, illegal deer kills and waterfowl slaughters grab the attention.  More people are convicted each year of these violations than any other poaching offense.  But what about turkeys?  Like whitetails, turkeys are flourishing across much of the United States.

According to a five-year study that began in 1989 in Virginia and West Virginia, there is a good reason to believe turkeys already rate highly with poachers.  In fact, the study shows wild turkeys are much more likely to be killed illegally than legally in those states.
When the study began in Virginia, the state was primarily investigating the effects of long autumn seasons.  Turkey survival was a crucial part of the research because Virginia had seen rising turkey populations and high turkey densities in counties where the autumn hunt lasted two weeks.  In areas where the season lasted several weeks, however, the turkey populations were only stable, slightly increasing or decreasing.

According to Virginia’s turkey biologist, Gary Norman, the fall seasons were shortened in 11 counties when the study began.  This would allow them to see if turkey numbers would increase.  Traditionally, the season had begun when the deer firearms season opened.  The first week of deer season normally accounted for 30 percent to 33 percent of the fall turkey kill.  The state hoped the delay would spare some birds, and give the flocks a boost.

West Virginia, meanwhile was conducting a similar experiement.  According to the state’s wild turkey biologist, Jim Peck, and the co-project leader, Curtis Taylor, counties that had not opened fall turkey hunts had good population growth and high densities.  When the state compared the survival of birds in areas with fall hunting to those without, they found the birds were increasing substantially in the latter.

The impact of legal fall hunting, of course, wasn’t the only issue.  Predators also exact a toll.  Then there was poaching. Could illegal kills be a primary factor in stalling population growth?

Virginia’s researchers decided to compare the survival of 50 birds per area for the same five-year period.  Virginia tagged 427 hens and West Virginia tagged 600.  Only hens were used, because the states’ biologists consider them the backbone of the turkey population.

After capturing the birds with rocket nets, the biologists fitted each with a radio transmitter.  With radio telemetry equipment, researchers tracked the birds from ground and air sites.  The studies were paid for, in part, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Federal Aid and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Each state’s primary objective was to see how many hens survived the hunting seasons and other sources of mortality each year.  They also studied the number of poults produced, and gathered other valuable reproductive data. 

Surprising Findings

Although illegal kills were not the studies’ focus, both research teams soon discovered a high rate of poaching.  For example, in West Virginia’s fall turkey hunting areas, illegal kills accounted for 23 percent of the mortality in the five-year study.  The legal harvest accounted for only 8 percent of the mortality during the same period.

How could the illegal harvest be almost three times the legal kill in West Virginia?  Just wait.  There’s more bad news.

In the Virginia study, the legal harvest made up 22 percent of the mortality in counties where fall hunts lasted eight weeks, while the illegal harvest accounted for 17 percent.  However, in counties with nine-week seasons, legal hunting accounted for 15 percent of the mortality, while poaching took 26 percent.

Annual illegal harvests accounted for 9 percent to 30 percent of the mortality in areas with fall hunting in West Virginia, and 18 percent to 38 percent in areas with fall hunting in Virginia.  However, fluctuations in illegal harvest might have been partially caused by poor acorn or other mast crops in some areas. 

Dumb and Dumber

The poachers worked in several ways.  Some radio-equipped hens were found dead and abandoned.  Norman suspects poachers shot the birds, discovered the radio transmitters and ran.  Others removed the radio and attempted to hide it.

“We found (the transmitters) under rocks and logs, in streams and ponds, and even in garbage dumps,” Norman said.  “One poacher even left a transmitter beside the road where we normally stopped to take radio telemetry bearings.”

Officials couldn’t retrieve some radios because they were destroyed and couldn’t be tracked.  But Virginia officials caught on poacher with their telemetry equipment.  It seems the man killed two hens that had transmitters and, not knowing what he had, kept them as souvenirs.  After pinpointing the radio signal at the poacher’s home, a conservation officer made the arrest.

West Virginia reported similar incidents.  One person, after illegally killing a turkey, hung the transmitter in a tree branch so officials could find it. 

Poaching Opportunities

Although many birds were killed illegally in spring by hunters who didn’t identify the bird’s sex, September seemed to be the start of poaching’s peak activity.  According to Peck, many illegal kills occurred shortly before or during autumn seasons.

“I was really surprised with the number of illegal birds killed in September,” Peck said.  “I guess some guys just want to go out and kill a bird so they can beat everyone else to it.”

Season Shortened

After the study, Virginia biologists determined that reducing the season by one week was not enough to reduce the legal harvest’s impact.  The state recently adopted a six-week fall season instead of the eight-and-nine-week seasons.  It’s unfortunate legal hunters must accept shorter seasons to make up for illegal kills, but biologists had few other choices.

Conclusion

Turkey hunting is growing in popularity across much of the country, but some states have not stiffened fines and penalties for turkey poaching.  The fines typically don’t compare to those imposed for deer poaching.

Peck reports some good news on this front, however.  In areas where turkey populations were re-established recently, fewer illegal kills were reported than in traditional turkey hunting counties.  Perhaps this is evidence these regions view the wild turkey as a newcomer, and a resource worth protecting.

John Trout, Jr.